the history channel

[zenda2]

This is your rifle:
http://www.highspeedlane.net/m1917/

http://www.public.asu.edu/~roblewis/SMLE/IIID2a5.htm


And this is your (machine) gun:
http://www.tomtownsend-toyland.com/toyland/m1917_machine_gun.htm

Not the first time that the US Army used the same model/year nomenclature M1917 for more than one item. In this case, both the (US-Enfield) rifle and the machine gun.


And a bit of movie trivia:

http://www.nitpickers.com/movies/comments/18446.html
Nitpick Number: 23737
Movie Title: Sergeant York - 1941
Nitpick Summary: wrong rifle
Nitpick Details: Sgt. York is shown armed with an M1903 Springfield rifle. In reality, he accomplished his Medal of Honor feat armed with an M1917 Enfield rifle, which was the primary rifle of the US Army in World War 1.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment Summary: It was NOT the primary rifle.
Comment Details: The M1917 was not the primary rifle of the U.S. military during World War I. True, there were about 2,000,000 of the rifles manufactured between 1917 and 1918, they were NOT the primary rifle of the U.S. military during W.W.I. The primary rifle of the U.S. military in 1918 was the old M1903 Springfield. Believe it or not, but Sgt. York actually prefered the M1903 over the M1917 for one and only one reason, the sights. Because he was use to hunting with an old Springfield musket, he was use to the sights on the musket and he was at home with the the sights on his M1903 during training. But when he was in France in 1918, he hated the M1917 due to the "peep" sight, which in reality made the '17 Enfield much more accurate than the '03. But anyway, the M1903 was probably more widely availible in 1941 on the open market than the M1917 was, due to the fact that Britian was fighting Germany at the time of this movie, over 1,000,000 of the rifles were shipped to Britain during the war, which could explain why he was shown with a M1903 in the movie.

Re: Medal of Honor
http://www.cmohs.org/medal.htm

P.S.

Dad sold his old (Sporterized) '03 last fall, while I had MY Enfield stolen ~ 12 years ago. Still got a very slick old 30-40 Krag from the Spanish-American War/Phillipine Insurrection.
I'm fond of these old WWI era guns, collect ~ WWI era Swedish Mausers these days, in fact.

[This message has been edited by zenda2 (edited 06-20-2002).]

[This message has been edited by zenda2 (edited 06-20-2002).]