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Hunting Rifles for Greenland: M1917 Enfield
🕑 Added 2023-05-08 12:00:03 +0000 UTCGreenland is a remote and desolate land without a significant industrial base, but there is a demand for hunting rifles there. As the place has long been a Danish colony since 1814, its trade was restricted to Denmark - including rifles. The Danish military received a substantial number of M1917 Enfield rifles in .30-06 caliber, and they were used by the Danish Home Guard after World War Two until being eventually sold as surplus. Some of those surplus rifles were modified by the Greenland Trade conglomerate ("Kalaallit Niuerfiat") and sold as commercial hunting rifles.
The conversion pattern used was to mill off the rear aperture sight and replace it with a fixed open notch dovetailed into the chamber area of the barrel. A new front sight was installed to match the height of the rear notch, and the bayonet lug was ground off for some reason. This particular example was originally manufactured in 1917 and used by the Canadian military before being sent to Denmark and eventually sold as surplus.
The M1917 was the standard rifle for the Sirius Patrol, a Greenland military force established during World War Two to prevent establishment of German outposts on Greenland (and very effective in this work). The force still exists today, and still uses M1917 rifles, now paired with 10mm Glock 20 pistols. The commercial sporterized M1917s like the one in this video are not made from Sirius Patrol rifles, however.
Thanks to the Southern Iceland Shooting Association for helping me film this and other cool guns in Iceland!
Comments
John Spangler
Interesting. Barrel date is 12-17, as earliest known Winchester barrel dates are June or July 1917. Other Winchester M1917s in this serial number range were with the U.S. Army at Camp Humphries, VA where Engineer troops were being trained (later renamed Fort Belvoir) in October 1918. The Canadian broad arrow within C indicates service with Canada, probably early in WW2, and at 6:18 you can see a speck ff red paint, probably from the red band painted around the front of the stock for M1917s used by the Brits to indicate .30-06 caliber not to be confused with the.303 Pattern 1914s. Then, from the Brits to Denmark, to Greenland. Well traveled rifles indeed. The roll pin front sights are uniquely Danish, and they provided their armorers with a kit with many different heights to match point of aim to point of impact.
ViejoLobo
Legendary reliability is one reason there's an iron-sighted 1917 in my gun safe. And if Alvin York were around, he could tell you something about a 1917's accuracy. Curious as to how and why Canadian troops were issued 1917s. Could this have been issued to RCAF in WWII, maybe as part of Lend/Lease?
The barbecube
The army ordnance Corp also uses a fire bomb for its logo
