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The M1917 rifle was officially adopted in Denmark in 1953 with the designation of Gevaer M/53. Denmark received 38.395 M1917 rifles in 1953 and 1954 from Canada, another 10.000 in 1956 from Norway. The last batch was received in 1959 again from Norway with an estimate of 13.000 rifles.
In 1962 the Danish Gevaer M/60 was officially adopted. It was a .22 conversion of the M1917 with a total number of 2000 rifles being converted. It's a single shot rifle with a feed barrel and was used as an instruction rifle for the "Danish Homeguard". Also note the Danish modified front sight (pin instead of the original one) and the not shown applied serial on the buttstock (typical Danish marking).
These rifles were all being destroyed, since they were never put for sale and only used for training. This one however escaped, and I was fortunate enough to be in the right position when it came up for sale.
Note that the rifle does not have a magazine guard, it came as shown. It might not be the best idea in regards of bedding, but after all it's only a .22 rifle.
The bolt has been cut back and a new bolt head has been added, which had been pinned and cannot be disassembled. Same for the barrel - closely to the receiver (where usually the chamber is, where the feed barrel has a thicker diameter) there were two holes drilled through the barrel where pins were added which now hold the feed barrel in place.
Note that the rifle has a single shot adapter being welded in place. And after the conversion has been done, the whole rifle has been reparkerized in a dark grey colour.
I've made a few comparison pictures of the "new" extractor pin and the shortened firing pin where I've placed original M1917 parts along those, to show the difference.
To the frontsight, this frontsight is typical for Denmark and can also be found on .30-06 M1917 from Denmark.
The added feed barrel ends not that far away from the original muzzle. I've tried to make a picture, but wasn't that easy. It's probably 2" behind the muzzle.
Worth mentioning: I took it to the range. At 200 metres. Yes, 200 metres for a .22. And after adjusting the sight to the correct heigh I didn't miss any of 25 shots on folding targets ("human targets", since I was at the military range). Pretty awesome I think for a nearly 100 year old rifle design which was converted to .22 in 1960, so basically a 50 year old .22 aswell.
In 1962 the Danish Gevaer M/60 was officially adopted. It was a .22 conversion of the M1917 with a total number of 2000 rifles being converted. It's a single shot rifle with a feed barrel and was used as an instruction rifle for the "Danish Homeguard". Also note the Danish modified front sight (pin instead of the original one) and the not shown applied serial on the buttstock (typical Danish marking).
These rifles were all being destroyed, since they were never put for sale and only used for training. This one however escaped, and I was fortunate enough to be in the right position when it came up for sale.
Note that the rifle does not have a magazine guard, it came as shown. It might not be the best idea in regards of bedding, but after all it's only a .22 rifle.
The bolt has been cut back and a new bolt head has been added, which had been pinned and cannot be disassembled. Same for the barrel - closely to the receiver (where usually the chamber is, where the feed barrel has a thicker diameter) there were two holes drilled through the barrel where pins were added which now hold the feed barrel in place.
Note that the rifle has a single shot adapter being welded in place. And after the conversion has been done, the whole rifle has been reparkerized in a dark grey colour.
I've made a few comparison pictures of the "new" extractor pin and the shortened firing pin where I've placed original M1917 parts along those, to show the difference.
To the frontsight, this frontsight is typical for Denmark and can also be found on .30-06 M1917 from Denmark.
The added feed barrel ends not that far away from the original muzzle. I've tried to make a picture, but wasn't that easy. It's probably 2" behind the muzzle.
Worth mentioning: I took it to the range. At 200 metres. Yes, 200 metres for a .22. And after adjusting the sight to the correct heigh I didn't miss any of 25 shots on folding targets ("human targets", since I was at the military range). Pretty awesome I think for a nearly 100 year old rifle design which was converted to .22 in 1960, so basically a 50 year old .22 aswell.
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