I got a 1917 in a trade around 1970. It appeared in nice shape but when I fired it, the bullets key holed and obviously accuracy was awful.
I took a better look at the barrel and it was not in too bad shape but out of curiosity I put a .308 bullet in the end of the barrel and to my surprise, it fell all the way through.
I paid a gunsmith to install a new inexpensive barrel. When I picked it up, he apologized that it was not very accurate.
I don’t know if it was the loads he was using or the scope or maybe he was just a bad shot but when I tried it, the groups were under 2 inches and sometimes better. Plenty good enough.
Yep. I was suprised at how well the .300 H&H shoots. Not sure if the barrel was twisted for 180 gr or 200 gr .06 loads in the day, but it works. The trajectory with those 200 gr Partitions is similar to 165 gr .06 loads so it is an elk thumper for a ways out there.