The m1917 action is a very good and strong action. I have had several rifles made on the 1917 and the Pattern 14. All have turned out well. The rifles shoot well and the actions can be made to work very smoothly. Currently I have a .30-40 Krag on a Winchester m1917 and a .458 Lott on a Remington 1917. Great shooting guns and I love their looks. There is some cutting involved as one needs to mill off the ears, etc. I kept mine cock-on-closing as it does not bother me. I don't know about prices in Australia, but for the Lott, I had about $1,200 U.S. dollars in the metal work. A longer magazine box was added for the Lott and some work had to be done to the rails because of the dang belt on the Lott case. It now holds 4 rounds in the magazine and one in the spout. It feeds like a dream. No jams and shoots very well. It wears a ghost ring sight in the rear and a banded front sight with brass bead. The rifle is very light (ouch about 7 1/2 pounds with a metal crescent butt plate). That is simply too light for the Lott, but standing up and shooting at game, I don't really notice, but it is a bear at the range with 500 grain projectiles at 2250 fps. I have at least one or two other Pattern 14 actions sitting around and maybe another M1917. I just can't remember as they are sitting at my gunsmith's shop waiting other projects like a .338-06 and a 8x57mm on a BRNO Mauser action. In my opinion, you did well building on a M1917 action. I like the action and it is certainly a very rigid action. There are some gunsmiths here in the states that won't build heavy caliber guns on any other commercial action. That speaks volumes for their strength. Art Alpin used to make some really big stompers on the M1917 and I did consider building a .577 T-Rex on one, but then got my wits about me! Certainly wasn't worried about the strength of the action however.

Nyati50