In the Armory: The M1917 Enfield Rifle

In this episode, Dustin DePue reviews the history and features of the M1917 Enfield Rifle. 

While the venerable M1903 Springfield rifle is synonymous with the U.S. infantryman in WWI, the M1917 Enfield shared the role of battle rifle and actually outnumbered the M1903 on the Western Front. It also has the interesting distinction of being a British design that the U.S. adopted when the need came to supply more rifles to U.S. troops. U.S. arms manufacturers were tooled up to produce British P14 rifles so rather than retool the factories, the U.S. decided to make P14 rifles chambered in the same 30-06 round used in the M1903 rifle. 

DUSTIN DEPUE is the Museum & Library’s Director of Collections. In this position, Dustin manages the Pritzker Military Museum & Library's Special Collections, Archives, and Digital Lab. Additionally, he and his team oversee the acquisition, preservation, cataloging, and display of archival collections, artifacts, photographs, prints, and posters. He holds a Masters in Library and Information Science from Dominican University and a B.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago.

The episode will be LIVE on our Facebook page.