Enfield P14

[Guest Stape1188]

i have an enfield p14 rifle that was sporterized years ago. it shoots .303, the serial # is ERA 12170. this seems low. can anyone help. also has a 17'. and a crown with GR. dont have the original stock but id like to get one.

just looking for any info about this rifle. i only just found out its a p14.

thanks

[Lancashire Fusilier]

i have an enfield p14 rifle that was sporterized years ago. it shoots .303, the serial # is ERA 12170. this seems low. can anyone help. also has a 17'. and a crown with GR. dont have the original stock but id like to get one.

just looking for any info about this rifle. i only just found out its a p14.

thanks

Stape,

Ian Skennerton wrote an excellent book on the P14 rifle " The US Enfield ", with lots of great information about the various P14's, it was first published in 1983, and is still available, albeit sometimes a bit expensive.

Your ERA serial number shows that it was originally manufactured by the American Eddystone Company.

Here is one of the photographs from the book.

Regards,

LF

[4thGordons]

i have an enfield p14 rifle that was sporterized years ago. it shoots .303, the serial # is ERA 12170. this seems low. can anyone help. also has a 17'. and a crown with GR. dont have the original stock but id like to get one.

just looking for any info about this rifle. i only just found out its a p14.

thanks

Hi Stape, welcome to the forum.

What sort of information were you looking for?

The serial is not really all that low, the Eddystone plant (ERA) made @605,000 Pattern 14 rifles according to Skennerton/Stratton's estimates. TonyE might be able to give you more details on the month of production of your particular rifle.

Stocks are not impossible to find if you watch eBay or some of the gun trader sites, but be careful, there has been a relatively large influx of P14 rifles into the USA from India in the past couple of years and a pretty high proportion of these appear to have been converted to Drill Purpose (DP). In most instances with P14s this involved drilling a 1/2" hole transversely through the chamber, this matters because to do this and show it a larger (1"+) hole was cut through the fore-end and rear handguard. Sellers sometimes are unaware or omit this little detail! Were you to assemble such a stock on the rifle it would be completely functional but would have a rather odd circle missing on each side.

You also need to watch out for American M1917 stocks which are not identical although they are very similar.

Pattern 14 stocks have asymmetrical grasping grooves - the ones on the left are longer. This is one way to distinguish the P14 stock. Most of them will also have inletting (may be filled) for a butt-stock marking disc on the right side of the butt-stock and a volley sight base plate on the left about half way down side. The majority of surviving P14s appear to have gone through something known as the WRS (Weedon Repair Standard) programme at the outset of WWII when they were removed from storage and had the pointer of the dial sight removed (or ground off) and the stock marking disk inletting filled. M1917 stocks do not have the marking disk or the volley sight base. (although there are some WWII production UK p14 stocks (H Morris and Co) that do not either - these are usually stamped MkII)

Eddystone also produced a stock that is without grasping grooves and is significantly fatter than the stocks usually fitted by Remington/Winchester. These have no finger grooves and are often called "Fatso" stocks. I am not sure if the changeover point is known or it even existed (if both styles of stock were being fitted simultaneously?) but either style would probably be correct for your rifle.

Here is an Eddystone P14 MkI* in a "Fatso" stock.

and a Winchester MkI in a standard stock.

Hope that helps some, If TonyE sees this he may be able to give you delivery data based on the serial number

Chris

[Guest Stape1188]

also i was looking at some other markings on it and saw some things that i dont understand. if it was made in the US, isnt the GR crown a british stamp? it says .303 not english make on the side of the receiver. i also saw an arrow(just like the arrow on your shift key) then a W followed by numbers. the bolt matches the 12170 on the receiver but also has a W. im confused because its an ERA, but i read that W is winchester. could the W i see on mine be something else?

thanks

[TonyE]

The Pattern '14 rifles made by Winchester, Remington and Remington Eddystone were all made to a British contract and were inspected and accepted by British inspectors working in the American factories. If you look at the inspection stamps you will see that they consist of Crown over a number over "A", which indicates the location of the inspectors, i.e. "A" for America.

Even if the rifles had not been inspected at the factory, they would still have been inspected and proofed on arrival in the UK and given similar stamps.

Your particular Eddystone rifle, ERA12170 was accepted by the British inspectors in the week of 8th July 1916. It may have been made a week or so earlier depending on the time lag between manufacture and inspection. The first Eddystone Pattern '14 rifles had been accepted in the last week of March 1916.

"W" on components does indicate Winchester manufacture. Does your bolt show any signs of being renumbered? A picture of the bolt number could help us sort that out.

Regards

TonyE

[pioneecorps]

Hi All

I have a front sight ajuster made by: PARKER-HALE. R M 303. INCH. PATTERN. 1914, would have been used on this rifle.

Gerwyn

[TonyE]

A nice accessory, quite hard to find these days. I think that your example is probably a civilian one made for target shooters or possibly for purchase by Home Guard units, but the military version is virtually identical.

Regards

TonyE

[pioneecorps]

A nice accessory, quite hard to find these days. I think that your example is probably a civilian one made for target shooters or possibly for purchase by Home Guard units, but the military version is virtually identical.

Regards

TonyE

Hi TonyE

Thank you for the information, just did a search on what their going for, came across one on ebay, being sold as a original for US 75 dollars.

Gerwyn