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Part II

Pattern 14 Enfield

CHRONOLOGICALLY this part should precede the 1917 Enfield but since the P-14 action and rifle aren’t nearly as important to the average reader, I’ve given them a second place.

For a detailed review of the history and development of the British P-14, I suggest readers get The Lee-Enfield Rifle, by E.G.B. Reynolds, and read Chapter 11.

Briefly, the British became interested about 1910 in adopting a different military cartridge and a new shoulder arm to replace the old 303 British cartridge and the two-piece stocked Lee-Enfield rifle.

The cartridge favored was of 276-caliber in a rimless bottlenecked case. The Small Arms Committee which had supervised development recommended the new rifle be based on a Mauser-type turnbolt action, and made similar to the 1903 Springfield. The trial rifle was developed by Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, Middlesex, England. After some testing, in competition with other rifles, the Enfield rifles showed promise. It was decided that 1000 of these rifles he made and thoroughly tested before making any final decision on the rifle or cartridge. This was in 1913, and the arm was named “Rifle, Enfield, Caliber .276, Pattern of 1913.”

The 1000 Pattern 13 rifles were manufactured at Enfield and distributed to various British troops for extensive testing. The 276 cartridge did not perform as expected, metal fouling being the major problem. Some minor faults found in the rifle were easily corrected, and after the trials the Enfield plant made up six new rifles without these faults. It was now 1914. England had got involved in World War I, so all further experiments and trials of the 276 were dropped.

However, the British had developed a good rifle, and they were in desperate need of many rifles to arm their troops. The British arsenals were still tooled up to make the Lee-Enfield rifles in quantity, so it was decided to retain this arm, and have the new rifles, chambered for the 303 British cartridge, made elsewhere. It was thus that the British awarded contracts to the three U.S. firms to make the new Enfield. This was in 1914, and the new rifle then became known as the Model (or Pattern) 1914 Enfield.

The three firms were Winchester, Remington and Eddystone. During 1915, 1916 and 1917 Winchester made about 245,866 rifles for England, Eddystone made about 450,000 and Remington probably made more. In March of 1917, shortly before the British contract was canceled, Remington made up to 61,000 P-l4 rifles in that one month alone.

Pattern (P-14) 1914 Enfield action made for the 303 British cartridge. Note the two grooves in the side of the magazine box, grooves which produce ridges inside the box, and which are needed for the rimmed 303 British cartridge.

The Pattern 14 (P-14) Action

The P-14 Enfield action is essentially like the 1917 Enfield except that it is made to handle the rimmed 303 British cartridge.

Here are the specifications of the P-14 action which differ from the 1917 Enfield action.

Bolt face recess: Dia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..545” Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..60”

Magazine box length . . . . . . . . .3.06 ”

Receiver well opening: Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.135 ” Front width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..555” Rear width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..610”

The parts that are different are the receiver, bolt, magazine box, follower, ejector and extractor.

The P-14 receiver differs in having a wider magazine-well opening, milled to hold and guide the 303 British round. The P-14 bolt had a larger diameter cartridge head recess, and a left locking lug with a rounded front end.

The extractor has a narrow hook and this hook is well beveled so that the extractor will easily slip over the rim of a cartridge that is chambered ahead of the extractor. The P-14 ejector is longer than the Model 1917 ejector, and the P-14 receiver has a longer ejector slot to accommodate it.

The biggest difference between these two actions is in the magazine box and follower. The P-14 magazine box has sides made of heavy gauge sheet metal into which grooves are pressed to form rounded ridges in the rear of the box guide and hold the cartridges by their rims, and in loading the 303 British rounds into the magazine in the normal way their rims slide to the rear of these ridges. The rear ridges as well as the rear wall of the magazine box, angle slightly to the rear, and as more than one cartridge is pressed into the magazine each preceeding cartridge moves back a little so that the rim of the succeeding one will be ahead of the one below it. This does a lot to help eliminate the problem of incorrect overlapping of the cartridge rims to prevent feeding jams. The rear ridges also hold the cartridges securely in the magazine so that they cannot move forward when the rifle recoils and thus protecting the points of the bullets. The second ridges are near the center of the magazine box and these merely position and hold the cartridges away from the side walls so that the bullets in the cartridges are pointed to feed correctly.

The P-14 follower has a rib along its left side to stagger the cartridges in the magazine, and this rib is square in back to halt the forward movement of the bolt when the magazine is empty, but it differs from the Model 1917 follower in that its right front groove curves upward to properly guide the last cartridge in the magazine so its bullet will clear the loading ramp as it is fed out.

The P-14 action will handle the 30-40 Krag cartridge as well as the 303 British. Since it is a very strong action it would be ideal for rebarreling to any wildcat cartridge based on the 303 British or 30-40 Krag case, such as the 22/303, 22/4000 Krag, 25/303, 25 Krag, 25 Krag Improved and 35 Krag.

Bolt head of the 1917 (right) and the P-14 Enfield (left). Note extractor hook and left locking lug.

Stoeger Arms Corp. once sold (about 1939) a double-set trigger mechanism especially made for the P-14 Enfield.

While the P-14 bolt face and extractor are correct for the 300 H&H belted magnum head size, the magazine is too short to handle any of the popular commercial and wildcat cartridges based on this case. However, by substituting the 1917 magazine box and follower it will handle most of these cartridges, and thus be ideal for rebarreling to such short belted magnums as the 264, 7mm, 300, 308 Norma and others. The magazine well and guide lips usually need some work to obtain perfect feeding.

Since the time P.O. Ackley first popularized the “improved” cartridge rechamberings, one which responded favorably to this treatment was the 303 British.

After the standard 303 British cases are fire formed (blown-out) by firing them in the “improved” chamber, careful handloading can result in considerably higher velocity.

There are a number of rifles chambered for the 303 British cartridge, but the P-14 is the only bolt-action rifle for which the 303 British Improved rechambering can be recommended, because it is a strong action and can safely handle pressures higher than the factory loaded 303 British cartridge normally develops. The “improved” rechambering is a simple job, and it offers the handloader more energy and velocity than the factory load can deliver.

P-14 actions are fully as strong and safe as the 1917 Enfield actions and, as with the 1917s, those with the Remington and Winchester names are preferred over the Eddystones. Because the 303 British cartridge has long been very popular in Canada, the P-14s have also been popular there; a great many of them were remodeled and sporterized for big game hunting. The P-14 rifle can be so treated just like the 1917 Enfields, and the illustration of the Remington Models 30, 30S and 720 show what can be done with either rifle.

It was good news when in the early 1990s a large quantity of P-14 rifles were unearthed and made available again from a couple of surplus arms dealers. I obtained one for its action, shortened it and modified it to be used as a single shot. I have not as yet chosen a cartridge for it but most likely it will be the 219 Donaldson Wasp.