P-14's and P-17's who has them

I was recently told by a gunsmith / gun builder that the P14 and 17, '03 Springfield, and Lee Enfields should be relegated to wall-hangers as the metal in their respective actions deteriorates or weakens over time and could quite literally blow up.
Many years ago I recall hearing stories of certain Springfields being iffey to use, but never the P14/17 and having seen and used several aside from my 404, I find this hard to swallow.
My brother who unfortunately doesn't own a computer and can't speak up here has several, among them a 505 Gibbs, a 510 Wells, a 416 Rigby,a 264 Mag, and a few others. He likes working with them not only for their size but especially their strength factor, so is this open to debate ?
Maybe I can keep this thread going for another post or two if I put up a pic of my old reliable Rem 30 (Enfield) in 35 Whelen.....failing that maybe Kell can work his magic again ??
 
Quote; I was recently told by a gunsmith / gun builder that the P14 and 17, '03 Springfield, and Lee Enfields should be relegated to wall-hangers as the metal in their respective actions deteriorates or weakens over time and could quite literally blow up.

Your gunsmith is an idiot or a liar.
 
buckbrush said:
Quote; I was recently told by a gunsmith / gun builder that the P14 and 17, '03 Springfield, and Lee Enfields should be relegated to wall-hangers as the metal in their respective actions deteriorates or weakens over time and could quite literally blow up.

Your gunsmith is an idiot or a liar.
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Just to clarify this....he is definitely NOT my gunsmith...as a matter of fact if he were the only gunsmith around, I'd take up quilting or knitting !
 
P-14/17 metal

The "Enfield" is made from the same nickle steel as pre-war M-70.Being high production war time military rifles,there may some less than perfect ones.But the same less than perfect heat treating has been said of the pre war M-70,too.I shoot magnum pressures in my four P-17s and can't get enough IMR 4064 into a 303 case for the P-14.The gas-handling of the Pattern rifles makes using good cases a must.

Ejectors break,Gunparts sell a kit or convert your own.

These rifles look best with a full weatherby type stock,the more you do, the better they look.
 
The only bad thing my gunsmith told me about the P14/P17 is that he didn't want me to bring in anymore projects! :eek:
They took a lot of time and the threads were not too fun to cut. Either that or my money had an odor.

If anyone out there is able to cut the square threads, shoot me a pm.

I'm not sure on the metal deterorating. I have a 280AI that was too tough to drill/tap. I had a machine shop heat it up to 'X' temp, then draw it down slowly. It was easier to drill and tap, but still pretty hard compared to modern Remington.

Cheers guys, and keep those old girls shooting!
 
P14's & P17's

I have 7 ot 8, P14's & P17's in original condition. Used some in a film about 10 years ago.

I also have an extra P14 that someone started to sporterise so I won't be keepig it. I picked up a new in the white P14 barrel that I was going to use for a restoration but I will hang on to it until I find something worth trading it for. I have about 5 or 6 stocks and a few sets of top wood waiting for restoration work.
 
Here's a rifle I had built from a bubb'd M1917 Remington (P17). Now chambered in .300Holland&Holland. Has been about two years in the making and wau more money than it should have cost, but I think it turned out alright. At the range today it produced many 1" groups with my latest scope arrangment.
Geoff in Victoria
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I have 2 questions about the P-14. I am curious how one can change a 303 british to a 308 norma mag?.

Were do you find the wood stocks
 
I had a p14 action, and went to a gunshow and bought an unfinished sporter stock for it, ($50)and a 303 barrel ($15) for it, I got Bevan King to make a 303 winchester magnum out of it($75). I reload 300 win mag brass with .311 bullets. I put in the cartridge box out of a M17, and opened up the action so it would feed. It is phenomenal. It shoots much better than I do. It is moly coated, (I am a moly fanatic), and with the full length barrel it is as accurate as anything I have shot. I bought a bunch of speer 200 gr grandslams for it, and at 2975 fps they are verrrrrrry flat. Another action may be "lighter, faster, have shorter lock time, etc" but you would have a hard time convincing me it is "better" than an enfield.
Allen
 
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big30-06 said:
I have 2 questions about the P-14. I am curious how one can change a 303 british to a 308 norma mag?.

Were do you find the wood stocks
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Buy a contoured 30 cal barrel blank and have it threaded for the P14 action. Remove the P14 barrel. Be very careful as they are extremely tight. You should take a relief cut around the front of the receiver (on the barrel) before you try and turn off the old barrel. Purchase a M-17 mag box, or a commercial mag box and follower for the P14/M17 rifles (Brownells or Numrich). Install and chamber your new 30 cal barrel. Install and ensure feeding of new mag box and follower. Stock blanks may be purchased from various stock makers in Canada and the US, as well as synthetics (MPI, Ramline, etc, depending on your budget). Depending on the stock design and the particular mag box you purchased, you may have to straighten out your bottom metal to fit (and perhaps change the trigger for the same reasons). Sights and/or drilling and tapping for scope mounts are another chapter, which may (or may not, but generally do) require spot annealing to soften the metal enough to drill in the receiver. These are the main points, there are lots of minor ones to go along with these. FWIW - dan
 
Here are a couple of notable ones in my collection:

First up, is a rifle I call the "Eskimo Rifle" because it is an old Remington P-14 that had been sporterized by an Inuit trapper. Apparently, he used it for his whole hunting career before he left this world for other hunting grounds. As you can see, he'd spent a long time inlaying the stock with walrus ivory, in addition to building the comb, carving a cheekpiece and adding a recoil pad. I bought it at a gun show ten years ago for an unspeakably low price and promptly had the chamber re-cut with a .300 Winchester Magnum reamer to yield a ".303 Winchester Magnum". I also had it drilled for scope mounting and added an old Redfield 3-9 that I had lying around.

All in all, it's a unique rifle and a real keeper, though I have yet to take any game with it.

EskimoRifle.jpg



EskimoRifleforend.jpg



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Here is a 200-metre group I fired a number of years ago using a Hornady .303 bullet. In truth, it doesn't shoot at this level anymore because the barrel fouls very quickly now. Still, the rifle is easily sub-m.o.a. Not bad for something made two years after the Titanic sank!

EskimoRifleTarget2001.jpg


(FYI, the two shots on the right were fired by a buddy, and the low shot was the first shot out of a cold, clean barrel.)


Next on the block is a target rifle that a gunsmith friend built for me when I started to get into target shooting in 2001. It is constructed entirely out of spare and discarded parts, including a used Donnelly .3065" barrel. It's chambered for .308 Win., and I've got a Leupold 6.5-20 mounted on it. The other unique feature is that the bottom of the action has been welded to make it into a single shot, and it uses a Remington 700-style recoil lug, for added rigidity and bedding surface.


Donnelly2.jpg



Those of you who may have read my post on the Precision Rifles forum last March will remember that, for some reason, this barrel rusted out while it was sitting in my safe. It was so bad that I couldn't even see daylight through the bore! In order to save it, I had to use valve-grinding compound and steel wool and scrub the heck out of it -- to the point where I almost thought I had done damage.

Doesn't this sound like a disaster?

Well, the results were beyond spectacular, almost into the realm of spooky. Over the last year, I've taken it to the range many, many times. Here is the typical 300 yard performance:


Donnelly-180300b.jpg





Neither of these rifles will ever win any beauty contests, and they are probably the cheapest firearms I own. However, if "only accurate rifles are interesting", these are definitely among the most "interesting" rifles I own!
 
Question(s): What's an "entry level" barrel worth for a P17? (.30cal), and who carries them? How about used ones? (barrels, that is)

thanks,
RC
 
I have a P14 Eddystone, all original. If I did a sporter, this action would be on my short list. I used to hunt with a guy who had a P17 with a custom stock, aftermarket trigger, cut down barrel and it was a beauty. I know this isn't the milsurp forum, but if you have sporters with the sights and barrels not modified, guys are buying them and finding parts to put them back original.
 
BSA/P17 sporter

Just picked up this BSA/P17 sporter or Model B as I've seen them referred to. Still in .30-06 and just begging to be re-chambered to .300 Holland&Holland.
Cheers
Geoff in Victoria
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BSAP17Sporterrightbutt.jpg
 
longbranch* said:
Just picked up this BSA/P17 sporter or Model B as I've seen them referred to. Still in .30-06 and just begging to be re-chambered to .300 Holland&Holland.
Cheers
Geoff in Victoria
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Very nice rifle!

As far as I know besides re-chamber the barrel you will still have to replace the bolt and extractor for any magnum caliber, I think the P-14 is easier to convert to magnum caliber.

May be someone can chime in to verfiy that.

Cheers
 
.300 h+h

Actually I can answer that. Couple years ago I had a really minty, but bubb'd Remington M1917 (P17), barrelled action with the ears cut off, drilled/taped. Had a gunsmith on the mainland re-chamber to .300 H+H and alter mag box etc and use a P14 bolt I supplied. That part wasnt to expensive. It was the stock I had him build that went waaay over budget. See page 5 of this thread. Wish I'd started with this rifle and I'd have saved about $1,500.00.
Cheers
Geoff
Spcamno said:
Very nice rifle!

As far as I know besides re-chamber the barrel you will still have to replace the bolt and extractor for any magnum caliber, I think the P-14 is easier to convert to magnum caliber.

May be someone can chime in to verfiy that.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
Spcamno said:
Very nice rifle!

As far as I know besides re-chamber the barrel you will still have to replace the bolt and extractor for any magnum caliber, I think the P-14 is easier to convert to magnum caliber.

May be someone can chime in to verfiy that.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Why replace the bolt?:confused: Just open up the bolt face and extractor!
 
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