Advantages and Disadvantages of P14 and P17 actions

After the WWI,Canada had thought to build the P-14 at the Ross factory,but England choose to stick with the SMLE.they had a lot of them. Since the rifles were to be used at home ,30.06 makes good sense,our neighbour to the south used that caliber as well.The brilliant C.D. Howe made sure we had ammo for them as well.The Enfield 30.06,the correct Canadian name, works better with rimless cartridge than the P-14 with the rimmed 303,too. I have one of the bought,not lend-lease, rifles sporterized.
 
I've got a Whitworth rifle that is based on the P-17 action.

It's a 308 rifle that was commercially produced in England using P-17 actions. The bolt is polished and the barrel was replaced in manufacturing. A new stock was added. I'll post a photo when I find one.

I also have a newly acquired surplus Remington P-17.
 
downwindtracker2 said:
After the WWI,Canada had thought to build the P-14 at the Ross factory,but England choose to stick with the SMLE.they had a lot of them. Since the rifles were to be used at home ,30.06 makes good sense,our neighbour to the south used that caliber as well.The brilliant C.D. Howe made sure we had ammo for them as well.The Enfield 30.06,the correct Canadian name, works better with rimless cartridge than the P-14 with the rimmed 303,too. I have one of the bought,not lend-lease, rifles sporterized.

No surprise about feeding better with a rimless, it was designed for the .276 Enfield P13 cartridge!
Seems odd that despite claims it feeds better, I have noticed no difference between the models espicially the P14* having fired both calibres in rapid matches. I'd say that as Canada was producing .303 cartridges for the Ross rifle and its stock of SMLE's etc then supply shouldnt have been an issue. The Browning MGs in air force use (Commonwealth) were all converted successfully to .303 from .30 06 so even issuing to the RCAF for air field defence made no logistical sense unless they were given the ammo free as part of the package!
 
Tim,at the beginning of the war Mackenzie King and Roosevelt(sp) in railway car in upstate N.Y.,made a deal,North America would be a joint defense.(still in effect)So using a common caliber makes sense.This deal allowed us to ship everything we had to England.The Ross rifles we had in storage were even shipped over.

As well as ' 18 Eddystone P-17 308Norma sporter,I have '17 P-14 Winchester with a sporter stock and a Timmey trigger. Shooting battle sights off the bench the P-14 gives 3/4"x 4" groups.The 4" is me and elevation:redface: The P-17 is one of the most accurate rifles I own.The Enfield rifling is accurate.
 
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