BP accessory?

p14shooter

p14shooter

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I know it is not a very good picture, but a guy I know gave this to me. Said it was used for measuring black powder. As I am not a BP kind of guy I am just wondering if it is. It seems a bit small to me for measuring BP. Can you help me identify it?

Paul
 
It's an oiler, for maintaining your rifle in the field, came stored in the butt of some military rifles maybe SMLE though not my area of interest......Ben
 
It is quite correct for a brass British Army oiler of the type used until quite recently, more or less. This was the accepted pattern, ut during WW2 they needed the brass for other fun toys and so started making these out of Bakelite, a type of phenolic-resin plastic. They are still being used, but in the modern plastic version; even the old Bakelite ones are long gone.

Likely this one will be First World War vintage or possibly even earlier. It should be marked on the base with the Broad Arrow /!\ in one version or another. Many were marked with contractors' initials and dates, so you not only can date the thing, but you know who made it and where. Canadian ones were marked with the Broad Arrow in a big letter "C".

LOTS of fun!

You have the beginnings of a Boer War or WWI collection there, friend.

BTW, THIS is what was stored in that little cubby-hole in the butt of your P-14! This took up about half the space; the other half was taken up by a Pull-through (think of an 1896 Bore-snake).
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Thanks-guys. I never would have thunk that. I tried taking a picture of the base, but it did not turn out good. I see the arrow marking, as well as the initials EFD and what looks like a crown suspended above another symbol. Maybe I will take it to my local legion and see if anyone there can shed more light on its origins, unless you can tell from my vague description.

My p-14 never did have the original stock. It was long replaced before I got it for my TR shooting.

Thanks
 
The Broad Arrow means that it is British Gummint Property. They even used to stencil black Broad Arrows on prison uniforms; you can even see this much in a couple of early Peter Sellers films. The Arrow has fallen out of favor recently and, today, they just print that terrible harsh brown toilet-paper down the middle in red ink: PROPERTY OF H.M. GOVERNMENT. Believe it or not!

Nobody knows for sure how far back in time it goes, but it had shown up already by the end of the 1600s.

EFD is the factory code for the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock on the little River Lea. The plant was started near the end of the Napoleonic Wars and continued in production of new rifles well into the 1980s. The rifle plant is now closed and the old arsenal has been rebuilt into a housing development. Nice part is that several of the old buildings have been preserved. It is just a handful of miles from Waltham Abbey, where the Royal Gunpowder Factory stood for some 400 years just a mile from the Abbey Church at Waltham Holy Cross, constructed in 1030 and rebuilt completely and in far grander estate by Harold Godwinsson in 1060, just 6 years before he became the last ELECTED King of England. (For those interested in such matters, Sidney the Profound will meddle in King Harold's affairs in a later adventure.)

It is likely that your oiler would have been made during the Great War, if that is any help. They seem to be selling for between about $5 and $20 these days. You carried the correct issue Rangoon Oil in the bottle; it was something like about a 5W in modern oils. The little 'spoon' is for picking up the oil a drop at a time and moving it to where it will do the most good.

Have fun!
 
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"...black Broad Arrows on prison uniforms..." Aiming point.
It is an SMLE oiler, but I'd be more creative when you tell you buddy about it. snicker.
 
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