Grandad's .303

[Paatz]

I believe this is an ERA P14.
It's been hanging on the wall for decades so I brought it out to the light of day for a few quick shots.
Obviously the stock has been modified, and I think the barrel has been floated.
I didn't check it but it has that feel.

I haven't shot it ately but I seem to recall it might need an ejector spring.

 

[neal]

Do you have a bolt for it? I don't see one in the pics

 

[Paatz]

Yup it's locked up in the safe. Thought that was best since I don't have a trigger lock.

 

[mmattockx]

Wow, great heirloom and in great shape. I think you are now obligated to go out and take a deer (or elk, moose, etc.) with it to honour him.


Mark

 

[smellie]

An original P-'14 with the rear volley-sight INTACT!!! AND a Butt Marking Disc intact!

Oh, I DO hope the barrel hasn't been bobbed!

From what we see here, restorable.

For a milsurp nut, a challenge to restore.

For a family rifle, irreplaceable, of course.

For a hunting rifle, it is capable of flattening anything in North America with one well-placed slug.

For a target rifle, it would work fine for classic matches as-is, or the rear sight can be replaced with a no-gunsmithing mount and a scope mounted. Then, you would find that it will keep up with just about ANY modern rifle built in the under-$6,000 range.... and shoot better than many of them.

Ejector spring: friend, you are SOL here. There are none. The ejector on this rifle rides through the slot in the left-hand lugs, same as any other true Mauser variant. Problem is that the SPRING was made integral with the ejector, and thus very hard: they snapped off. It was the ONLY bad point in the entire design. What I do is go to the bank and steal a ballpoint pen, take it home and disassemble the thing. I use HALF of the little spring that the retractor mechanism uses. Clean the ejector well and use ONE DROP to epoxy the little spring onto the shank, forward from where the original ejector spring has broken off, let it cure, then assemble the rifle. If you have done it right, the ejector now will function perfectly and the new spring will NOT break. I have 2 rifles here that I did this with in 1978 and they are both still working perfectly.

Nice find!

BTW, what are the markings on the butt disc? They could be very interesting.

Good luck!
.

 

[Talquin]

An original P-'14 with the rear volley-sight INTACT!!! AND a Butt Marking Disc intact!

Oh, I DO hope the barrel hasn't been bobbed!

From what we see here, restorable.

For a milsurp nut, a challenge to restore.

For a family rifle, irreplaceable, of course.

For a hunting rifle, it is capable of flattening anything in North America with one well-placed slug.

For a target rifle, it would work fine for classic matches as-is, or the rear sight can be replaced with a no-gunsmithing mount and a scope mounted. Then, you would find that it will keep up with just about ANY modern rifle built in the under-$6,000 range.... and shoot better than many of them.

Ejector spring: friend, you are SOL here. There are none. The ejector on this rifle rides through the slot in the left-hand lugs, same as any other true Mauser variant. Problem is that the SPRING was made integral with the ejector, and thus very hard: they snapped off. It was the ONLY bad point in the entire design. What I do is go to the bank and steal a ballpoint pen, take it home and disassemble the thing. I use HALF of the little spring that the retractor mechanism uses. Clean the ejector well and use ONE DROP to epoxy the little spring onto the shank, forward from where the original ejector spring has broken off, let it cure, then assemble the rifle. If you have done it right, the ejector now will function perfectly and the new spring will NOT break. I have 2 rifles here that I did this with in 1978 and they are both still working perfectly.

Nice find!

BTW, what are the markings on the butt disc? They could be very interesting.

Good luck!
.

I love these post sometimes. Were else would you hear the advice for restoring a rifle by stealing from a bank!

 

[Paatz]

Thanks for the kind words and advice.
Next time I'll get a pic of the business end, and the markings.
The barrel length is intact and has the original sight.
There's nothing really legible on the brass disc.

I see you're in rural MB, smellie. How far out of the city are you?
Do these use stripper clips? Where can I get some?

 

[Papaclaude]

Thanks for the kind words and advice.
Next time I'll get a pic of the business end, and the markings.
The barrel length is intact and has the original sight.
There's nothing really legible on the brass disc.

I see you're in rural MB, smellie. How far out of the city are you?
Do these use stripper clips? Where can I get some?

I believe stripper clips are little silver or gold clips used to clip wads of money together. Waving them around in a stripper bar will generally get the girls to strip faster, the speed of stripping being directly proportional to the thickness of the wad of bills. You can get them at pretty well any jewelry store. My uncle had one, but I don't know where it is now.

 

[Talquin]

Editing post

If it uses the same stripper clip as a lee enfield I have one or two I can dig out for you. Send me a pm with your number and I will call you, I work in winnipeg Monday through friday

 

[Ganderite]

Thank you. Never saw the volley sight before.

 

[mg4201]

go out and shoot that rifle! if the bore is good it is probably a good shooter and a fine moose deer bear gun.

 

[collector67]

Makes me wonder if there is anything stamped on the underside of the stock disc? It's probably just a blank used as a filler, but you never know....

 

[Paatz]

go out and shoot that rifle!

More good advice!

 

[plinker 777]

An original P-'14 with the rear volley-sight INTACT!!! AND a Butt Marking Disc intact!

Oh, I DO hope the barrel hasn't been bobbed!

From what we see here, restorable.

For a milsurp nut, a challenge to restore.

For a family rifle, irreplaceable, of course.

For a hunting rifle, it is capable of flattening anything in North America with one well-placed slug.

For a target rifle, it would work fine for classic matches as-is, or the rear sight can be replaced with a no-gunsmithing mount and a scope mounted. Then, you would find that it will keep up with just about ANY modern rifle built in the under-$6,000 range.... and shoot better than many of them.

Ejector spring: friend, you are SOL here. There are none. The ejector on this rifle rides through the slot in the left-hand lugs, same as any other true Mauser variant. Problem is that the SPRING was made integral with the ejector, and thus very hard: they snapped off. It was the ONLY bad point in the entire design. What I do is go to the bank and steal a ballpoint pen, take it home and disassemble the thing. I use HALF of the little spring that the retractor mechanism uses. Clean the ejector well and use ONE DROP to epoxy the little spring onto the shank, forward from where the original ejector spring has broken off, let it cure, then assemble the rifle. If you have done it right, the ejector now will function perfectly and the new spring will NOT break. I have 2 rifles here that I did this with in 1978 and they are both still working perfectly.

Nice find!

BTW, what are the markings on the butt disc? They could be very interesting.

Good luck!
.

When you walked into the bank with your rifle and asked for a pen, can I assume the teller complied without hesitation?!.....