P14/P17 Stock bolt/recoil lug

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MATCH27

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I have been restocking a P17 and have run into an issue. I can't get the stock bolt/recoil lug out of the sporter stock. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to help with this?

If all else fails i have thought of just putting a brass rod through with some acra-glass.
 
If you undo the back of the trigger guard first it and wiggle it a bit it may make it easier to take the front bolt out that goes into the recoil lug. Sometimes the trigger guard can be bent or twisted a bit and causes that screw to be difficult. Once the screw is out you can hold the barrel and tap the stock down off the receiver.

I have a feeling it was bedded and they missed some realiser in places
 
MATCH27 said:
I have been restocking a P17 and have run into an issue. I can't get the stock bolt/recoil lug out of the sporter stock. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to help with this?

If all else fails i have thought of just putting a brass rod through with some acra-glass.
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I think Evanguy is on the right track, it was probably bedded a little too well.

You can also hold the fore stock in one hand and barrel in the other and gently but persistently wiggle it apart (after taking off action screws, trigger guard, and mag well of course).

Another way is to hold the rifle upside down (holding action in stock with some slack) and tap the top of the barrel against a padded harder surface such as a wood block or bench. That will usually break it free. You don't want to hit it too hard because you can crack the stock.

Let us know if you can get it out.

What are you restocking it with? An original or repro full set or a sporter stock?

Good luck.
 
It is also possible to freeze the thing - either outside in minus 30 C or into a freezer - for a couple hours - I had read that the metal will shrink a slight bit more than the epoxy - so aids to release. I had that happen on a Model 70 Winchester - was "experimenting" with a new-to-me release product - I must have not followed directions or missed an area - damn thing was "glued together" - but the freezing trick let me get it apart.

I can not say I have ever had a Mauser or a M1907 or a P14 that I could not unscrew the front action screw with snug fitting screw driver into the action screw slot - sometimes needs another tool on the shank of screwdriver - but some people pretty sloppy with epoxy or too handy with various loctite products - those would make the thing to be "glued" together in the threads. You can read up on several ways to make that screw "hot" to melt loctite or epoxy - if that is the issue. Or, it could be plain old rusting in the threads, but that would be unusual.

You will NOT get the barrelled action out of the wood stock, until you get the action screws removed - both of them. A very crude, last ditch effort would be to take a hatchet or wood chisel after that stock - chop it off / split in pieces - then deal with the screws that won't turn.
 
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I am restoring a sporter with a repro full stock set. The rifle is in the new stock and 99% complete. They only thing i have left to do is the stock bolt (the one that is horizontal through the stock like an ishy screw). I just cant get it out of the old stock. When i try to unscrew it the whole thing just spins, and there is no slot for a screwdriver on the other side to prevent this
 
I did read somewhere that they did something to the bolt so it wouldnt come loose and you cant take it apart. However i havent been able to find much information on it
 
MATCH27 said:
I am restoring a sporter with a repro full stock set. The rifle is in the new stock and 99% complete. They only thing i have left to do is the stock bolt (the one that is horizontal through the stock like an ishy screw). I just cant get it out of the old stock. When i try to unscrew it the whole thing just spins, and there is no slot for a screwdriver on the other side to prevent this
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That recoil cross bolt originally usually was very tight in it's hole - some of them (like in Mauser 98) went to a rectangle shape inside - the receiver recoil lug was often a "metal to metal" contact with that cross bolt - often is visible when looking into the empty stock - idea was two fold - to hold the stock together in that place, and so the cross bolt would accept recoil from the rifle action recoil lug and transmit the force to the wood.

Is several "P17" stocks here - they are about the same as P14 stocks, except P14 has a screw slot in that cross bolt head - on the ones with that cross bolt removed, appears to be just a round hole through the wood - it goes through the wood block part that the recoil lug rests against. If it turns, that suggests the wood is likely gone punky or rotten - might be easiest to chisel away at that recoil area - on the inside - to expose the shank of that cross bolt - grab it with vice grips or something and then undo the nut. Then use brass punch to push or punch out that bolt.

Whatever you chiselled out could be replaced with epoxy, but I suspect the donor stock is pretty much done. Or, as mentioned in an earlier post, just hack away at the donor stock from the outside - with a chisel or hatchet - chop / split it off without dinging the metal.
 
It is just an old sporter stock i had thought of just cutting it out.

Its really too bad someone butchered it in the past. Nice RCAF and c broad arrow stamps on the butt
 
MATCH27 said:
I am restoring a sporter with a repro full stock set. The rifle is in the new stock and 99% complete. They only thing i have left to do is the stock bolt (the one that is horizontal through the stock like an ishy screw). I just cant get it out of the old stock. When i try to unscrew it the whole thing just spins, and there is no slot for a screwdriver on the other side to prevent this
Click to expand...

Match 27, one side of that ''stock reinforcing screw'' for pattern 14/17 enfield rifles has a slotted head, with a hole through the center. You will need a screwdriver that has been ground out in the center to clear the bolt and only grip the nut. This screwdriver has to be fitted ''tight''

The nut will likely be ''rusted'' to both the wood and bolt.

You will need to ''break the rust'' to get the nut to turn and it will not be easy.

I have been successful in removing the nut by placing the stock reinforcing screw head against a hard surface and using a 4 ounce hammer to rap against the screwdriver when the blade is inserted in the nut. Be careful, if you're trying to save the sporter stock.

What usually happens is the whole bolt comes loose inside the stock and turns.

If the head of the bolt hasn't been sanded to much, there may or may not be a ''slot'', two stake holes or it may just be flush. Depends on when and where it was assembled originally.

If you have the means, the bolts are easily reproduced or you can usually find one online at places such as Marstar, a banner supporter of the site, at the top of the page.

If it were mine and I wanted to save the stock, I would purchase another from Marstar or get one made up or make one up.

I used to make them up by purchasing a hex head bolt/nut from the hardware store of the appropriate diameter, length(can be filed), chucking it up in a hand drill and turning the hex head against a file to get the proper diameter. Same for the nut. Of course this requires a lot of ''fitting''
 
MATCH27 said:
It is just an old sporter stock i had thought of just cutting it out.

Its really too bad someone butchered it in the past. Nice RCAF and c broad arrow stamps on the butt
Click to expand...

Is likely up to you - probably you get to save one or the other - the cross bolt or the stock. As posted above, I think cross bolt replacements are still available - not sure that any more "P17" stocks being made with "RCAF" and "c-broad arrow" markings - but now is cut off to be a hunting rifle, about only fodder for someone who might want to try to splice on a long fore-end.

FYI - in various books that I have, and stamped on the receiver, it was a "US Rifle Model of 1917" - apparently informally called "P17" by workers in the factories that were making P14's for Britain a few months earlier - "P17" became a "nick name" for it, although I have not found US military records where it was called that.

Except for possibly a hundred P14 made at Enfield Armoury in Britain, all P14 and "P17" were made at Eddystone, Remington or Winchester factories during WWI - none were made earlier or since. Canada either bought or was gifted many thousands of them during WWII - most commonly used at RCAF bases in Canada by the guards - hence the "RCAF" stamp and the "C-Broad Arrow" stamp - they were never originally made for RCAF or for Canada. The "P17's" often had a red band painted around the forearm - to show they were NOT chambered to 303 British - I think that was a thing in both Canada and Britain. I do not think either country used those rifles in battle - were often used by Home Guard, prisoner-of war camp guards, base guards, etc. For whatever reason, Britain and Canada would stamp the rifle serial number on the bolt handle - the USA military never did so - so if your rifle has a serial number on the bolt - it was owned at one time by Britain, Canada or similar - was never only owned by USA.
 
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MATCH27 said:
Yes i did make the "correct" screwdriver with a grinder. And ya then the whole thing spun. I didnt see any on marstar but i can take another look
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I looked and they don't have any. Neither do Sarco Inc or Numrich(Gun Parts)

Most of the reinforcing screws I've seen and tried to remove appear to have been peened over from hard use so removing them is difficult.

Evaluate the stock the screw is in and if it's just a piece of firewood, cut out the screw and do what you have to do to get it apart for use in your as new stock.

Personally if I were putting a new manufacture stock onto a rifle, I would want the bits, such as the reinforcing screw to look new as well.
 
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