Winchester P-14 and cosmoline

3

303carbine

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I received an all original Winchester P-14 from a member on the board and he said it had some of the original grease on it from when it left the armoury.:cool: It looked liked someone dunked it and let it dry with about a 1/4 inch of yellowy orange goo all over it.:D I took about an hour to get some of it off and now I can see what color the wood is.:dancingbanana: The volley sight is missing and the unit disc in the stock is also gone, but from what I have read this is normal.The bore is mirror shiny and all serials match and there is a small stamp in the wood on the buttstock that reads IE in a circle and Patt"14 beside it.:D I am very happy with the condition and have already set aside some once fired brass for load development. Thanks EagleEye for the load suggestions, I will be trying them out especially the 150 grain load.:cool:
 
P14

Nice that it still has the markings on the butt. Imagine the stock is an Eddystone "fatboy". My Winchester is marked IW (Winchester). How about some pics.
Geoff in Victoria
 
It's common to have a mixmaster of parts on these rifles, more so on the M1917's as they were in service alot longer. Most have undergone at least one or more rebuilds.
 
p-14

I finally got most of the cosmoline of the rifle, I then took it apart and wiped most of the cosmo off the inside. It has no pits or rust anywhere, of course when it was liberally dunked in cosmo I expected no rust.:) All the serial numbers match which is a bonus and the barrel knox is marked '17. There are no import marks and only British broad arrow stamps on the receiver.:cool: I sat the bolt in tinfoil on top my woodstove and baked the cosmo out of the bolt, works good too.:D The wood was degreased further with a rag in a bath of linseed oil, no sandpaper was used and stock markings are still present.:dancingbanana:
I could use one of the little stock discs and the small screw to fill the round hole in the stock, so if anyone has one for sale please pm me with a price.Thanks , John
 
Did you check the s/n on the rear sight? Should be stamped on there as well.
Bolt disassembly is easy if you want to completely clean it out. See http://www.surplusrifle.com/m1917/boltdisassemble/index.asp
Mine just has a piece of wood stuck in where the brass unit disk use to be. They were removed during WWI so it's correct to not have it there.
winnnyp141.jpg
 
The brass disk and volley sights were removed post WWI

during the Weedon Repair Standard -- If memory is correct was in the 30's

If yours did go through Weedon there will be a six pointed star on the wood around the trigger guard area with a letter in it indicating who did the work....

Is yours a MKI or a MKI*

The MKI* will have a * (star) marking on the receiver, bolt,barrel and sometimes the extractor -- if no * (star) then it is an early one and somewhat rare as most were upgraded from the MKI to the MKI* specs
 
p-14

There are no stars or * anywhere on the rifle. Just matching serials on the bolt, receiver ,barrel and there is the same matching number on the underside of the rear sight. I had to look for it but it's there in small numbers.
There is a broad arrow mark on the left receiver rail with GR over a crown over crossed flags and a letter P under it. Receiver round is clean with only the rifle serial number on the right side. The bolt has a matching serial to the rifle with crossed flags on it and the blue is still on the boltface.:D
 
Sounds like you have an early P14 MKI -- very good for you -- my all matching Winchester P14 is also a MKI

If I remember correctly the upgrade form the MKI to the MKI* was in 1916
 
Yeah, the brits sure liked to mark things up....
era5.jpg

None of mine have the "*" marking either, one is a Win in the 75### range and the other is an ERA 54xx range
 
p-14

I took the P-14 to the range today and was happy to see how well it functioned and the accuracy is is everything they claimed it would be.The "warmer" loads I got from EagleEye perform well in this rifle with no signs of pressure.I would definitely not shoot the same loads out of my Aussie 303.:eek: All loads from the Norma 216 grain, the 174 Hornady HP,and the Hornady 150's performed very well with no feeding issues.:dancingbanana: The blueing on the boltface is gone and there is a circlular pattern from the 303 brass there now.:cool:
My Aussie 303 gets 40 grains of H4895....the P-14 gets 48 grains of the same powder.:eek: Here is the obligatory warning "Do not try these loads in a regular 303 British":runaway:
 
I wouldn't go so hot on the loading for the P-14.
It can handle it yes, but you may find it has diminishing returns.
Your mileage may vary.

Congrats on the great rifle BTW!
:dancingbanana:
 
p-14 loads

I am going to back them down some , I just wanted to see what the rifle could do with warmer than average loads. I was impressed with how well the rifle was made and the accuracy.:D
The standard 303 British load for the 215 grainers is 40 grains of IMR 4895. The 216 Norma bullets were loaded with 43 grains of H4895 and show no signs of pressure at all. :) I believe these would make an excellent moose stomper. The 26 inch barrel barrel should provide good velocity with all bullet weights.:cool:
 
They do shoot real good. I still have to find a good load for my P14's.....can't get them to shoot as good as the M1917's
 
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