Enfield P14 rifle - Inside Job

Military surplus rifles are among the most popular firearms used by gun club members at outdoor shooting matches. Walk along the line at any club shoot and you will generally find a selection from Enfield, Mauser, Mosin-Nagant etc. being put through their paces at distances from 100 yards upwards. Generally equipped with their standard military sights, they can sometimes be found with telescopic sights, either original sniper-types or modern variations, or a more elaborate target set-up as we have here. Military surplus ammunition is not as common or cheap (remember when you could buy HXP .303” for around a tenner a hundred?) as it used to be, so reloading is the way to go nowadays. Obviously, you cannot take your full house ammunition onto an indoor range, but there is an alternative, as will be seen later.
During the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902), British troops discovered that their Enfield .303” rifles, loaded with cordite-filled ammunition, were not as powerful or accurate as the 7x57mm Mauser rifles used by the Boer sharpshooters, who used smokeless powder in their ammunition.
In 1910, the Small Arms Committee was tasked with producing a new rifle, designed around a more powerful rimless cartridge of .276” calibre. The brief was for a rifle built on a Mauser-type action and having a one-piece stock, the latter to reduce production costs. In its final manifestation, as the Pattern 1913, 1000 examples were ordered from the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield for troop trials. Some 1,250 rifles were produced and at the end of the trials, the Chief Inspector of Small Arms asked for several modifications, with the result that six improved Pattern 1913 rifles were manufactured in early 1914.

Development cancelled
In June 1914, Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, while on a state visit to Serbia, were shot and killed by Yugoslav dissident Gavrilo Princip, with the result that Europe was plunged into war. The development of Britain’s new cartridge was abandoned but the Pattern 1913 rifle was redesigned around the standard .303” British cartridge and named the Pattern 1914 (P14) rifle. With British suppliers now working flat out to provide the Army with SMLE rifles, production of the P14 was contracted to American commercial manufacturers Winchester and Remington, with the latter also using one of their subsidiaries, Eddystone, whose mark appears on the rifle tested. Problems with specifications and shortages of tools and skilled labour meant that the first rifles were not sent to the British inspectors until February 1916. Between them, the three American outlets produced almost 1.25 million examples of the P14, and when the Americans entered WW1 in 1917, they continued to produce the rifle for their own use, chambered for the .30-06 cartridge, under the name Model 1917. Almost 2.2 million examples were manufactured during its two-year production run.

Sniper’s favourite
Whilst they would not be classed as rare, examples of the P14 are obviously less common than the SMLE and No. 4, and as with most military surplus rifles, the condition varies from very nice to quite poor. Patience will be needed as you search the internet and dealer advertisements to find one that suits your requirements and price bracket. If cosmetic condition is important to you, then replacement wood is available on eBay at a price, including shipping from Canada. The specimen we have here comes from Henry Krank, and by the time you read this, it should be back on the shelf in their shop.
The P14 is slightly longer and heavier than the SMLE rifle and has a smaller magazine capacity. Originally designed for the larger diameter .276” cartridge, the magazine was limited to five rounds of this calibre. However, it could handle six rounds of the smaller .303” British cartridge. As the rate of fire was deemed an important factor, the larger capacity SMLE (10 rounds) had the edge in this department. However, both models used the faster operating cock-on-closing bolt rather than the cock-on-opening of the Mauser and others.
Where the P14 excelled was in the accuracy department, with its longer sight radius compared to the mid-barrel rear sights of the SMLE, Mauser, and Springfield rifles. At the rear is a battle sight calibrated for the .303” British MkVII ball ammunition at 300 yards, with an additional ladder sight marked from 200 to 1,650 yards in increments of 50 and 100 yards, with no facility for windage adjustment. The unit is protected by enlarged ears that look awkward to me, but no doubt served their purpose during harsh battle conditions. The front sight is a blade, which was set in position during assembly, and is also protected by wings. The wings have cut-outs which allow access to the blade should you wish to drift it left or right. The left side of the stock was fitted with volley sights for ranges up to 2,600 yards but they were found to be not particularly useful and were usually removed when guns were refurbished. The P14’s reputation for accuracy made it a favourite of WW1 snipers.
The trigger features vertical grooves and is a 2-stage affair, as used on other Enfield rifles, and the let-off is very crisp. There is a safety catch on the right side of the receiver, which falls nicely under your thumb. Push it forward for FIRE and rearward for SAFE.
Originally fitted with sling swivels on the butt stock (missing on this example) and both forward barrel bands (only one here), this rifle is fitted with an extra one in front of the magazine plate.

What you see is what you get
As with any used item, you may find modifications, either cosmetic or mechanical, that have been made by a previous owner to personalize the item. This is the case with the rifle we have here. The first thing to note is that the standard rear ladder sight has been substituted with a neat Parker Hale arrangement (inscribed MARK VII PATT 14) indicating that the rifle has seen use for serious target shooting. The sight is capable of some very fine adjustments, and the clicks are precise.
The steel butt plate has been marked with a series of horizontal grooves, and there is some stippling on the forend where your left hand sits. While this looks very shallow, there is an appreciable difference in grip compared to the smooth, varnished areas. There are also indentations in the finger grooves, far too many for them to be accidental. Overall, the woodwork is in decent condition and a feint cartouche and broad arrow mark can just be seen on the right side of the stock, just ahead of a plain brass disc.

Cast bullets and small charges
When you first started shooting, you were probably warned about putting small charges of powder in large cases, with advice that if you really must use light loads, then you could perhaps use a filler to take up excess space. When I first came across shooters using 5-grains of powder in a case as large as the .303” British, I was quite alarmed. So, before we go any further, can I suggest you Google “CAST BULLET LOADS FOR MILITARY RIFLES” by C.E. Harris. Print a copy (it is just over three pages) and read it as often as you feel necessary.
As I no longer cast my own bullets, I had to find a suitable commercial product for this test. Fortunately, I had some 115-grain examples with a diameter of .311”, that I had used in .32-20 cartridges. These are not ideal but proved adequate for this test. I used 5-grains of Bullseye and have used the same load (with a .309” lead bullet) in .308 Win and 7.5x55mm Swiss.
The rifle was a joy to shoot, with a very smooth trigger pull. As can be imagined, with a rifle weighing in excess of 9 lbs, there was no recoil with this load. Use these loads to practice your trigger pull, set up a new sight, or merely for the fun of it. You can shoot it all day long without any discomfort and at a very cost-effective price – 1,400 shots from a tub of Bullseye! I needed more time and bullets than were available to set up this sight, but I have no doubt that this would be a very capable performer in the right hands at short or long distances with appropriate ammunition.
With the current cost of reloading components, those wishing to cut down on their expenditure might wish to try the other loads from the above article for their outdoor shooting.