Mystery Rifle

Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Messages
54
Ok so a few years back my grandfather passed away and I inherited one of his rifle's from his collection, I know very little about the firearm it's self other than a few things such as the cartridges. I never had a chance to ask him about the gun or find any knowledge on it, all the paper's associated with the gun fell out of existence. From what i know and I observer the rifle is older and seems to be well-kept, it fire's a british .303 and has and internal magazine carrying 4 or 5 rounds. It has a rear flip-up sight that can be adjusted for distance and has a fixed front sight, it also has a flip-up metal plate on the butt stock to store a few small things such as matches, fishing line and hooks for a possible survival scenario. other than that i don't know too much about this rifle and any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for you time and i hope you can help.

Cheers

Jason
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I'm currently in mexico on vacation, so if you would like more photo's it will have to wait untill i return home this coming Wednesday.
Thank you for your time.
 
Pattern 14s had full stocks that went to the muzzle with a barrel band just at the point your stock ends,,,wonder if someone cut down that stock at some point.
 
That's a sporterised P14. Designed at Enfield, almost certainly made in the USA between 1914 and 1918 and issued to British forces during the First World War. Probably put into storage and re-issued to a Home Guard unit in the Second World War, sold out of service after that conflict and exported back to North America for sale to a private owner, where the fore end wood was cut away.
Whilst The SMLE was probably a better all-round battle rifle, the P14 was liked by snipers because of it's superior accuracy.
British military surplus ammo is very corrosive and can ruin the barrel if it is not kept clean.
Enjoy your rifle :)

ETA:

I just noticed the brass disc is still on the stock. The disc should have details of the unit the rifle was issued to.

ETA 2:

The recess in the butt plate was intended to hold a brass oil bottle and a rope pull-through for cleaning the barrel. These items regularly turn up on ebay if you want to replace them.
 
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Thank you for all of your insight, I do know my grandfather had military history although never being fielded, but his father did see allot of field time. My grandfather was also a carpenter and loved wood work building houses, barns and ect, so I could see that being a reason as to why the stock was cut short, and he did hunt so it also may have been to reduce weight. The only thing that still keeps me questioning is that my family has been in Canada for 2 maybe 3 generations, before that my family on that side's home country is Denmark and Scotland, and I am not sure of there history throughout WW1 & WW2. If you have any insight into that that would be great, I am looking into it so im not completely just asking for information but I would like to have other information, especially if its something i miss and could be a major detail.

Thanks again and Cheers

Jason
 
Jason,

What a coincedence. My dad more or less has that ones twin. It was passed down to him from my grandpa. Grandpa and my dad lived in Hedley, BC in the latter stages of ww2. My grandpa joined the home guard during that time and was issued that same rifle, sort of. It originally had a stock that went to the end of the barrel. After the war, my dad told me that grandpa had the barrel shortened (still kept the frontsight) and "sporterized" the stock. I guess the original weapon was fairly heavy to lug around deer hunting.

Hugh
 
It would be interesting to see what is on the brass disc.
Also, American made P14's should have a small letter stamped on every part showing the manufacturer, eg. W means Winchester.
If the rifle has ever been refurbished, there should be a circular stamp, usually on the right side of the butt, with the name of the armoury that did the work.
There are websites detailing the history of the P14, how it had it's origins in lessons learned during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), leading to the P13 in .276, the P14 in .303 and finally the M1917 in .30-06, which was issued to the majority of American troops duing the First World War. The M1917 is the rifle carried by the old codgers in Dad's Army if you ever get to see re-runs of that programme.
 
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Thanks for all of the information, this has really helped me figure out the mystery surrounding this rifle. Once i return home from my vacation ill definitely get some close up shots of the brass disk and maybe a few other things, due to me having a better camera now. But thanks to all of you for all the information revived and knowledge gained. Its nice to know the very rich history of this firearm. Once again thank you all.

Cheers

Jason
 
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