British Pattern 1914 Remington low serial number 00902

[fjruple]

I seem to recall reading that the P14 at first did not have interchangeable parts, would this have been one of those rifles (and without a * on the receiver would it still be one of those rifles?).

Eaglelord-- The P14 never really achieved any compatibility of parts between the three manufacturers without some degree of hand fitting. The meaning of the * on the P14 denotes that it is a MKI* which has a larger locking lug on the bolt and the barrel has a recess machined to take the MKI* bolt. A MKI bolt will fit a MKI* rifle but a MKI* bolt will not fit the MKI rifle. Remington and Eddystone rather quickly adopted the MKI* bolt and barrel. Winchester took their time to impliment the MKI* mods. I have a Winchester well into the 100,000 range without the MKI* mods.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Melanie_Daniels]

The star as symbol for not interchangealbe parts can be found on the M1917 rifles. The had the simillar problems with the parts compability between the manufacturers and an additional problem: For some rifles at the beginning of production even the parts of the same manufacturer are not complete interchangeable. This rifles got a star as symbol for the problem.

[Promo]

Not mine (and unfortunately sportered), but I have seen an even lower number. Not sure if the broad arrow is gone due to being sportered, or if they started marking it with a broad arrow at a later point.

[fjruple]

The star as symbol for not interchangealbe parts can be found on the M1917 rifles. The had the simillar problems with the parts compability between the manufacturers and an additional problem: For some rifles at the beginning of production even the parts of the same manufacturer are not complete interchangeable. This rifles got a star as symbol for the problem.

Melanie-- I am a bit confused with your statement. The asterik * on the Pattern 1914 denotes the modification to the MKI* specification with a new bolt, barrel and extractor. Each of these parts will have an asterik * on the part to show that it meets the MKI* specification. The encircled star was a Winchester inspector's proof mark on the Pattern 1914. On the Winchester M1917, the encircled star noted that the rifle passed the compatiablity test and the parts were interchange with the Remington and Eddystone rifles.. A letter was sent out by General John T. Thompson to Winchester and Remington, Ilion, NY that a encircled star would be placed on the left side of the receiver next to the US Ordnance mark to denote the compatibility of the rifle. Even though the encircled star is found on the Winchester M1917 none have been noted on the Remingtons. The Army at that point started to use the date of January 1, 1918 as a date for compatiablity and shipment of all brand M1917 rifles to the AEF. Like anything when the bad word gets around its very hard to get rid of. Winchester complained about the "discrimination" of their rifles to the Adjutant General of the US Army.

[Melanie_Daniels]

Melanie-- I am a bit confused with your statement. The asterik * on the Pattern 1914 denotes the modification to the MKI* specification with a new bolt, barrel and extractor. Each of these parts will have an asterik * on the part to show that it meets the MKI* specification. The encircled star was a Winchester inspector's proof mark on the Pattern 1914. On the Winchester M1917, the encircled star noted that the rifle passed the compatiablity test and the parts were interchange with the Remington and Eddystone rifles.. A letter was sent out by General John T. Thompson to Winchester and Remington, Ilion, NY that a encircled star would be placed on the left side of the receiver next to the US Ordnance mark to denote the compatibility of the rifle. Even though the encircled star is found on the Winchester M1917 none have been noted on the Remingtons. The Army at that point started to use the date of January 1, 1918 as a date for compatiablity and shipment of all brand M1917 rifles to the AEF. Like anything when the bad word gets around its very hard to get rid of. Winchester complained about the "discrimination" of their rifles to the Adjutant General of the US Army.

I didn`t speak about the star in circle. I found four early Eddystone and one early Remington (9-17 to 12-17) with a star without circle. In this time the problem was that only 95 per cent of the parts were interchangeable. So they marked the rifles with not interchangable parts with a star. The Winchester problem was, that only 80 per cent of the parts were interchangeable with the others so that they marked the weapons with interchangeable parts (star with circle). That is the information I got from a guy who worked with General Crozier.

[fjruple]

I didn`t speak about the star in circle. I found four early Eddystone and one early Remington (9-17 to 12-17) with a star without circle. In this time the problem was that only 95 per cent of the parts were interchangeable. So they marked the rifles with not interchangable parts with a star. The Winchester problem was, that only 80 per cent of the parts were interchangeable with the others so that they marked the weapons with interchangeable parts (star with circle). That is the information I got from a guy who worked with General Crozier.

Wow that's neat. My understanding was that no Eddystone or Remingtons were observed with a star. Would have pics by any chance? Thanks for the info.

--fjruple

---------- Post added at 04:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------

Attachment 91245Attachment 91246

Overall condition would seem to indicate that this rifle spent some time in India. It is not remarkable other than the low serial number and characters used, broad arrow/RE/00902.

I notice that the RE is directly over the serial number? Does anyone have any idea when Remington moved to the RE in Oval over the chamber?

--fjruple