Pattern 14 subject to cracked barrels??

[Littlejohn]

On another forum, someone had posted photos of his modified P14. He made some statements about P14s that I hadn't heard before.

1. "this one is a Winchester I rebarreled to make it a car gun and walking gun since the barrels on all of them are subject to cracking."

2."I removed the original striker (small sharp point) and replaced it with a M1917 striker and opened the hole in bolt face for the bigger striker."

3."These rifles can be expensive to rebarrel as they require a special order blank. "

I would be interested in hearing this group's thoughts on those statements.

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[browningautorifle]

The barrels don't crack, it's the barrel ring because of poor wrench handling while stripping them...or assembling... Never heard of a problem with the bolt face either. A barrel blank is just that...you cut the shank custom. You can use any blank that meets outside diameter of the threads...

As for making a car gun, there's lots around. Just take one as is...more sporters than full wood types.

[Daan Kemp]

The start of a brand new myth, destined to be repeated as gospel by many generations of myth retellers. Kill it on that forum quickly, the same as for the special blank and replacement striker.

Sounds like a troll...

[Woodsy]

I have seen a few P14's with the barrel split from muzzle to breech reinforce after being fired with muzzle obstructions. The barrels appear to be a smidge on the hard side with the original heat-treating which would make them slightly brittle. Eddystone rifles seem to be worse than Winchester. I have never seen a P14 give any problems with normal loads and a clear barrel. The barrel blanks are slightly more expensive as they have to be made from larger diameter steel to accommodate the large reinforce, and some gunsmiths charge more to cut the square threads.

[browningautorifle]

I have seen a few P14's with the barrel split from muzzle to breech reinforce after being fired with muzzle obstructions.

To be expected, I've seen those as well and more than just that rifle.

some gunsmiths charge more to cut the square threads.

They'd need to make a special thread cutting bit that's different from most...by hand...

[Woodsy]

[QUOTE=browningautorifle;427970They'd need to make a special thread cutting bit that's different from most...by hand...[/QUOTE]

All of 10 minutes on a bench grinder from a piece of 3/8" hi-speed tool steel, then they have it for life. I have made about 6 of them over the years in different sizes (for P14's, M17's, Savage 99, Garand, etc).

[Daan Kemp]

Of course, 100 years old firearms should need due diligence when shooting them.

[Cosine26]

I have not re-barreled a rifle in many years (1982), but as I remember it, the P14/M17 square threads are American standard and do not differ greatly from that of the M1903 threads. Anyone who can thread a M1903 barrel should be able to thread a P14/M17 barrel.
I used to act as the purchasing agent for my rifle club and ordered barrels at about 100 at a time from Douglas to receive a significant discount. The P14/M17 barrels require a larger shank and Douglas charged an additional $5.00 for P14/M17 barrels. I always ordered the P14/M17 barrel blanks for my Model 70 target rifles because I felt that the extra sized shank gave the barrel more support where it abutted the receiver.
FWIW

[fjruple]

Those are good ones on me. It's amazing what myths are founded over several mugs of cold beers. LOL! I notice how wild the claims get as the number mugs of beer drank increases. LOL! Square threads are pretty much an American thing and some foreign gunsmiths may not see them as much as an an American Gunsmith. I don't know about special barrel blanks as they are manufactured in different sizes, bore diameters and lengths. I do not see where a P14 or M1917 barrel would be any difference as gunsmiths have been using these actions for custom rifles for years. The only issue that I have personally seen is the indexing on the P14 barrels by all three manufacturers are different and requires paying attention to detail. But barrels are available from Criterion for both rifles. Replacing the P14 with a M1917 striker has me a bit perplexed. The only reason the US went to the "Springfield type" firing pin was the lack of quality .30-06 ammunition in WWI. If the firing pin for the P14 was broken, a M1917 firing pin (striker) can be turned down to fit the P14 which the Brits did to P14s in WWII. The only time I have seen the barrels on the M1917 and P14 split is from an obstruction in the barrel usually a cleaning patch. I have seen military barrels re-chambered to .300 Winchester Magnum with no problems.

[browningautorifle]

All of 10 minutes on a bench grinder from a piece of 3/8" hi-speed tool steel,

Agreed, I do them too.