New Remington Pattern 14 - PICS

[22SqnRAE]

Interesting that a Remington would end up in a Eddystone stock.

Sadly, not at all. A couple of things to consider:

1. During the Weedon Repair process, rifles were stripped, inspected, modified and reassembled with parts that met the minimum requirement of 70% or slightly more tolerance of new parts. Not a lot of care was taken to "match" rifle parts for collectors benefits in decades to come. They were a tool being maintained.

2. The surplus stock in civilian hands now came from all over the world, often from poorer, less caring Governments. They mixed and matched with what they had to meet a need. Not a collector's preference.

3. These rifles were deemed by the British Army to be obsolete and consigned to War Stocks post WWI. When the Home Guard was raised in precaution to the threat of German invasion, the Patt 14s (and M1917s) were released into the hands of the Home Guard. The training, awareness and conscientiousness of the Home Guard was varied. Some former WWI soldiers were smart and disciplined. They took matters more seriously. The same couldn't be said for all, either from ignorance, indifference or simple inability to comprehend the role and actions of a soldier. Many of the younger Home Guard, unfit or unsuitable for active duty, were not much more than school cadets.

4. On the raising of threat of invasion, the Patt 14s returned by the Home Guard were available for arming many smaller resistance or guerrilla groups, and supported Governments post war. And that's where a lot ended up. Not a lot of care and attention to them there.

So, finding a Remington in an ERA stock is common and to be expected. As is a Winchester in a Remington stock (I've had 2...) There's a lot of mixing and matching.

Recall that Eddysone, or the Balwin Locomotive Company, was a Remington subsidiary. In essence, ERA is simply a Remington satellite factory. Nothing surprising there. Winchester was the only independent manufacturer and that's why they were slower to start up manufacture, initially had higher quality rejection rates and decided to alter the design slightly to suit their production, whereas Remington and ERA stuck with the original specs.