Chronology of Brit Snipers 1918 - Present

[Alfred]

I'd be interested in hearing about those P-14 rifles, or would they be designated as No.3 rifles, after 1926 perhaps? and whether either or both had been used in WW2 or WW1 only.

Also perhaps you can tell us what sort of ammo types were approved for use with the P-14 based sniper rifles. I've seen it said that MkVIIIz was sometimes used for extra long range work, and that there were a few specialized target grade loads issued during WW1.

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.

[Simon]

Alfred,

The first rifle was designated Rifle No3 MkI(T) and was introduced at the very end of WWI. it may have been possible that one or two trials weapons made it to the trenches but they where never on general issue in WWI. A lot of the 3(T) rifle saw service with the Commonwealth forces in WWII and there are a number of photo's in the Aussie War Memorial of the rifle in use in Timor etc. As a matter of fact I'm in the process of restoring a 3(T) with Aussie property marks which has been in the hands of Bubba.

The second rifle was designated Rifle No3 MkI(T)A. These rifles where introduced at the very beginning of WWII and saw limited use as a stop gap until the No4(T) came along.

Take a look at the Knowledge Library there's some great info there including some detailed photo's.

As regards Ammunition use, bear with me and I'll post an extract from a letter sent to me by Harry Furness in which he talks about ammunition selection, although Harry carried a 4(T) as the tool of his trade.

I've just put the info up as a seperate post "Sniper Ammo Selection"

Cheers,
Simon.

I'd be interested in hearing about those P-14 rifles, or would they be designated as No.3 rifles, after 1926 perhaps? and whether either or both had been used in WW2 or WW1 only.

Also perhaps you can tell us what sort of ammo types were approved for use with the P-14 based sniper rifles. I've seen it said that MkVIIIz was sometimes used for extra long range work, and that there were a few specialized target grade loads issued during WW1.

[Alfred]

From "Sniping in France"

PART VI

THE ENFIELD 1914 PATTERN "SNIPER'S RIFLE"

As each battalion now holds three of these rifles on
charge for sniping purposes (G.R.O. 3567) it is essential
that your snipers shall understand the main differences
between this and the R.S.M.L.E.

It is as well to understand at once that a far higher
degree of accuracy can be obtained from the Enfield
1914 than from the R.S.M.L.E., and this is the reason
why it has been issued to snipers. The higher degree
of accuracy is due to two main causes :

1. The rifles so issued have been specially selected
from thousands of other rifles of the same
pattern, on account of their accuracy, after
severe and exhaustive tests.

2. The rifle is fitted with an aperture or peep
sight, which, as will be readily acknowledged by
most expert riflemen, possesses a great advantage
over the open U or V backsight. It is therefore

unnecessary to focus the backsight, and the blur
259 17*



SNIPING IN FRANCE

which is unavoidable when aiming with the
open U or V backsight is entirely absent with
the aperture or peep sight.

The following are the main differences which must
be noted and thoroughly understood in order to get
the best results from the new rifle.

I would have thought the P-14 rifles used for "sniping" would have been scoped rifles, but apparently they were deployed more as what we'd have called "Sharpshooters" rifles.
There were some apeture sighted Scandinavian Krag rifles designated as sniper rifles at about that time period.

The scoped P-14 rifles were probably rare as you say.