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Originally Posted by
mike16
Alot of british import proof marks, military proof marks then commercial british proof marks. I'm surprised ther were no current import proof marks.
I did not see any under or on the barrel anywhere. I checked the receiver area also. None that I could find. Any thoughts on why this would be?
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11-16-2010 07:22 AM
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That is a very nice P14. You don't see them with the volley sights intact every day. 1917s are a dime a dozen. Your rifle is probably worth more than a 1917...chris3
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If you want info on the rifle, go to the intro page to this forum, right here on this site. The entire top of the page as a listing of training manuals and technical articles which you can download for free, right here. Just click on the one(s) you want and start downloading.
As to the absence of recent importation marks, note the markings on the rifle. The 8-point 'stars' indicate that the rifle was built as a Pattern 1914 Mark I* and not as the (early) Mark 1. The 6-point 'stars' are actually arrowheads, point to point: the British government's "Sale Mark". The Sale Mark seems not to have been used when they were disposing of OBSOLETE equipment, but only when they were selling things out of Stores on which they also were maintaining stocks. This would indicate that this rifle could have been sold off, and thus imported to North America, at any time since 1918 and before the recent imposition of import markings.
You should be aware that ALL of the surplus .303 British ammo with that big copper Berdan primer is corrosive. If you are shooting surplus ammo, try to find some of the excellent Defence Industries stuff. Headstamp is the date at noon (1942 - 1945), letters "DI" at 8 o'clock and letter Z at 4. This is some of the best surplus ammo you will find, it is all non-corrosive and non-mercuric and, once you remove the small primer crimp, it is the nicest reloading brass you will find anywhere. Failing this, try Prvi Partizan: the brass on that sems to be closest to military spec for this round, which is NOT the same as SAAMI spec. These rifles can be scary accurate with 180s and 150s, but the Enfield rifling in them does have a marked preference for flat-based bullets. It also lasts five-eighths of forever. A .312 bullet will nearly always give you the best accuracy; I have no idea why they even bother making them in .311.
If you really want a treat on the range, slap on an S&K Insta-mount and about a 12x scope, load up some Hornady 150s to the OAL of a Mark VII Ball round, dump in 40 grains of 4064 and head to the range. My P-14 makes a single ragged hole with this combination at 100.
Wondering if you can give us a couple of full-length shots..... something to drool at, so to speak.
Very nice rifle.
.
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sorry pcaru 1 i mis quotes myself?!? what I ment to say was that Alot "have"military and civilian proof markes on weapons after they left the british military and before they were sold to civilians. This one seems to lack them or at least I cant see them. The "not british make" stamp or quotes similar were put on lots of imported weapons. I had a 1930's colt 1911a1 comercial model sold comercialy in the uk to a british officer that had british civilian proof markes and then later military proof marks. It was stamped not british make on it. I also had a colt model 1917 type revolver from 1912 chambered for Eli .455. It was sold comercially in UK prior to 1914 and had commercial proofs and military proofs and was also stamped not english make. Not to say it must have them as some always seem to fall through the cracks.
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Originally Posted by
smellie
Wondering if you can give us a couple of full-length shots..... something to drool at, so to speak.
Hope this is good enough.
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"RSA" - Republic of South Africa?
Might explain missing the Weedon chop & change.
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
Edward Bernays, 1928
Much changes, much remains the same.
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in rereading this thread - i enjoy revisiting for the added info , i learn more that way , i not the intro of "this was listed as a P17 .............
thats the big problem with not using the proper nomenclature for these rifles , its a petty point to mention the commonwealth nomenclature is "pattern of 1914" and the US version is a "model of 1917" but it certainly puts the distinction in place ,
for those that pluck a gem by the miss-use , good on you , but it rubs me wrong
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some vendors cloud the issue of nomenclature in the hopes of drawing a fool bigger then they make themselves out to be. The P17 title comes from over in the UK where these rifles were lend leased. Most british felt that the American Lend lease m1917's were inferior thus putting the home guard at a disadvantage. Then somebody recalled that they were a copy of the p14 that was suppose to replace the MrkIII. Ipso facto if the p14 is suprior to the mrk III and the m1917 is a copy of the p14 then it must be superior. thus bolstering the moral of the home guard. And ballistically speaking the .30-'06 was dramatically better than the 303 as well. So while it was an ameican copy of a 'substitute standard"rifle It was of British design and thus good as... but to alliviate confusion the british called them p17's, So if he is marketing that rifle to a very narrow and exclusive niche of buyers then He can indeed call it a P17
The reason its often referred to as an M1917 "enfield" is not because it might be confused with the springfield but because there were sooooo mannnyy othe pieces of equipment (more specifically weapons and most specifically small arms) also designated m1917, Like S&W/Colt revolvers, BAR's , Models of the Browning Medium Machine guns. Bayonets artillery. Just google m1917 and you will see what I mean.
However it was incorrectly reffered to as the m1917 enfield long before qooqle came along
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Nice Find. I wish Mine had the volley sights. Been looking for a set, but no luck in My area. They are great to shoot. Have fun with her...