Pattern 14 enfield: Calibers.

[TheDuke]

Hello, I am currently in the process of making a rifle from a pattern 14 receiver. I am wondering what calibers a pattern 14 receiver can handle. I was thinking about a 338 win mag, but I would like to know what other options there are concerning the cartridge. I would like to take FULL advantage of the strong action I have, as a note recoil is not a concern for me.

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[Doug Rammel]

Welcome to the forum. That is a very strong action and I'll leave the answer to the experts like CiD. I'm wondering why you want to spend that kind of money to end up with a 250 dollar rifle.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I regret that I am going to express a considered opinion that you may find goes completely counter to your stated intention, but there is good reasoning behind it. No offence of any kind is intended.

So what are you going to do with a P14 receiver by itself?
You need a complete P14 bolt assembly and a P14 (or maybe M1917) trigger assembly.
And the bolt catch as well.
And magazine? Or were you just interested in a single-shot?
For a repeater you need the magazine + floor plate/trigger guard for the P14.
The cut-out in the P14 receiver will not take much more than the .303 for which it was intended.
What kind of barrel. A P14 barrel? Or an M1917 barrel could be fitted - but the 30-06 cartridges will not fit properly into the P14 magazine And the M1917 magazine will not fit into the P14 receiver cut-out.

Those parts are worth more to someone doing a serious recovery job on a damaged or rusted P14 than they can ever be as part of yet another sporterized mishmash. You would be misusing parts that have an increasing rarity value in order to make something commonplace. Neither I nor, probably, the majority of contributors to these forums think that sort of thing is a good idea.

You get the hint? I really think it is not a good idea. Sell your P14 parts on this forum to someone who will be able to make better use of them, and get yourself whatever it is you really want.

But that is, of course, just my opinion!

[TheDuke]

Thank you. Well, I want to keep the original look of the gun but have it chambered in a more powerful round. I am going to have a lot of time over winter break, and this rifle is my little project before I go back to school. I am just looking for cartridge that will utilize the full potential of the action.

[TheDuke]

I would like to make it a repeater, the barrel is custom made (26''), I can modify and create any part I need. I really don't care about the bolt because I can use either a p14 or p17 bolt and I can hone the bolt to the base diameter (in fact I'm probably going to have to anyways). Selling the parts is out of the question. My friend gave me the receiver, which was his grandfather who had passed away. For the parts of "increasing rarity value", why don't you just buy a DP rifle?

[mike16]

so thats one more m1917 bolt off the market?

[TheDuke]

so thats one more m1917 bolt off the market?

It was never on the market to begin with.

[Badger]

You get the hint? I really think it is not a good idea. Sell your P14 parts on this forum to someone who will be able to make better use of them, and get yourself whatever it is you really want.

But that is, of course, just my opinion!

338 win mag ...

I concur ...

Unless one is a certified gunsmith with years of experience under their belt, this has the potential to be a disaster in the making ....

I have no idea what limits a P14 receiver can be pushed to, but why bother when it's just as easy to buy a high powered rifle built for this caliber, for probably the same money by the time you get through with all the gunsmithing exercise, of course not counting the hosiptal bills if it blows up ....

Anyway, I'd ask TheDuke rethink this exercise, but if he's bound to do it, there's not much anyone here can do ...

I'm going to move this thread to the Gunsmithing for Old Milsurps forum as there are a number of professional gunsmiths there who may be able to shed more light on doing this.

Regards,
Doug

[mike16]

one more m1917 bolt off the market

[bearhunter]

If you want to do something really sexy with the rifle and you're obviously going to rebarrel it, Why not save yourself a lot of trouble and blow out the original 303BRIT cartridge to a 1 degree slope with a 60 degree shoulder and neck it up to 338? You can utilise all of the magazine parts and you shouldn't have to modify the guides. Epps did a 338-03 on a P-14 and claimed it was areal mauler. To bad Elwood isn't around anymore. His experiments were so numerous that both PO Ackley and Frank de Haas commented on his work in their books.

By the way, according to PO Ackley, the P series enfields weren't any stronger than a properly heat treated 1903. They sometimes suffered from the same heat treating problems as well.