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Originally Posted by
Riter
Checking with auction houses now for images.
Was there one auctioned that you know of?
Seeing as the P.14s were issued from British
stocks and were never a general issue in Canada
, I'd suspect the 80(?) were almost all turned in before Canadian troops returned from Europe. I say "almost" because like scoped Ross Mk.III rifles, a few were obviously kept back as souvenirs by individuals or certain battalions. If the rifles were turned in the scopes probably were as well, as being of no further use except as scrap, just as was ordained for the W&S scopes in Canada in 1944, according to the correspondence that Clive Law found.
In fact probably all the small arms issued from British stocks were turned in; simpler to equip the much smaller post-war Canadian regular army with new than transport, store and refurbish rifles that had had seen a year or two of war service. One of the questions that should have been asked when the people that knew were still alive!
Most of the Canadian issue W&S scopes that have turned up seem to have come out of Quebec; I found two there myself. That could be simply because that's where Longue Pointe and some other major ordnance depots are or were.
Clearly a scrap dealer decided some were worth more as scopes than as scrap and didn't send them all off for the melt. Despite having a couple of pounds of bronze in them, they would only be "irony" scrap due to all the steel parts and probably not worth disassembly to get a higher metal price.
Last edited by Surpmil; 12-21-2024 at 12:31 PM.
Reason: Typo
“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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12-20-2024 02:05 PM
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Surpmil - I an unaware of any being auctioned off. Like contacting museums, it's a shot in the dark to locate images or a surviving rifle. I recently contacted Colin Stevens too and he's unaware off any surviving examples.
If you want to tease yourself look at the old 1938-9 American Rifleman Magazines. There were monthly ads featuring surplus W-S with case were being sold cheap (by our standards but a princely ransom by 1939 Great Depression standard). Hard times back then and most people spent their ducats on essentials.
BTW, best story I heard of the pre-WW II era was an American who bought every single new tire he could find. He filled his warehouse with them. He knew war was coming and that there would be a rubber shortage. When the war broke out and rubber was neeeded by the military, he made bank.
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Two mounting pads that are attached to the reciever via two screws each and then the mounting bracket attached to the pad also by two screws on each end.
Wouldn't the scope wound conceal the bracket?
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Contributing Member
The pictures clearly illustrate the rifle does not have something added to the receiver ring as well as that the scope isn't sitting as high as a scope would be with the bracket as shown in the drawing. To me therefore it is clear the rifle in the pictures has a rail added to the side of the receiver.
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I see what you're talking about now. I bet the actual base was a simpler design that didn't have backets. It could have been one piece that milled and fitted to the receiver. That would be less labor intensive than the one in the drawing.
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Someone on this forum once posted his build, it was a Remington made and he has had the Ross Rail fitted to the receiver, plus cutting the ears of the rear sight. For what I remember that was enough. Fail to find the pictures right now.
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I would not butcher a Ross base to adapt it to the P-14. Oh the humanity! I'd rather pay a machinist to make a base to fit the P-14.
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Originally Posted by
Riter
I would not butcher a Ross base to adapt it to the P-14. Oh the humanity! I'd rather pay a machinist to make a base to fit the P-14.
That base was a reproduction base that was altered. They are not complicated. Plus I yet have to see an original spare W&S rail for the Ross Rifle.
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Advisory Panel

Originally Posted by
Riter
I would not butcher a Ross base to adapt it to the P-14. Oh the humanity! I'd rather pay a machinist to make a base to fit the P-14.
There was reference in the correspondence unearthed by Clive Law to additional Ross bases being made up in Canada
before WWII so as to make up the shortfall of rifles as compared to scopes then in store.
The shortfall in rifles was presumably due to their having been scrapped as unserviceable following WWI service, whether in training use or otherwise. That or they were "lost" somewhere in the ordnance stores due to improper record keeping. Clive Law pointed out that the rifles and scopes were in the 1930s actually stored in separate depots, one in Quebec and one in Ontario!
The bases used on the Patt.14 rifles were probably new-made Ross bases modified to suit at some point.
Last edited by Surpmil; 01-11-2025 at 08:39 PM.
“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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