Given a P14

[JeffinNZ]

I was just gifted a bubba'd P14. I'm as happy as a pig in mud.

Good on you "Tertle".

[Four Fingers of Death]

Well done, I have a nice bubba M17 with an aftermarket stock. I'm looking for a bubber'd 8mm Mauser, I have always fancied an 8mm/06

[Guesser]

I have a P14 that has not been bubba'd. I did have the barrel reset and headspace corrected. Fine, fine shooter. I acquired several hundred rounds of South African surplus ammunition and I hand load for it. Great old gun!!!

[Tertle]

the old pig in mud comment ehh.

everyone should have a project rifle or two,( three or four...) so its off to a good home, will be interesting to see if this gets the scout look!

[bruce drake]

Jeff,

It seems we share a common rifle again! And dang! gift rifles... You trading Roo Ball Bags at a high premium there in NZ?

What are you shooting for this rifle? You plan on using 180 or 200gr boolits with this rifle to develop a load with? I'm sure 303 Brit is probably old-hat to you like 30-06 is for us here in The States. But my first center-fire rifle was a No4 MkII and I've enjoyed that caliber for over 20 years myself.

Bruce

[303Guy]

I find the 303 Brit to be quite a nicely balanced cartridge - for me.

I'm guessing Jeff is going to be shooting 245 grainers. And why not?

[gew98]

I found decades ago that My Patt'14 even loves 88 & 95 grain pills from 32 S&W shorts loaded into my old MARBLES converters then loaded in the Patt'14. Deadly accurate - great squirrel and rabit getter that way...and nice and quiet !.

[northof58]

A couple years ago, I picked up a bubba'd P14. I scoped it, put in a Timney trigger and worked over the stock. I took it out a couple of nights ago to work up a load for it using jacketed bullets. After that I tried cast and it shoots cast as well as the jacketed and that without any load developement. I have a nephew that wants to buy it from me, but after trying it out, I told my wife, "He is not getting this one."

[Hip's Ax]

Pattern 14's are Lovely rifles! I have a P14 and an M1917 and I took both to the range one day to shoot them side by side. With my best lot of 303 ball (South African) and my best lot of 30-06 M2 ball (LC66) the P14 shot markedly tighter groups at 100 yards than my M1917. Love P14's! :drinks:

[gew98]

Pattern 14's are Lovely rifles! I have a P14 and an M1917 and I took both to the range one day to shoot them side by side. With my best lot of 303 ball (South African) and my best lot of 30-06 M2 ball (LC66) the P14 shot markedly tighter groups at 100 yards than my M1917. Love P14's! :drinks:

I have had the exact same experiances with the minty M1917's I had and the Ol'Patty14 I kept. With reloads or Gov't fodder the 303 Patt'14 is a tack driver compared to the .30 caliber M1917 thingy. Just no competition there.

[WineMan]

In the original 5 groove 30-06 barrels, Bob S had posted that the fmj Hornaday 0.3105" was a better performer than 0.308" jacketed bullets. I have fed mine 308 jacketed and 311 cast. I do not have a P14 to compare it to but I have found it to be very accurate.

Wineman

[bruce drake]

I had a Bubba 1917 once and it shot a pattern with standard 30 caliber bullets. The recent posts are starting to make me think I should have experimented a little bit more with the rifle before I sold it off.

I wonder if the Winchester and Remington Plants had excess unchambered 303 barrels left over from their P14 runs and they just chambered them for 30-06 (311-06) in order to get the production numbers up for the war.

Bruce

[Chicken Thief]

I was given a m17 reciever and converted it into 45-70. It will hold 3 down and feeds just fine after some extensive work. So the sky is the limit.

[gew98]

I had a Bubba 1917 once and it shot a pattern with standard 30 caliber bullets. The recent posts are starting to make me think I should have experimented a little bit more with the rifle before I sold it off.

I wonder if the Winchester and Remington Plants had excess unchambered 303 barrels left over from their P14 runs and they just chambered them for 30-06 (311-06) in order to get the production numbers up for the war.

Bruce

BD ; I think from my experiance that the vast majority of M1917's were too hurried an affair and used almost exclusively uncured timber. I had two unissued 0ct 1918 M17's many years ago and the wood had GREEN streaks throughout on both...and neiether could shoot worth a spit with surplus M2 ball or 165 & 168gn reloads.
The only M1917 I had that shot near as good as any Patt'14 I had/have was an eddystone that sported a 1919 dated winchester barrel and winchester stock and obviously had some care taken to bed the barrel properly. No doubt one of the rifles salvaged and rebuilt from the great war soon after that event.

[Surplus Shooter]

I wish I was that lucky.

[swheeler]

Jeff you are one lucky dog!

[lmcollins]

Chicken Theif:

Tell us about your P14 303 converted to 45-70. I know where there is a stripped 1917 receiver, and almost picked it up with the thought of turning it into a 45/70. I'd have to get a complete bolt and mag box on the surplus market, but I' certain they are available.

I know the bolt face would have to be opened up slightly, and the extractor also. The magazine ought to be about correct, but I was wondering about the rails. The floorplate would have to be straightened, and the box itself cut down to slim the whole thing. All doable. The mag box lenght should be alright, and even permit longer throating to load bullets up to 500 grains.

After all of the work it might be a better rifle than a Siamese Mauser. No bolt handle or safty to fool with.

So: what did yours require for work?

[Four Fingers of Death]

Chicken Theif:

Tell us about your P14 303 converted to 45-70. I know where there is a stripped 1917 receiver, and almost picked it up with the thought of turning it into a 45/70. I'd have to get a complete bolt and mag box on the surplus market, but I' certain they are available.


The SMLE would be an easier conversion and a faster, smoother platform for the 45/70 than a P14 (I have nothing against the P14/M17 and own heaps of them). Here is a link with info:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/gibbs_summit.htm

The part that would really make the project a lot easier, would be the deep standard mag allows you to build a straight stack mag and weld/solder/rivet it inside the original mag. This is how a lot of 7.62/223 conversions are done on No4s as 7.62 No4 Mags are long gone (I spoke to a guy in England some years ago who used to make these mags and he said all recent efforts had failed as the original gauge / strength metal was no longer available) and no one ever made 223 mags. Done this way you should be able to get a four round mag.

My mate has a 444 conversion, but hasn't tackled the magazine issue yet.

You would want to check it out fully, especially if you couldn't do the work yourself, for the cost of the barrel and gunsmithing you could probaby buy a second hand Marlin 1895, new ones are not too expensive nowadays.

[Chicken Thief]

I did a new thread so i would not hijack this.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=1349677#post1349677