WTB: P14 Enfield barrel wanted

[bruce drake]

Anyone with a P14 Enfield rifle barrel sitting on a shelf somewhere? Looking to mate one up with an ERA P14 receiver, stock and PH5B sight I have on my shelf. I was going to modify a M1917 barrel but its in 300 Win Mag and not feeling the love to use that cartridge on this setup.

I'd even consider buying a Drill Purpose take-off barrel if that is available.

Bruce

[fjruple]

Bruce -- Call Criterion and/or Dean's Restoration. Normally they will wait for a number of orders to run a batch.

[bruce drake]

Bruce -- Call Criterion and/or Dean's Restoration. Normally they will wait for a number of orders to run a batch.

Thanks, Dean's gets their barrels from Criterion and I've been on Criterion's back-ordered list for more than 18 months. IF Criterion ever produces another run of P14 barrels, I'll purchase one but I expect better results from a WTB post at this point...

Bruce

[bruce drake]

I've found 5 DP P14 barrels on Ebay auction today. I'll be using them to build threaded barrel sleeves for threading another 303 caliber barrel into the action. hopefully, I'll get one decent barrel stub out of the 5 (hopefully it doesn't take 4 barrels to practice the interior threading)

Right now I plan to thread the barrel sleeve to fit a Savage 340 barrel with a locknut that I have here which is currently chambered for 30-30Win but I also plan to have a 7.7 Arisaka barrel to be faced flush at the chamber and then threaded for that same 340 thread profile and then re-chambered for 303 Brit if the first savage profile barrel works with the barrel sleeve process.

I'll have a sporter barrel 4" shorter than standard P14 barrel with the 340 barrel but I have a sporter stock on the shelf for that barrel. If I use the Arisaka 99 donor barrel, it will be about 1.5" shorter than standard P14 barrel but it should still be closer to the original profile and length than the Savage barrel. I'll modify the lower handguard of the P14 enfield stock I have to allow room for the barrel locknut and retaper the stock's nosecap to meet the shorter overall barrel length and allow the P14 front upper huandguard and sights to be used. It would be a faux P14 at that point.

[bruce drake]

I got a great deal on 5 P14 DP barrels last week and a line on a CMP recommended gunsmith in Florida who re-sleeves the DP P14 chambers with a stainless steel insert. He's already said he has time this winter for the project if I could find the barrels since he was out of stock. Also I have had a conversation with a fellow HP/LR shooter who is willing to see about doing a barrel stub/barrel sleeve process to convert the headspacing on the barrels -to a Savage locknut style barrel setup. So I'll send 2 to the Florida gunsmith for chamber resleeves and three to my friend in NC for him to practice on and thread the barrel stubs for new barrels. Right now I have an actual Savage 340 barrel and locknut in 30-30 Win to serve as a master for the threading and three military barrels in 7x57, 8x57 and .303 (actually 7.7x58) to be threaded in the same Savage 340 style. If I can get at least one good threaded barrel stub out of the three, I'll be happy. I'm not into making a fortune on this or being 100% period correct but to get it back to safe running shape as a Bisley Match/WWI Tribute Rifle.

And for folks wondering about the four caliber choices for the barrel sleeve project. 30-30 Win? Its an easy caliber conversion for the P14's bolt to handle since its a rimmed cartridge close in size to the original 303 Brit. Also Remington sold several hundred of their P14/1917 series rifles to Honduras in 7x57 in the 1930s and the Lithuanians and Estonians converted the P14s and M1917s that Britain and the US donated to them after WWI to the more readily available 8x57mm ammo that they were buying from their Polish and German neighbors. Chinese Warlords also converted many of their P14s to 8mm in the 1930s or purchased them from other nations in that caliber since 8mm was their official caliber for their rifles before they started getting US Lend Lease M1917s and other firearms in 30-06 during WWII. The 7.7x58 caliber is because, I happen to have several T99 Arisakas and the caliber is ballistically the twin of the 303 British cartridges but in a rimless cartridge, so the Parker Hale 5B match sights I have will match up perfectly with the Arisaka barrel since its the same length and sight radius as the original P14 barrel as well. I also recently picked up 3 almost pristine T99 Arisaka barrels to bring a couple of sporterized T99s back from rechambered 7.7-06 status. One of them will be converted to the Savage locknut style since its bore is factory chrome-lined and looks brand-new even though it is probably 80+ years old. All 4 cartridges fit into the P14 Magazine box with no issues. The 3 rimless cartridges only require an M1917 extractor swap on the bolt for them to work with the rifle. So many options...so little time to shoot through them all....lol.

4 of the 5 P14 barrels have immaculate bores once the cosmolene was removed, despite the DP holes cut in their chambers. The 5th barrel has an actual plugged chamber but the bore is rusty so its not a candidate for a chamber re-sleeve in my opinion but all 5 barrels have excellent condition barrel threads which is more important for this project.

So hopefully by the end of 2022, it will either be back in 303 British shooting condition with the chamber re-sleeve (Tribute rifle) or it will be sitting in a Match rifle configuration with new "Savage 340" barrels on the shelf to be used as needed.

[obssd1958]

Sent Pm - didn't realize this was in swappin' and sellin'!

[MUSTANG]

Can you share contact info on Gunsmith who can resleeve the chamber of P14 either in this thread or via PM?

[bruce drake]

I'll have to shift this thread over to the project folder! LOL

The POC info on the gunsmith is on my computer in the office and I'll post it to you on Monday when I get back to the office. I found him through another forum

Bruce

[bruce drake]

Bruce Dow
Dow Arms Room
19250 US Highway 301 Dade City, FL 33523