Pattern 14 to the range!

Today just struck me as a good day for the range, so I loaded up the Pattern 14 and some old South African .303 ammo and headed out while it was still somewhat not insanely hot. The range wasn't crowded at all, and as usual, 90% of the shooters there on the rifle line had some variant of an AR. Man I remember the day when I was the subject of scorn at a range or two for having an AR back when they weren't common. Now I'm the odd duck again for not having one. Sigh...

But me and the Pattern 14 got down to business, and business was good.

Firing off the mat--I'm still the only one here that does that--the old rifle put almost every round on the 8" steel plate at 100M. The few that missed were completely my fault. This old war horse is still solid and capable. I have to raise the sight leaf and with the aperture in the lowest setting and when I do it hits right on the steel so regularly that it's kinda boring. But it felt good to lie on that mat and pull that stock up into my shoulder, bringing that trigger back slowly until it broke, the report and the recoil being followed a second later by a sharp ringing noise as the steel target downrange rocked. It doesn't get much better than this morning.

After a time, I put the old iron away and broke out the Ruger 10/22 on the .22 steel range, just to work on my offhand shooting, which is still sub-par.

I player over here for half an hour or so then hit the road.

And in an amazing range coincidence, I was unable to find my shooter's earmuffs in my truck when I got there, so I asked to borrow a pair from the range. Well the range stopped issuing loaners this past month but the range officers know me and as a courtesy they popped open their supply cabinet and gave me a pair from their lost and found...and that pair had my initials clearly painted on both muffs! Well I guess I know where those got to. But what are the odds of them reaching into a box of earmuffs and pulling out my own pair, a set that I didn't even know was missing?

More guns--Pattern 14 again

I've had this old Pattern 14 for a long time and it's been written about here before.

The Pattern 14 Enfield

I restocked it once, but with an old drill-purpose stock which had been cut through to allow for the demilitarization of the rifle it had originally been on. I didn't like those holes and I didn't care for how the finish come out, but it still looked decent enough and it shot really well out to 200 yards so I kept it. I wanted to get a better stock for it but they'd gotten scarce over the years.

Then Sarco advertised some. The price More than I'd paid for the rifle itself. But I wanted the rifle correct and it was still cheap at today's Pattern 14 prices. So I ordered one.

The fist one they sent me was ridiculous. Soon as I pulled it out of the long, thin back full or styrofoam chips--a pet peeve of mine--I saw that all the metal still on it was corroded badly and the stick had a full-thickness crack running up one side at the mag well. It was useless and beyond repair. But sarco's pretty good on fixing stuff like this (they should be, as often as they do this) and they sent me a replacement stock that was rough but which cleaned up well enough with tung oil once I got all of the cosmoline grease out of it. I spent a week rubbing it down and adding thin coats and it finished up looking pretty good. I purposely left the dings and scrapes in it because the rest of the rifle metal has it's character wear already so it looks appropriate, wood and metal alike, just like any other old rifle that's been maintained but not refinished.

As for it's markings:

ERA, means it was make at the Remington-run shop at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Eddystone, PA.

Other side: "Not English Make" stamp on the left--a requirement for firearms imported into Britain back then-- and British government property markings. This one definitely went "over there" to help fight the Hun.

All that's left to do now is get it a proper sling, try to find it some correct long-range volley sights, and take it out to shoot it, possibly as soon as this coming week-end.

More on the Pattern 1914...and others.

Several people seemed to find yesterday's post on the Pattern 1914 rifle interesting, so I figured that I'd expand on it a bit and highlight the American version, the US Rifle, Model of 1917, and it's partner in WW1 warfare, the venerable 1903 Springfield.

Come World War One, the British found themselves in a bit of a fix. They were off to war against that whacky Kaiser Wilhelm but they were sorely lacking in infantry rifles. They were then using the Enfield #1 Mk3, "SMLE" (Short Magazine, Lee Enfield", or "Smelly" to the troops) but they didn't have nearly enough of them.

SMLE in .303

So the Brits turned to the US Arms Manufacturers Winchester and Remington and gave them a design for a rifle that had showed promise in trials but not gone into production for lack of available manufacturers. This rifle was the Pattern 14, a rifle that was considered more accurate and robust than the SMLE but which was also heavier and limited by it's five-round magazine against the SMLE's 10-round capacity.
Pattern 14 rifle in .303

Winchester made these at their plant in New Haven, Connecticut and Remington cranked these rifles out at two plants, it's main plant in Ilion, New York, and a second plant that it set up in the Baldwin Locomotive Plant works in Eddystone, Pennsylvania just to make these rifles. They made them up until 1917, at which time the Brits figured that they had enough SMLE rifles and cancelled the contracts. But then the US, feeling left out, got into the war. Not surprisingly, we needed more rifles than we had, too. Our own government arsenals at Springfield, Mass. and Rock Island, Ill. were turning out 1903 Springfield rifles as fast as they could but it wasn't enough to arm the new troops that we were drafting.

US Rifle Model 1903

Fortunately, the Winchester and Remington plants were still set up to produce Pattern 14 rifles, so the design was changed a bit to chamber the rifles in .30-06, the US cartridge that the '03 Springfield was already using, and they were put into production, this time as the US Rifle, Model 1917.

Model 1917 (top), Pattern 14 (bottom).

So our troops went to Europe with not one rifle, but two. The 1903 Springfield is the one often remembered at the predominant World War 1 rifle by many, but in actual fact, more US soldiers were armed with the Model 1917s. Even Hollywood got it wrong when they made a movie about World War One Medal of Honor recipient Alvin York. His heroics were portrayed in the 1941 movie Sergeant York, which featured Gary Cooper in the title role, shown here shooting his newly-issued 1903 Springfield rifle.

In reality, York carried a Model 1917.

1903 Springfield (top), Model 1917 (bottom).

Given a choice, our troops tended to prefer the 1903 Springfield. It was shorter, lighter, and had much better sights that were fully adjustable for windage and elevation. A shooter who knew how to use them could put hits on targets at remarkable distances.

1903 rear sight.


By contrast, the Model 1917 and Pattern 14 were only adjustable for elevation, and while the SMLE had a windage adjustment, it was still pretty crude.

Pattern 14 rear sight. Model 1917 rear sight is identical.

Enfield #1Mk.3 SMLE rear sight.

It was with those 1903 rifles and their long-range marksmanship skills that the US Marines established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in their engagement with the Germans at Belleau Wood. The Germans could not believe that riflemen could pick their machine gunners off at 800-1000 yards as the Marines regularly did with their Springfields.

Post-WW1, the Pattern 14 and Model 1917 were declared obsolete and sold off or stored. They'd be back by necessity in World War Two when the British, desperate for rifles again, re-issued their Pattern 14's to Reserve and Home Guard troops right alongside Model 1917s that the US sent under provisions of the Lend-Lease act. Owing to the difference in cartridges that the two fired, the 1917s had to have big red bands painted on the stocks to clearly identify them as .30 rifles, not .303. The 1903 Springfields soldiered on, remaining a front-line rifle with the Marine Corps. and even some Army units well into the Second World War. An updated version of the 1903, the 1903A3 Springfield, saw that war to a conclusion and even served into the Korean War as a sniper rifle.

Mine have some noteworthy markings that tell a bit about where they've been and what they've seen. My Model 1917 was made at the Eddystone plant in Pennsylvania.

It's barrel is dated 1918, and that's consistent with the serial number. It also shows a stock stamping "RA-P" with indicates an overhaul at the Raritan Arsenal in New Jersey, probably post-WW1.

It also bears the US Ordnance Dept. acceptance stamp, a small flaming bomb, on the receiver and the barrel.

My Pattern 14 was also made at the Eddystone plant, but it's receiver marking is a bit plainer.

On it's receiver rail, it has the British acceptance mark--a crown and the letters G.R. for Georgius Rex--King George. Just ahead of that is a broad arrow stamp, indicating British government ownership.

My 1903 Springfield is a later model, manufactured in 1933 per it's serial number and barrel date.

It also has some faint stock markings that didn't photograph well. The main one of interest is an SAA stamp, which indicates that at some time, this rifle went through an overhaul program at the San Antonio Arsenal.

The SMLE has lots of markings.

It was made in 1916 and the Birmingham Small Arms factory in England. It also bears the Georgious Rex stamp.

It has two serial numbers, the larger one it's British number assigned when it was made, and the lower one an Australian number stamped on it when it was transferred to the Aussie government at some time in it's service life. The D^D stamp is indicative of the Australian Defense Department. This old critter got around.

The stock bears marks as well. The small "639" indicates that this rifle received a new stock in June of 1939, probably when it was being pulled from post WW1 storage and being reconditioned. The stock also has both the rifle's original serial number and the Australian Dept. of Defense stamping.

I'm guessing that it served with English forces in the First World War and the Australian forces in the Second. Bet it's got some stories to tell.

I regularly shoot all of these rifles and find them all to be perfectly sound and accurate after all of these years. All will put rounds nicely on a 200 yard target if I do my part, and I suspect that 1903 in particular will reach out considerably farther. When I get a chance, I'm going to work it in on the 400 yard range and see if I can't ring the steel gong with it a few times.

The 1903 is special to me. I actually saved this one from destruction by buying it sight unseen from a kid who'd inherited it from his grandfather and who was going to cut it into a deer rifle. When I met him, it was bouncing around in the trunk of his car, uncased, with the jack and tire iron and a tool box banging into it. I gave him a hundred fifty dollars for it on the spot, gambling that it wasn't some shot-out piece of junk or National Ordnance boat anchor. As it turned out, I did ok.


All of these rifles have history. Each undoubtedly saw service in at least one world war and perhaps a few other smaller conflicts on the side. Each could probably tell some great tales. Each has known many previous owners before me, and I have no doubt that each will survive me in fine shape and pass on to other owners, probably still in 100% serviceable condition. But for now, I'm proud to have them and appreciate the chance to research them and shoot them.

The Pattern 14 Enfield

I felt like writing about old guns today, so here's a gem from my personal collection that actually comes with a rather interesting story.


The rifle pictured is a World War One British Pattern 14 Enfield, made for the British right here in America by the Eddystone Arsenal in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. This factory was not really an "arsenal" in the true sense--it was actually a half-finished locomotive factory that Remington Arms acquired during the early days of WW1 to use as an extra rifle-manufacturing plant in order to fill it's British Government contracts. Interestingly enough, these rifles were produced by both Remington and it's chief competitor, Winchester Repeating Arms, at the same time.

When the United States joined the war in 1917, it wasn't long before we realized that we didn't have enough rifles. (Our standard at the time was the .30 caliber Model 1903 Springfield.) As the original British contract for 1.2 million Pattern 14's was nearly completed, Remington and Winchester were told to change these guns over to .30 and start supplying them to the US Government.

This particular Pattern 14 would have been made in 1916, as it's an early model that predates the Mk 1* version with the longer bolt locking lugs. That change took place in December, 1916, and all subsequent rifles were so marked. This one does not have those markings.

I found this one in a small general store in northern Michigan that also sold guns and ammo. It was sitting on the sale rack with a rather niftily-done sporterized stock but without any apparent metal damage, as is often the case when some Bubba decides that a historic rifle would be better suited for banging away at deer if the original sights are ground off and/or the receiver is drilled for a scope. This one seemed restorable, at with a price tag of $75.00, how could I miss?

So I asked the old man running the store if I could see it. As I looked it over, I determined that it was, in fact, a Pattern 14 and not a Model 1917. Not that it would have mattered. I would have taken it either way. The old man remarked that it was one of the best .30-06 rifles ever made. Clearly he thought that it was a Model 1917, and to be fair, it wasn't marked as either one. All it bore was the Eddystone "ERA" stamp and a few small British proof-marks. I politely replied that this one was a .303, but he rather huffily argued back that it was indeed a .30-06.

OK, well I like to be nice, so I smiled and began to explain exactly how I knew it to be a Pattern 14, and not a Model 1917 as he believed it to be. He reached out, took it back from me, and asked "Do you want to buy this .30-06 or not?"

Well yes, I did. So when I pulled the cash out, he wrote up the bill of sale...for a .30-06, which of course, he wrote in large numbers and underlined twice for emphasis.

(The scummy lawyer in me thought that I should have taken it out, shot a .30-06 round through it, then sued him, but I love old guns too much to do that.)

Anyway, I took it home, found a correct stock and fittings for it, and it now looks as you see it here. And these days it usually graces a rack right below a pristine Model 1917, which I acquired a few months later for a similar very small sum.

Ah, for the days before Saving Private Ryan and the other movies that suddenly made war popular and drove up the prices of all of these once-cheap and plentiful firearms to insane levels.