Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2005)

Elegant Grandmother: The Patt '14

Article Contributed by: Jamie Mangrum

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In the past year there was a local collector in my area that died. Shortly afterwards his son found gun safe after gun safe full of very collectible military firearms. A friend of mine was given the honor of selling the collection on consignment. Every once and awhile the son will have a safe opened (because his father did not leave him the combinations) and he will bring a batch of around 15 to 30 rifles to the store to be sold. I have purchased a few of the pieces so far and when a new batch arrives I will quickly receive news about it via email or by phone.

Recently on a Saturday afternoon I received a call to go see a Pattern 14 rifle from a newly released batch of rifles from the collection. I had been looking for a good specimen for my collection and the web site for quite some time. Let's just say that usually I am not in the mood to drive all of the way across the city on a Saturday afternoon, but this was a special occasion. When I arrived and went into the back of the store I saw her for the very first time. She was actually more pretty than my U.S. Model 1917 rifle and still had her volley sights intact. I looked down her 5 groove barrel and knew I had to take her home. I quickly placed a deposit and returned promptly the next week to pay her off. Soon she was home in my collection.

A Little Bit of History

The Pattern 13 rifles, a modified Mauser style action, were designed for a new .276 caliber cartridge similar to the .280 Ross cartridge. Before issues related to the new cartridge could be resolved, World War I broke out and the British found themselves with inadequate quantities of small arms. The Pattern 14 rifle was the production version of the Pattern 13 rifle in the standard .303 British caliber. Although the Pattern 14 is not truly a Lee Enfield rifle, it is referred to as an Enfield since it was designed at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield.

Pattern 13 Rifles

The Pattern 1913 rifle was a British rifle introduced in 1913. It takes a .276 inch rimless Enfield cartridge from an integral 5-round box magazine and fires with a muzzle velocity of 843 meters-per-second. It is sighted to 1738 meters. An accurate weapon, the Pattern 1913 proved unpopular as it tended to overheat after firing 15-rounds and could discharge the next loaded round as soon as it entered the chamber. The Pattern 1913 was later modified to take the .303 service round and redesignated the Pattern 14 or Enfield Rifle No 3 as it was more popularly known.

Source: http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com

Pattern 14 Rifles

The Enfield Rifle No 3 (Pattern 1914) was a British bolt action rifle developed between 1912 and 1914, and produced from 1915 to 1917, as a potential replacement for the Lee Enfield rifle. It uses a Mauser-type action and was originally designed in .276 Enfield rimless caliber, but was produced in .303 caliber taking a five-round magazine, under license by Remington and Winchester in the USA. Following the Great War the British army's rifles were put in store and during the Second World War issued to Home Guard units.

Source: http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com

Volley sights found on 19th century and WW I British rifles were designed to lay down a volley of fire by a squad or larger group of soldiers at extreme distances. Figure 3 shows the front volley sight that graduates beginning at 1500 yards and extending all the way out to 2600 yards. Keep in mind that this was before machine guns and that also this was not intended to be accurate shooting other than just raining down bullets on top of an enemy position. The sight allowed the soldier to keep the butt stock of his rifle placed firmly against the shoulder while sighting the rifle at higher angles than the traditional sights allowed. The rear aperture sights were located on the left side of the receiver as shown in figure 4 and could be lifted into action when the soldier was ordered to do so. To find volley sights on a Pattern 14 rifle is somewhat an oddity as more than half were removed during refurbishment.

Eddystone Mk I Pattern 14 Rifles were Stamped with ERA on the Receiver. Pattern 14 Mk I* Rifles were Stamped with ERA* on the Receiver.

History of the Eddystone Arsenal

Remington Arms Co. of Delaware purchased a half-finished locomotive factory in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. This factory became known as the Eddystone Arsenal, producing Pattern 14 rifles for the British war effort and later the U.S. Model 1917 rifle. In 1918, the Remington Arms Company of Delaware was absorbed by the Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company.

Eddystone Mk I Pattern 14 Rifles were Stamped with IE on the Stock inside of a Circle. The I representing Mk I and the E representing Eddystone.

Figure 5 shows receiver markings and a serial number that point to her being an early production Eddystone Pattern 14, Mk I rifle. Her American black walnut stock is beautiful and in excellent condition with all intact markings as shown in figure 6 (excluding the butt stock disc because it has no markings and appears to be somewhat new). Being that the stock has no finger grooves and proper Eddystone Mk 1 markings denotes that it is most likely an early production Eddystone P14 stock. The left side of the stock is also milled for the volley sights. Combining all of this information I make the assumption that the stock is the original and matches the time period of the markings on the receiver. All in all, I am very pleased with my find and she will take an honored place in my collection.

An odd fact to point out is that during WW I, both the Pattern 14 and U.S. Model 1917 were relegated to the role of being a "secondary issue" rifle. This was true even though more m1917s were carried by American troops during WWI than the 1903 Springfield. As a result neither the Patt '14 or M1917 gained the same rightful place of honor that was achieved by both the Enfield No.1 Mk III and the Springfield 1903 rifles.

Fun at the Range

I had been working on a project for an article about mounting a scope on an M1A rifle and had to take the rifle out to the range for the range report portion. When I went to purchase the ammo I found they had some very accurate commercial .303 British ammo on sale and this reminded me I had not yet taken her (my new Grandma Patt '14) out for a test shoot just yet. So, I decided to make it a long morning at the range. I arrived at the range that Sunday morning and it was only 39 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was gusting, making it really chilly.

I started out shooting the scoped M1A and became very frustrated quickly as my zero continuously drifted and my bullets would move off of the paper after I thought I was sighted in. I found the reason to be that I had used cheap scope rings (some things are worth spending a little extra on) and the large mounting screws on the side of the mount would not stay tightened. I decided to put the M1A back in the rack, retool it at home later, and give it another try the following weekend (I ended up being sick the following weekend and have yet to return to the range with the M1A). I hate it when you go to the range and you are not successful with the task you drove all of the way there to accomplish. For me the drive is a thirty mile trip one way and seems even longer towards home when I am not happy.

Luckily I still had the Pattern 14 to shoot and enough ammo to keep me occupied for a little while. I had two different types of commercial .303 ammo with me. The first cartridge type I had with me was loaded with a 180 grain bullet and the other type was loaded with a standard 174 grain bullet. It is really easy to find high quality and very accurate commercial .303 British ammo these days for a reasonable price of between $7 and $9 per box of twenty. This is actually not that bad when you consider that it is not corrosive and I don't know about you but my shoulder can't take much more than firing off a couple boxes of twenty cartridges in a bolt action rifle any ways.

Her trigger measured at a consistent and smooth two-stage six pounds although she felt considerably less when pulled while shooting. I would have guessed somewhere around five pounds.

Her point of aim was excellent at 100 yards as I did not have to aim lower on the target to place in the black. Accuracy was very redeeming after my problems with the M1A scoping problems.

You may have noticed figures 7 through 10? Let's just say that I was one happy camper and am planning on using her in a future postal shoot if I can convince Ted Jeo to come up with a theme that lets me include her in the competition. There is nothing like the feeling you get when the first forty rounds sent out of a rifle down range group the way she did.

Although relegated to second fiddle obscurity I find both the Pattern 14 and the U.S. Model 1917 rifles to be excellent and accurate weapons that I would have gladly carried in battle or take to the range for some fun shooting. The Model 1917 is more readily available and in good condition than most of the Patt '14s that I have come across. This is why it took me so long before I bought one for myself. I would recommend highly getting at the very least a m1917 and if you ever find an elegant grandmother in good shooting condition - make her a good home. She will take care of you in return.

jlm ;)

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Article Contributed by: Jamie Mangrum