Calling all P14 owners

[daman]

So accuracy wise, what do people think and what are they shooting, factory or home loads.

Very accurate rifle (when I do my bit). I've only taken it to 300 so far but hope to get it out to 600 or more in 2021. Shooting factory S&B 180gr and saving my brass for when I retire and start reloading.

[GeeRam]

Shooting factory S&B 180gr and saving my brass for when I retire and start reloading.

S&B .303 brass is very poor and not very suitable for re-loading, so I wouldn't bother keeping it.

You need to shoot factory PPU instead if you want to save brass for future re-loading.

[ovenpaa]

I do agree S&B is not so good for reloading however it is very consistent within the box, the downside is the next box might be a different batch and 3 feet off at 1000 yards.

[hitchphil]

Clubs had 4 but just sold 2 to BYSA.

now we have 3 - 2x 7.62 TRs one with a stainless barrel that nails the V at 1000 the other is new but short black barrel. We had another but it was crap so had it converted to 303 & put back in traditional P14 wood - its supremely accurate at the falling plates shoots & 5 rnds = 5 plates so not having 10 rnds isn't a problem!

[daman]

Damn, does anyone want to buy a few hundred S&B cases?

I suppose that explains why it's so much cheaper than PPU

[PeterN]

I have just retired 24 .303 S&B cases that I had reloaded 8 times. These were fired in the same rifle and neck sized only with a Lee collet die. These were loaded with not much above starter loads with S&B primers and S&B or Prvi bullets.
Regards
Peter.

[daman]

I have just retired 24 .303 S&B cases that I had reloaded 8 times. These were fired in the same rifle and neck sized only with a Lee collet die. These were loaded with not much above starter loads with S&B primers and S&B or Prvi bullets.
Regards
Peter.

Thanks for that Peter. I guess that:

• in the worst case I have plenty to practice on when I'm learning to reload
  in the best case I might have a lifetime supply by the time I start

-daman

[dave_303]

I have an Eddystone with a 'fat boy' stock. It still retains its volley sights. The barrel has been replace with a Winchester one though. Shoots really well. Sadly just has some feeding issues with the top round in the magazine when fully loaded.

[Rearlugs]

Just watched a clip of Russian "militia" supposedly being armed in the Kiev pocket in 1941 with either P14s or M17s and they look much happier than those getting the Mosins.

We gave a lot of P14s and Long Lees (and Lewis guns) to the Baltic states in the 1920s when we and the French were trying to keep them free of soviet control.

When the soviets invaded and annexed the region in 1939, the rifles went into the soviet inventory. There are many subsequent photos of Moscow militias in 1941 armed with the same P14s.


There is a whole collector niche of Baltic states altered Long Lees - they often shortened them a bit and inserted Mosin-style sling slots into the stock. Apparently the Long Lees were very popular with Baltic and later soviet cavalry, because of the firepower and ease of use compared to Mosins.


Incidentally, the Russians still have very large numbers of P14s and No1s stored away. They had these listed on their weapons export site (along with a lot of other WW2 surplus) until the sanctions kicked in.

Personal anecdote: I was once in the main Moscow war museum with my then-Landord, a bloke who was the Russian equivalent of a retired Weedon storeman. In one of the display cases was a mint condition No1 Mk1***. I mentioned that the rifle was a highly desirable collector's rifle, especially in that sort of unused condition. "Oh", my Landlord says, "we have thousands of those in storage". I explained that he probably meant the more common No1 MkIII. He was adamant that he knew the difference, and that many of both types were still in storage. The origin of the rifles was not clear, but most likely these sorts of quantities ("thousands") can only have come from the Allied expeditionary forces that endeavoured to assist the white Russians in the 1920s. The rifles must have been left behind and donated when the British forces were withdrawn following the recognition of the Soviet regime.

[PeterN]

It is interesting that the Russians can store thousands of rifles and other stuff just in case you may need it sometime in the future. Here, the bean counters say it is too expensive to store stuff that you may or not need. Do we have a war reserve holding of weapons and ammunition any more? All the serviceable L1A1 rifles should have been kept as reserve stock and not destroyed. I think I read somewhere that we destroyed 60,000 or so Stirling SMGs because a sale to India or somewhere fell through and the MOD wouldn't put them into storage. I bet all sorts of stuff is still stored in the stan countries. Any crated Hurricanes or such like I wonder?
Regards
Peter