P-14 Bolts for U.S. M1917 Magnum Conversions

erikpolcrack

I have seen several P-14 Enfield bolts offered on the auction site over the years where the write-up made mention of using them for a magnum conversion of the U.S. M1917 Enfield. Does anyone have knowledge of or experience with such a conversion? If you can do it, does the P-14 extractor need to be modified or swapped for an opened-up M1917 one?

richarda

Century Arms sold some of these (in 7mm Remington Magnum) converted from P-14 actions a decade or so back; I have one. Conversion required a new barrel, magazine box, and (I think) ejector, but bolt looks unaltered.

TriumphGuy

I may be alone in my feelings about this, but I mourn the loss of all old military bolt guns, cut up to make "cheap" sporters. There was a long gone time when this was practical, but the historic value of P-14's, Springfields, Mausers, et al, far out-weigh any gain by irreversibly altering them, let along the gunsmith expense of doing it properly. There are plenty of cheap civilian bolt guns to "customize", i.e. post 64 model 70's, or Rem 721's (same action as P-14). A-Square used to cut up P-14's to make rhino roller magnums in their proprietary calibers. P-14's are heavy, well made actions, but have the ugly (to civilian eyes) dog leg bolt handle and rear sight guards. They are really fun to shoot .303 Brit in authentic livery.

Ambrose

Do I understand correctly that you are asking if you can replace a 1917 bolt with a pattern 1914 one to effect a magnum conversion? If so, I'll see if the bolts will interchange on my rifles.

And TriumphGuy: The 721 uses the same action as the pattern 14?! My 721's do not!

XXCross

Years ago I had a P-14 that had been re-barreled to 458.
There was some work done on the magazine but other than that
there were no other changes. It all worked just fine.

erikpolcrack

quote:Originally posted by TriumphGuy
I may be alone in my feelings about this, but I mourn the loss of all old military bolt guns, cut up to make "cheap" sporters. There was a long gone time when this was practical, but the historic value of P-14's, Springfields, Mausers, et al, far out-weigh any gain by irreversibly altering them, let along the gunsmith expense of doing it properly. There are plenty of cheap civilian bolt guns to "customize", i.e. post 64 model 70's, or Rem 721's (same action as P-14). A-Square used to cut up P-14's to make rhino roller magnums in their proprietary calibers. P-14's are heavy, well made actions, but have the ugly (to civilian eyes) dog leg bolt handle and rear sight guards. They are really fun to shoot .303 Brit in authentic livery.
I agree with you 100% - over the years, I have been able to snag several actions- one stock and three already sporterized, and one partially completed sporter. One of those is my target at the moment. - Erik

erikpolcrack

Originally posted by Ambrose
Do I understand correctly that you are asking if you can replace a 1917 bolt with a pattern 1914 one to effect a magnum conversion? If so, I'll see if the bolts will interchange on my rifles.

And TriumphGuy: The 721 uses the same action as the pattern 14?! My 721's do not!
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Yes - the thing here is, I have a nice 300 Wby Mag barrel that is set up for the M1917, not the P-14. Looking to hybridize if I can to save money. - Erik

richarda

The receivers of the P-14 and M1817 are close to identical - they definitely have the same barrel threads and diameter.

Mobuck

A rebarrelled(257 Wby) P-14 nearly killed me. Now I wouldn't even pick one up to look at it.

MIKE WISKEY

the bolts will interchange but the barrel 'breeching' is different. the p-14 is 'flat' like a mauser (with an extractor cut), while the m-1917 is 'coned' like a springfield.