My Project P14
If you didn't know already I'll tell you, I love the P14 .303. I saw this one in a local pawn shop and bought it, the bore is in good condition however I was short sighted and didn't notice that it was made up of spare parts. The stock had been poorly sporterizied. The bolt serial number, rear sight serial number and the number on the chamber are all different. And most of the parts are stamped (E) for Eddystone. That is when I decided to see if I could modify the rifle to increase the accuracy to rival a newer rifle, and maybe try to shoot 4" groups at 500 meters.
The first thing I did was take the rifle to the range to see what I could do with it at 100 meters with the iron sights. After 100 rounds the best 5 round group I managed was 4.625" with my average being around 6". I was shooting hand loaded 150 Gr HCSP made by Hot-Cor with 38.5 gr of H4895, with an assortment of different cases (Mil. Surplus, Remington, Federal & Winchester)
The first thing I did was take the rifle to the range to see what I could do with it at 100 meters with the iron sights. After 100 rounds the best 5 round group I managed was 4.625" with my average being around 6". I was shooting hand loaded 150 Gr HCSP made by Hot-Cor with 38.5 gr of H4895, with an assortment of different cases (Mil. Surplus, Remington, Federal & Winchester)
As you can see above I was shooting high and to the right, upon closer inspection I noticed the sight was not the original. The rear sight is stamped (E) with a different serial number from the chamber.
During my test shoot I discovered that the rifle would not feed Federal cartridges, the bolt would not close on them. As it turned out Federal cartridges are a fraction of an inch bigger around the base. This was quickly fixed with a file.
I also decided to remove the unmatched serial numbers from the bolt as well. What was interesting was the (T) stamped on the bolt which could indicate it originally came from P14 sniper rifle, although doubtful as the number with the (T) doesn't match the rifle serial number. However it could be assumed that the T4446 was the serial number of the scope. Below are the before and after pictures.
After cleaning up the bolt it was time to dissemble the rifle and give the smaller parts a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner. Once done the majority will immediately be re-blued. The stock parts (Butt plate, ID disk, etc. will be reattached to the stock to keep some of the edges crisp during re-shaping and finishing.
While the parts are in the cleaner it was time to reshape the bulky stock, as you can see from the first few pictures it was poorly sporterized and very bulky.
I started out buy reshaping the fore stock, I've always liked the feel of the original rifle from the magazine back so I left that portion as is. The pictures below are of the shape I decided to go with. I essentially went from the mag well and re tapered it out to the end of the stock. In the pictures below I have also been treating the stock with boiling water and TSP to try and strip the 99 years of grease and finish. You can see in the pictures I'm getting closer but not quite there yet, it may need a few more TSP treatments.
I finally got the old finish off and plugged the old front volley sight and sling swivel holes. I decided to go with a dark wood stain, Ebony. I know that will make some people angry but the stock isn't the original anyway so chill out. I also filed the majority of the pitting out of the but plate and re-blued it.
I reassembled the rifle to check the fitting and the next step is to glass bed the rifle. I also ordered a 6-24x50 scope and a scope mount from Brownells.
The scope and scope mount arrived, the scope mount needed to be filed down a little to fit. The scope came with rings but they mounted the scope way too high so I purchased a set of low profile rings from Wholesale Sports and away I went. I still haven't glass bedded the rife yet but I'm going to try and sight it in first to see what it will do.
More to come but I had to a break on this project due to work.