Sporterized Enfield?
Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Enfields
Forum Name: Enfield Rifles
Forum Description: Anything that has to do with the great Enfield rifles!
URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=11950
Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 3:39pm
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Topic: Sporterized Enfield?
Posted By: a17viking
Subject: Sporterized Enfield?
Date Posted: March 23 2022 at 5:07pm
My wife's grandfather was in the Canadian Military during WWII. Have the war he kept his rifle and was sporterized. I don't know if it is an Enfield or not. I have photos below with the markings.     
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Replies:
Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: March 23 2022 at 5:41pm
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it was definetly a 303 at one time - i think it appears to have been rechambered for a different bullet , we need some overall shots to determine what it started out as but i do not think enfield , im inclined to mauser of some sort maybe based on the first photo , and the fourth of the magazine cover ,
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Posted By: Olddust
Date Posted: March 23 2022 at 6:22pm
Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: March 24 2022 at 3:12am
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A photo of the entire rifle and one of the left and right sides of the action would help. Doesn’t look like a Lee Enfield.
It appears to have impression stamps indicating it was sold out of service and exported.
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Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: March 24 2022 at 5:26am
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It looks like it has a magazine cut off and was D&Ted for a scope mount.
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Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: March 24 2022 at 7:19am
 Olddust wrote:
Pattern 14 perhaps? |
Without seeing the whole rifle, the one photo of the top of the reciever shows a Mauser styled bolt release. The stamps on the barrel have it chambered for the 303 and specifically for the 215grn bullets. I tend to agree with Olddust that it is possibly a sporterized P-14...
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Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: March 24 2022 at 1:23pm
Its not a "Lee-Enfield" but, it may be an "American Enfield", (a P-13/ P-14) but the "BSA stacked rifles" has me going. I don't recall BSA making any of either?
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: March 24 2022 at 2:06pm
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I saw that too, puzzling….full photo should tell the tale. But, seems to be exported from the UK and not a “bring back” by a soldier…
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Posted By: shiloh
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 3:58am
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Most likely a BSA custom, they did a lot of reworked P14`s, they look a lot like a regular mauser rifle. So ya, a rifle one would be able to legally bring back after the war.
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Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 4:02am
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It would be nice to see the complete rifle. Hopefully the OP doesn't leave us hanging...
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Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 7:30am
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Its also set up for the old round nose Mark I and Mk II 215Gr bullets. That kinda dates it!
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 3:32pm
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as always and because ive been burned recently with speculating beyond what the photos show - we need more complete photos to respond beyond what we have all seen , if the OP mdoes not provide the requested i think they have gotten all we can give ,
i was assuming the 215 bullet was a rechamber to a different caliber but i see why all of you took the high road to the older bullet , i just didnt think the P14 was fcalibrated to that - i may well be mistaken it was where i was headed as well with the mauser/BSA indications tho , i just decided to err on the sideof caution and ask for more photos before the leap ,
hope he bothers to come back and add to this thread ,
i am curious about the squirly circle thing in this photo , i cant blow it up and there is something in the center i cant read , anyone have an idea of that mark ?
oh and it apears to be D&Td on the receiver as well ,
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 4:39pm
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That looks to be the BSA stacked rifles mark…
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Posted By: a17viking
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 4:45pm
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Trying to get my father in law to get me better photos.
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Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 6:48pm
Pulled this directly from this forum. The OP of this rifle states specifically that his is a P-14 sporterizedby BSA. It has the same stamps as the one in this thread....and now we know... 
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Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: March 25 2022 at 11:27pm
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OK , but - the P14 was only made by three mfgrs here in the states , remington , winchester and eddystone , weedon refurbed them between the wars , while BSA may well have sported it over its lifetime it could not [given Vinners made a few P13s - it is not a BSA rifle ] have been a BSA originated rifle , now , why did BSA mess with it ?
think i answered my own question in retrospect - i got bogged down in origins , its a BSA sporter that was commercial sale , nothing original about it anymore ,
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 3:00am
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That’s what I think to.
We’re P14 rifles issued to troops in WWII? Might be more likely that he bought a sporterized P14 while he was in the UK, or bought it here in the US after he got back.
Did all commercially sporterized rifles get those markings (.303, 2.222, etc.) back in 1945?
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Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 5:43am
A square 10 wrote:
OK , but - the P14 was only made by three mfgrs here in the states , remington , winchester and eddystone , weedon refurbed them between the wars , while BSA may well have sported it over its lifetime it could not [given Vinners made a few P13s - it is not a BSA rifle ] have been a BSA originated rifle , now , why did BSA mess with it ? think i answered my own question in retrospect - i got bogged down in origins , its a BSA sporter that was commercial sale , nothing original about it anymore ,
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Checking all the gun forums on the subject, the general consensus is that the OP's rifle is a, "BSA Commercial .303" using the P-14 action. They were made roughly between the years 1951 - 1959 and can be found in some Parker Hale Catalogs as well. One of the gun forums also mentioned that BSA D&T'd them for scopes too.
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Posted By: Olddust
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 7:20am
In regards to the additional markings, these are required for commercial sale under UK rules of proof. The markings contain the information for the service load of the newly proofed firearm.Any load up to the dimensions and pressure noted is deemed safe. At any time when a firearm has modifications made to a part of the pressure bearing parts, reproving is required. |
Posted By: Olddust
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 7:25am
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Modification of this p14, by BSA for the sporting trade, eg:removal of the rear sight ears/milling of receiver bridge, drilling and tapping, shortening of the barrel etc creates the need for reproof under English law
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Posted By: shiloh
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 7:55am
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BSA took P14 rifles and sporterized them just like Parker Hale, Churchill and many others did to the lee enfields. BSA took the P14, shaved off the rear sight lugs, re- worked the receiver, applied new sights, re barreled, drilled and tapped for scopes, new or re- worked wood, put their marks on them and called them customs. My Churchill was completely scrubbed, the steel was pollished then blued, new barrel and nothing of the original makers marks, it now has commercial Churchill marks the date the work was done and British nitro proof marks, Churchill heavy barreled custom.
Here`s one that sold in Canada with a brief description.
Winchesters, Lugers, Smith and Wesson, Colts, Antique Guns, Modern Guns, Firearms, Swords, Ammunition, Militaria
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Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 4:21pm
britrifles wrote:
That’s what I think to.
We’re P14 rifles issued to troops in WWII? Might be more likely that he bought a sporterized P14 while he was in the UK, or bought it here in the US after he got back.
Did all commercially sporterized rifles get those markings (.303, 2.222, etc.) back in 1945? |
yes they were , quite extensively , but not neccessarily first line 4rifles , a lot of foreign aid
for what its worth , the P14 and M17 platforms were the basis of a lot of sporting rifles as well as a lot of wildcats that were custom built , the rifles were built like a tank and adapted very easily to a wifde variety of cartridges ,
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Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 6:30pm
IIRC The Home Guard got them as "Substitute Standard" eventually. Or was that M1917's?
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: March 26 2022 at 6:31pm
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both actually , canada had both , they painted red stripes on the 3006 to designate it was a nontraditional cartridge ,
we used them on the homefront and troops stationed on the islands in the pacific after we took them used them - thats where my father encountered them on saipan ,
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