Pattern 1914 Enfield
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2010) |
Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914 | |
---|---|
bolt-action | |
Rate of fire | Manual, as determined by skill of operator |
Muzzle velocity | 2,380 ft/s (725 m/s) |
Effective firing range | 800 yd (732 m) |
Feed system | 5-round, stripper clip reloading |
The Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914 (or P14) was a British service rifle of the First World War period, principally manufactured under contract by companies in the United States. It was a bolt-action weapon with an integral 5-round magazine. It served as a sniper rifle and as second-line and reserve issue, until declared obsolete in 1947.[citation needed] The Pattern 1914 Enfield was the successor to the Pattern 1913 Enfield experimental rifle and the predecessor of the U.S. Rifle M1917 Enfield.
History
During the
Production history
The primary contractor (Vickers) was unable to produce more than a handful of rifles, so the P14 became a de facto afterthought. The Short Magazine Lee–Enfield therefore remained the standard British rifle during World War I and beyond.
The need for additional small arms combined with a shortage of spare industrial capacity led the British government to contract with United States commercial arms manufacturers, Winchester, Remington and Eddystone (a subsidiary of Remington set up principally to manufacture the P14) to produce the P14 for the British, which continued until the US entered the war in 1917. However, each factory produced slightly differing parts, leading to interchangeability issues. Therefore, the official designation of the rifle was dependent upon its manufacturer: e.g., the Pattern 1914 Mk I W is a Mk I of Winchester manufacture, R would be Remington, or E for Eddystone. Problems were encountered with specifications, quality and shortage of machine tools and skilled workers,[1] with the result that the first rifles were not accepted by British inspectors until February 1916.[citation needed] In December 1916, a modification was made to enlarge the bolt lugs and the rifle became the Mark I*. They were still designated by the letter of their manufacturer (W, R or E), although production had become more standardized. The Mk I were soon confined to training usage and marked DP, meaning Drill Purpose.[1]
The P14's principal combat use during World War I was as a sniper rifle, since it was found to be more accurate than the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield, either in standard issue form or with modified "fine-adjustment" aperture rearsights designated Pattern 1914 Mk I W (F) and Pattern 1914 Mk I* W (F) or, from April 1918,[2] Aldis Pattern 1918 telescopic sights designated Pattern 1914 Mk I* W (T) (modified and telescopic sights were mainly used on Winchester-manufactured rifles, the Winchesters being thought to be of superior quality).[3] Eventually Winchester manufactured 235,293 rifles, Remington manufactured 400,000 and Eddystone manufactured 600,000, totaling 1,235,293 rifles.
When the U.S. entered World War I, the P14 was modified and standardized by the
In 1926 the Pattern 1914 Enfield was re-designated by the British military as the No3Mk1.
Prior to and during
The P14/No3Mk1 was declared obsolete in British service in 1947.[7][failed verification]
Surplus P14s were sold throughout the Commonwealth,[1] especially Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, where they proved popular for full-bore target shooting, and being sporterised for game shooting.
Design details
Adapting the design to fire the standard .303 British round led to the Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914 (P14), a design fed from a five-round internal box magazine. With its prominent sight protection ears on the receiver, "dog-leg" bolt handle and "pot-belly" magazine, it was distinctive in appearance. The action was essentially a Mauser design with some Lee–Enfield features and optimised for rapid fire, with the action cocking on closing, a feature highly valued by the British Army with its emphasis on riflemen highly trained for rapid fire, but less valued in other armies, such as the US or Germany, where cock-on-opening designs such as the M1903 Springfield and Gewehr 98 were preferred. Cock-on-opening actions became more difficult to operate when heated by rapid fire as the effort to open the bolt had to overcome the striker spring to cock the action as well as unsticking the fired case from the chamber. The P14 was an advanced design for the time, and was said to be the most advanced service rifle of World War I.[8]
The Pattern 1914 Enfield had a large, strong bolt action made from nickel-steel, and the bolt travel is long, as it was designed for the dimensionally large and powerful .276 Enfield cartridge. The bolt action had a Model 98 Mauser type claw extractor and two forward lugs; there was also a rear safety lug formed by the base of the bolt handle sitting in a recess in the receiver. Much faster and smoother to operate than a Model 98 Mauser, the bolt was well-supported throughout its travel and the camming action on opening and closing the bolt facilitated ease and speed of operation. The unusual 'dog-leg' shaped bolt handle is low profile and places the bolt knob just rearwards of the trigger close to the firer's hand, again facilitating rapid cycling and fire. Like the Lee–Enfield, the safety falls under the firer's thumb and can be operated silently.
Due to the original Pattern 1913 Enfield action being designed around the high-powered .276 Enfield experimental cartridge with a larger diameter case than the .303 British, the internal box magazine capacity for the smaller diameter .303 British was six rounds, although the employed stripper clips held only five cartridges. The Pattern 1914 Enfield, as well as the Mauser Gewehr 98, did not have a magazine cut-off mechanism which when engaged permits the feeding and extraction of single cartridges only while keeping the cartridges in the magazine in reserve.
The rifle was designed with an
Compared to the Lee–Enfield the Pattern 1914 Enfield was more accurate and more durable; however it was heavier – it weighed 8 lb 10 oz (3.91 kg) empty – and had only half the magazine capacity, giving it a significantly lower effective rate of fire. The pre-World War professional British Army emphasized marksmanship and rapid-fire training, resulting in the annual Mad minute qualification shoot for their riflemen. In contrast to the Boer War experience which had led to the P13/P14 project, World War I conditions favoured volume of fire, at which the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield excelled.
Users
- Afghanistan[10]
- Australia[5]
- British Empire[1]
- Canada[1]
- China: Zhang Zongchang acquired 6,000 ex-Latvian P14s[11] and a variant chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser was also produced for China[1]
- Egypt[1]
- Estonia[1][12]
- Ethiopian Empire: acquired after World War I[13]
- Free French Forces[14]
- Greece
- India[1]
- Ireland[1]
- Israel[15]
- Latvia: used 1918–1940 by Latvian Army infantry (both regular and sniper versions as šautenes 14. g.) and the Border Guard Brigade[16][11]
- Lithuania[1]
- Netherlands: used by units of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in Australia[17]
- New Zealand[18]
- Nigeria[citation needed]
- Norway Received from Allied airdrops to the resistance during WW2 and given by Britain to the Norwegian Brigade during the occupation of Germany in 1947. Returned to Britain in 1952 in exchange for P-17 rifles.[19]
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
- Poland used by the Police and the KOP before World War II[citation needed]
- Portugal[1]
- Spanish Republic: 250 P14 rifles sourced from Estonia were received during the Spanish Civil War[20]
- Union of South Africa supplied to the Union Defence Force to help arm troops for the Invasion of German South-West Africa in 1915.
See also
References
- ^ Gazette des Armes(in French). No. 444. pp. 30–36.
- ISBN 978-0896892415
- ^ Prichard, Hesketh Vernon Hesketh (10 April 2018). "Sniping in France : with notes on the scientific training of scouts, observers, and snipers". New York : E.P. Dutton. Retrieved 10 April 2018 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Enfield P14 and M1917 Rifles".
- ^ a b "Pattern 1914 Enfield No 3 Mk I* (T) Sniper Rifle : Australian Army". awm.gov.au. Australian War Memorial.
- ISBN 978-0-275-97835-8.
- ^ "No3". allaboutenfields.co.nz. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ p.14 Julian S. Hatcher "Hatcher's Notebook" Stackpole Books Harrisburg Pennsylvania, 1962
- ^ Sniping in France by Major H. Hesketh-Prichard (1920) p. 259 "It is as well to understand at once that a far higher degree of accuracy can be obtained from the P14 than from the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield, and this is the reason why it has been issued to snipers".
- ^ "WWII gear in Afghan use: Part I – Firearms". wordpress.com. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ ISBN 9781855326651.
- ISBN 9781291187441.
- ^ Scarlata, Paul (1 March 2009). "Ethiopian military rifle cartridges: Part 2: from Mauser to Kalashnikov". Shotgun News.
- ISBN 9781855327078.
- better source needed]
- ^ Dambītis, Kārlis (2016). Latvijas armijas artilērija 1919.-1940.g.: Vieta bruņotajos spēkos, struktūra un uzdevumi [Artillery of the Latvian Army (1918–1940): structure, tasks and place in the Armed forces] (PhD thesis). University of Latvia. p. 191.
- Shotgun News.
- ISBN 9781780961118.
- ISBN 8299314313
- ^ Nõmm, Toe (2005). Eesti Sõjapüssid 1918–1940. Laidoneri Muuseumi Aastaraamat. p. 46.