Thread: P14 mag follower

Good day all,

Would appreciate some help sourcing a mag follower/spring for a BSA P14 action. Current one, as depicted, is and has suffered feed issues and is not in a pretty state.

Thank you in advance.

Cheers, Sidetrack

Flick me a pm . I've got some.

As a follow on from this post, have now had this rifle passed on to me. I’ve been quietly looking around for a 7x57 that had good bones but left me enough to put some love into. After nearly two years, the universe dropped it in my lap. Isn’t karma wonderful!!



It’s an interesting bit of kit with a mishmash of different components. After much digging and some help from @Kimber 7mm-08, have established that it’s an Enfield P14 action (Eddystone built) then post WW2 surplus bought up by BSA, late 40’s early 50’s, where the actions were machined, restamped with BSA logo and stock sporterised but still is .303 caliber. Spread around the Commonwealth and sold on to the public.
I’m only guessing but possibly during the mid-late eighties or early nineties, it was fitted with a Hawkin barrel, chambered in 7x57, 23.25” long with a 1:11 twist rate. A Tony Hawkin barrel??? Little or no info about these aside from the fact that he was well known in black powder circles but did produce the odd centrefire barrel as well. Any feedback would be welcome.
The action carries a set of Parker Hale dovetail mounts. Not sure if it’s relevant but they’re 16mm across. I did put a set of REM700 Talleys next to them and it seems that the holes line up and the action is machined to suit. I did read somewhere that the P1917 action went on to become the Remington 30 so maybe some compatibility there???



The Timney trigger was a real bonus.



The fit up of the BSA stock of unknown vintage, is crude to say the least but for some reason this whole combination just feels right. Nicely balanced and comes to the shoulder beautifully.
The previous owner purchased this rifle from, I think Allan Millar’s in Dunedin, mid ‘96 and has had it ever since. It developed feed issues and attempts at rectifying the problem failed so its languished in the gun safe for the last ten years or so. I’m told it was a good shooter and am inclined to believe so given it’s makeup. Time and some attention will tell.

Nice one. Classic old rifle in a classic calibre.
If it has a little BSA roll mark on the top rear of the reciever probably under the rear scope base it is deffo a BSA. They did models A to E.
D and E were pretty much the same. Sporter stock, new barrel, rounded reciever drilled for bases and a side aperture. Pretty much a mauser sporter.
The lesser ones got a barrel and reciever rounded off but retained the fish belly mag and original stock
I think the A models might have had an eye cast offer them and sent out to work but can't remember.
Feeding could have something to do with a 303 bolt on a 7x57 case. The rims is smaller and probably won't extract and/or slip under the extractor properly. Basically a push feed that won't extract well.
Try a 303 shell in there and see.
I have a target rifle on one of those and they did just that with the bolt as there weren't many around supposedly. Probably need a P17 3006 follower as well as it would be more suited to the 7x57 and not the taper of a 303.
Unless this is all waffle and it was built on a P17 and you just have PITA feeding issues

Yup a BSA alright.
They had varying different profiles but similar hole spacing. On several of mine that part with the BSA logo is on the piss. One side is lower than the other.
Some swimming may be required.
I got some followers the other day but couldn't guarantee if one is a P14 or a P17 the latter I reckon you could do with. Spring is probably ok
Mind you I could compare it to the 303 jobbies and see if it's different.
Reckon it's either a C or D with the dogleg bolt. Model E had a straightened one
Just had a look. It's not a D so it's a C most likely unless it has a different stock as it looks like an E model

Great, I’ll digest all that info for a bit. Will also upload a few more photos over the next day or so. There’s very few clear stampings on the action, I guess a lot of info would have been on the original barrel. Did you see what looks like a very original model B for sale on TM??

I've seen a couple of P14s for sale but really need to stick to really cheap or mint barrel.
Got one recently, just a bare action still with the rear sight ears on and the barrel has a bloody bend in it 2" from the end. Buggered if I know how you would do that but I can sort it.
Pity it isn't a sporter action.
Have to make up some gear and remove the barrel

Update on the old girl. Just back from the gunsmith to rectify the scope mount issues. I’d noticed the rear mount was canted off to one side, the alignment was off and the front mount had a broken screw. There was also evidence of another hole for the rear sight that had been filled.
While trolling the interweb for any info on various mount options I’d found a single line reference in one of the US blogs that mentioned that BSA had machined the action to match the Win. Mod70 which is machined lower at the rear. This may have been a byproduct of removing the sight guards.
Mod70 rear mounts come with three mount screw variations. On a whim, I’d picked up a set of bargain bin dovetail mounts with the .030” spacing and sure enough, they matched the rear screw hole and the one that had been filled. Result!! and now she’s setup to take modern mount options and the old Parker Hales are consigned to the parts bin.



I have an old Weaver K4w sitting on the shelf so mounting that up is next on the list, then off to the range to see if she feeds properly and is a shooter or not. Which reminds me, still need to find ammo.

Excellent

Any chance of a photo of the bolt face, I'd be keen to see what Tony Hawkins did to accomodate the 7mm Mauser round, of course, if you're rebarrelling it's possible he swapped in a M17 bolt & extractor. I have a couple of Hawkins barrels, a very accurate one in .308 Norma Magnum & a not so accurate one on a VZ33 action. It got two goes to get there, after a total abortion of a job by a Timaru gunsmith close to 50 years ago on a standard M98 action. Rod Wood re-turned it to a very pretty slim barrel on the VZ33 but I've not been able to do much in the accuracy stakes with it but with my go to .257 Robts, I haven't felt the need to try too hard.

Hope these are of help.

To be honest I reckon he used a P17 bolt.
The bolt doesn't look like it's had much in the way of mods/welding.
@shanana in regards to the vz33, that's the one that isn't working properly?
If that came out as an 8x57, they shouldn't have done anything to it.

Might explain why the bolt slot was opened up for the dogleg. Not sure if the s/n and mark help identify it.

Yup I reckon you are right.
That model stock would've had a straight bolt. Most likely a bog stock P17 bolt for the rimless cartridge and had to make the stock fit