Thread: Whats this for

This is sitting on the magazine follower of my p14, anyone know what its for? Single shot only?

Its a clothes rack, for drying things indoors or outdoors on a calm day. The other thing is for shooting.

I reckon you might be right.
How long have you had the rifle?
Doesn't sound like very long?

It's a magazine follower depressor/single shot adapter
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/413460

Makes me cringe Mauser action with a single shot follower, the correct way for a Mauser action to function involves upwards pressure from the mag follower to start the rim of the case into the gap behind the extractor. Without this you are forcing the extractor over the lip of the case everytime which is not ideal and a recipe for a broken/damaged extractor and not real good for your brass either

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Makes me cringe Mauser action with a single shot follower, the correct way for a Mauser action to function involves upwards pressure from the mag follower to start the rim of the case into the gap behind the extractor. Without this you are forcing the extractor over the lip of the case everytime which is not ideal and a recipe for a broken/damaged extractor and not real good for your brass either

Yup Ryan you are right.
Seen some drawings a little while ago. I haven't verified but if it was a classic mauser there shouldn't be any room for the extractor to slip over or come off the rim which is why they have such strong extraction. And is pretty much why they break when doing as you suggest
In saying that I know of a method to get an extractor over a case rim if it's in the chamber but from the previous theory it shouldn't work unless the dimensions aren't the same.

I had 2 P14s for my early days fullbore rifles at the changeover from 303 to 7.62. Both were modified for single load only and both had modified extractors to allow single loading ie ride over the rim once in the chamber, rather than engage out of the mag which of course there was no longer one. Never had any issues with broken extractors or failure to extract. These were very common conversions in the day.

On the other hand a mate with a crappy Alpine mauser (milsurp action), broke his extractor tip by not having the round rim engage under the extractor as it was fed fwd from the mag. Usually caused by not cycling the bolt with a bit of authority. The round jumps ahead of the engagement and the shooter doesn't realise this has happened.

The example above may risk breakage if not modified. All that plate may achieve is to defeat the empty mag hold back of the bolt which most of us just ground off the rear edge of the mag follower at an angle to overcome.

Modified or not mr. Zimmer?

Originally Posted by raydafish

Modified or not mr. Zimmer?

I cannot tell as I have disposed of all my P14s so cannot look at them anymore, except to say, at a guess only, given the very sharp tip, probably not. But that is a guess. I'm sure mine were slightly polished on the tips as even though they would ride over the rim bits of brass would not be stripped and build up in that area.

There may have been more than just playing with the tip ie some relief to let the back of the extractor to have clearance to spring. I doubt this though as this would weaken the tip.
More likely, in the case of 7.62 conversions, the slot cut in the barrel at the back of the chamber for the extractor may have been cut in such a manner to allow the extractor tip enough movement/clearance as it slid over the rim.
In which case, if the OP's rifle is still a 303B all I have said is shit so disregard my babbling.

Interestingly, my CZ 223 which is a controlled feed mini-Mauser tells me in the manual that I can single load without going thru the mag. I did this for quite a while when range shooting and then noticed a lot of brass particles had been liberated by doing that. I removed the extractor claw and polished it and that seemed to eliminate the issue.

Another point is the difference in rim size 303B to 7.62. My first P14 had a ring sweated onto the bolt face to support the rim of the 7.62 into the extractor. My second P14 had no such mod but functioned flawlessly. Both my rifles were ex 303B P14s, not M17 30-06 conversions.

My Enfield book states that this is a Magazine Platform Depressor, to enable the repeated operating of the bolt without it being held open by the follower, such as dry firing for training. There's no mention of this part being intended as a "single shot adapter" and that would tend to reinforce the understanding that the rifle was designed to properly feed rounds from the magazine.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Makes me cringe Mauser action with a single shot follower, the correct way for a Mauser action to function involves upwards pressure from the mag follower to start the rim of the case into the gap behind the extractor. Without this you are forcing the extractor over the lip of the case everytime which is not ideal and a recipe for a broken/damaged extractor and not real good for your brass either

I’ve got the old man’s (rip) Belgian Mauser (in 30-06) that is still fully wooded, it used to frustrate me as I couldn’t pop five in the mag and then put one ‘up the spout’ and close the bolt on it - just wouldn’t happen.
And then you had to open the bolt and thump the butt on the ground to hopefully remove the now stuck round, grr

So it was five in the mag and work the bolt smartly.

sortof a bit like your newer shorty then..... work bolt like you mean it and no problems at all LOL.

I have a modified P14 in 308 that was done by i think Din Collings possibly back in the 70s and 80s. After a debacle, trying to replace the P14 303 extractor with a P17 item to work properly, I found my extractor looks a lot like the one above although I would have to confirm. It was narrower and more like a 22 extractor. The controlled feed characteristics hade been removed.
Plus as it was for a narrower case rim anyway, it had no problems. Alas I couldn't fit the factory P17 extractor as the slot in the barrel is too narrow.
As an aside the method I spoke of earlier to get a mauser extractor over one already over the case is to push really firmly on the extractor approx Middle of the bolt as you are closing it.
Works on the Parker hale 270 and on the czech 8x57