the P-14 bolt face and extractor are correct for the 300 H&H belted magnum head size, the magazine is too short to handle any of the popular commercial and wildcat cartridges based on this case. However, by substituting the 1917 magazine box and follower it will handle most of these cartridges, and thus be ideal for rebarreling to such short belted magnums as the 264, 7mm, 300, 308 Norma and others. The magazine well and guide lips usually need some work to obtain perfect feeding.
Since the time P.O. Ackley first popularized the “improved” cartridge rechamberings, one which responded favorably to this treatment was the 303 British.
After the standard 303 British cases are fire formed (blown-out) by firing them in the “improved” chamber, careful handloading can result in considerably higher velocity.
There are a number of rifles chambered for the 303 British cartridge, but the P-14 is the only bolt-action rifle for which the 303 British Improved rechambering can be recommended, because it is a strong action and can safely handle pressures higher than the factory loaded 303 British cartridge normally develops. The “improved” rechambering is a simple job, and it offers the handloader more energy and velocity than the factory load can deliver.
P-14 actions are fully as strong and safe as the 1917 Enfield actions and, as with the 1917s, those with the Remington and Winchester names are preferred over the Eddystones. Because the 303 British cartridge has long been very popular in Canada, the P-14s have also been popular there; a great many of them were remodeled and sporterized for big game hunting. The P-14 rifle can be so treated just like the 1917 Enfields, and the illustration of the Remington Models 30, 30S and 720 show what can be done with either rifle.
It was good news when in the early 1990s a large quantity of P-14 rifles were unearthed and made available again from a couple of surplus arms dealers. I obtained one for its action, shortened it and modified it to be used as a single shot. I have not as yet chosen a cartridge for it but most likely it will be the 219 Donaldson Wasp.
French
Military Turnbolts FdH
French Model 1886/93 Lebel rifle chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge, has two-piece stock and a tubular magazine under the barrel in the forend.
THE FIRST IMPORTANT metallic cartridge shoulder arm adopted by France was the Model 1874 Gras single shot rifle— developed by General Basile Gras (1836-1901) of the French Army. This turnbolt arm evolved from the bolt-action breech-loading Model 1866 Chassepot needle-fire rifle, so called because the firing pin was needle-like to penetrate the self-consuming paper or linen cartridge, and strike the priming mixture positioned at the base of the bullet. The Gras rifle was chambered for the 11x59R French Gras centerfire cartridge, developed and adopted with the Gras rifle in 1874. Usually called the 11mm Gras, this cartridge is very similar to, but not interchangeable with, such other 43-caliber cartridges of the same period as the 11mm Mauser, 11mm Murata and 11mm Werndl. The Gras rifles (there were three principal versions having barrels of different lengths) were widely used in countries other than France.
Unlike some other 11mm foreign military arms, Gras rifles never were commonplace in the United States. Even before the Model 1874 Gras rifle was officially adopted, France converted many of her older M1866 Chassepot needle-fire rifles to the Gras system to handle an 11mm self-contained cartridge.
The Gras rifle had a very simple action. The bolt was locked in the receiver by the heavy base of the bolt handle engaging in front of the receiver bridge. The extractor was fitted in the separate bolt head. The action cocked by lifting the bolt handle. There were two notches under the cocking piece and a checkered thumbpiece depression on top that positioned the striker at “half-cock.” It had no safety. The stock was of one-piece construction. Gras rifles, of value only to military arms collectors, are quite scarce today in original and very good condition.
The Kropatschek Rifle
After the single shot Gras was in production for a few years, there was a growing demand for a repeating rifle. An Austrian inventor named Alfred Kropatschek worked out a method to make the Gras rifle into a repeater. France adopted his system about 1878, and it became known as the Model 1878 Gras-Kropatschek. The repeating mechanism consisted of a Henry-type tubular magazine in the forend, under the barrel, and a pivoting cartridge carrier positioned under an opening in the bottom of the receiver. The magazine was loaded by pushing the cartridges into it through the opened action. On closing the bolt, the carrier would tip down, allowing one cartridge to move back onto the carrier platform. On opening the action the bolt would tip the carrier up, placing the nose of the cartridge in line with the chamber. On closing the bolt, the cartridge would be pushed into the chamber and the carrier depressed again to pick up another round. Gras-Kropatschek rifles were used largely by the French Navy. Like the Gras rifle, the Gras-Kropatschek rifles had a one-piece stock. They are quite rare and are prized by arms collectors.
The Lebel Rifle
The original Gras rifle and the Gras-Kropatschek repeater were soon obsoleted by improved rifle and cartridge designs. In France, a commission was set up to develop a new rifle and cartridge. Headed by General Tramond of the French Army, Colonel Nicolas Lebel was one of the other leading men on this board. The result of their efforts was the adoption of a new rifle and cartridge in 1886.
Actually, the new rifle was merely an improvement of the Gras-Kropatschek rifle. The cartridge, however, was really new; it was the first relatively small-bore smokeless powder cartridge to be adopted by any world power. Lebel is credited with being largely responsible for developing this cartridge, and on this account it was named after him. He probably had a hand in the design improvements of the rifle too (some sources refer to the “Lebel System”), but the rifle bore his name largely because of the cartridge. At any rate, the cartridge is now universally known as the 8mm Lebel, and the rifle as the French 8mm Model 1886 Lebel, or variations thereof.
Actually, the Lebel action is a major “beef-up” job on the Gras-Kropatschek. The changes consisted mainly of providing a boxlike receiver to house the action parts, incorporating dual-opposed locking lugs on the bolt head, and making the receiver accordingly. This made the action much stronger to handle the more powerful 8mm Lebel cartridge.
The Lebel receiver is a long box-like housing. The barrel is threaded into the top front of this housing. The separate forend containing the magazine tube is attached to the barrel by two bands and a hook at the rear of the magazine tube—engaging a recess in the front of the receiver. The separate buttstock is attached to the rear of the receiver by two tang screws. One of these screws connects the separate lower tang to the upper tang (an integral part of the receiver) while the second screw passes through a plate inletted into the bottom of the stock grip and threads into the upper tang.
The top of the receiver is bored and milled to accept the bolt assembly and provide one opening for loading and another below the bolt for the carrier. The bolt handle and its heavy rectangular base are integral parts of the bolt, positioned about midway on the bolt body. The receiver bridge is slotted to allow passage of the bolt handle.
Top view of the French Lebel action.
When the bolt is locked, the heavy bolt handle base becomes the safety lug ahead of, but not contacting, the right wall of the bridge. At the front of the bolt body, in line with the bolt handle base, is another heavy rectangular lug. The separate bolt head has a stem which fits into the front of the bolt body. A heavy stud screw, threaded into this forward lug and extending into a hole in the stem of the bolt head, holds
