P-14 Barrels Available Soon - Criterion

I have been waiting for several years for a P-14 Barrel so I could replace the "Drill Rifle" barrel on my P-14 (Two Holes drilled through barrel to Chamber so it was demised to Drill Rifle in the past). I received a notice from Criterion today that they are making a run of the Enfield P-14 Barrels; available in next 1 to 2 months.

https://criterionbarrels.com/product...v=62dc578838c5

I have been on the wait list for quite some time so I pad in advance for mine today. Those in need; may want to contact Criterion and reserve one.

Any word on the 1917 barrels, ive signed up and haven't heard anything yet.

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All I know is from the E-Mail notification I received on the P-14 barrels. But; they have M1917 Enfield 30-06 and M1917 Enfield .308 barrels on their website - clicking on each of them yields a notice of : Available on backorder I would attempt to order on backorder or call Criterion if I needed one of those.

https://criterionbarrels.com/product...v=62dc578838c5

One rifle I always wanted to build was a P-14.
But I want to convert it to 7.62 x 54R by making the barrel out of a Russian machine gun barrel .
That rifle is a well known sniper rifle over in Pakistan.
They call it a Dangar which means Animalistic.
Those barrels are also heavy bull barrels and chrome lined.

I had a P-14 about 30 something years ago. I like 303's and the rifle looked fairly nice as in not rusty or beat up. I really wanted to like the rifle but the bore was shot out, we'll not even talk about the headspace. Traded it and $35 for an unissued Faz 1949 #4 MK2. Sometimes I wish I had kept every old 303 Brit I ever owned.

Back then no one even thought about new barrels for one. Hope you get the old gal up and running, let us know.

If only I kept one of the many P14’s & P17’s I bought for a little over a hundred bucks and later sold in the 90’s.

I too have been waiting years on this barrel for a drill rifle.
Looks like it shipped today with a notification. Wish my drill rifle looked as good as this barrel will.
I gave up ordering head space and barrel take off tools as I never thought these would be made again.

I think CMP will install the new barrel, for a fee of course.

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Originally Posted by beemer

I had a P-14 about 30 something years ago... I really wanted to like the rifle but the bore was shot out, we'll not even talk about the headspace. Traded it and $35 for an unissued Faz 1949 #4 MK2. Sometimes I wish I had kept every old 303 Brit I ever owned.

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I can match your wish of what you kept with memories of selling 19 Long Branch No. 4 Mk1 rifles, dated 1950, still in the factory grease for $150 each... thinking I was making a tidy little profit on all the effort I put into cleaning them up so I could test fire each for grouping with a no-gunsmithing scope mount.

Latest Long Branch No. 4 Mk 1 rifles in good condition I have seen for sale at gun shows had prices at or north of $1,000 each... and all had seen some amount of military service either at home or abroad.

Being a shooter, not a collector, I am curious as to whether the Brits specified the same British Empire chambering philosophy to the P14 as they did to the Smellies and the No. 4's after that. You see regular complaints of supposed "excess headspace" in No. 4 rifles all over the Web, but I don't recall if I've heard anything like that about the P14.

It would make sense if the Brits had done so and specified the same chamber dimensions from the arsenals manufacturing the P14 during WW1. The smellies went through a period during the trench warfare of WWI where rifles already in the hands of the troops over in the trenches were FTR'd to have the chambers enlarged to deal with the mud and crud of trench warfare. The Commonwealth arsenals continued that chambering with the manufacture of the No. 4 rifles during WWII.

Real headspace issues with the No. 4 rifles can be dealt with via the interchangeable bolt head (unless the rifle currently has a #3 bolt head, in which case most need a gunsmith's help). A P14 rifle with true excess headspace probably isn't so easily dealt with, whatever condition the bore is in.

A final thought that just popped into my mind: for people who own a Lee Enfield/P14 rifle in very good condition other than the bore... I wonder what the barrel lining boys would charge to drill out and line the barrel? And maybe line it to change the bore from .303" to .30" to increase bullet selection?

Wouldn't help the collector value of such a rifle no matter how nice the rest of the rifle was, but it should have a good chance of turning dismally performing rifle into a great range rifle. One that still had the original barrel and it's markings still in place.

Received my Criterion Barrel today. Now will be starting the search for someone to change out the barrels and sights.

For those needing a P-14 Barrel - Criterion web site says they are still taking back orders with a 1 to 2 month wait. Better than the several years I was on the waiting list!.

Yes!!!

MOCO31, back when they were plentiful a local gun shop found a case of new long branch rifles,
he thought of me then forgot to call. I ended up with and still have a beautiful 1950 LB, has a matching dark walnut stock set, if it saw service it wasn't much. The same shop had a very nice Faz #4mk2 a couple weeks ago, $1000. He sold another well used but with a good bore for $400. A rifle with a shot out or otherwise ruined bore is not of much use to me no matter how rare, I also a shooter not a collector.

Seems I read that in service the P-14 head specs, and the #4 were the same. I have a friend that has a #4 with head space at max with a #2 head. Anything over a #1 is not to be found.

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Originally Posted by beemer

MOCO31, back when they were plentiful a local gun shop found a case of new long branch rifles,
he thought of me then forgot to call. I ended up with and still have a beautiful 1950 LB, has a matching dark walnut stock set, if it saw service it wasn't much.

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I see on Criterion's web page that they're sold out of No. 4 LE barrels. My brother built a faux Long Branch sniper; I can't recall whether he purchased a barrel from Criterion or Lothar Walther.

The two boxes crates of Long Branch No. 4's that I bought were from a wholesale surplus company called Districorp; sold in lots of ten, advertised as 1950 Long Branch rifles. Districorp advertised the rifles as being war stores released by Belgium. Lots of 10 rifles makes sense: 10 rifles would arm a Commonwealth country's section of infantry: 10 men. Interesting on a number of levels: by the time Belgium sent a purchase order to Canada that was filled with 1950 dated Long Branch rifles, they were probably started manufacturing the FN FAL for the free world. Over on the Milsurps forum, interviews with former Long Branch and Inglis workers indicated that the military rifles manufactured in those plants at that time was at a leisurely pace (compared to the pace they were cranking out the same weapons during The Big Show). Which is probably why those last Long Branch rifles are considered by many to be the last of the best... all ten of the rifles I purchased grouped extremely well with Greek HXP ball.

Some Long Branch rifles dribbled out over the following few years as Long Branch assembled rifles from bits and pieces of parts stocks on hand, but the collectors obsessed with such things only have LE rifles stamped '1950' with the latest serial numbers having the 95L prefix and a few have been recorded as having a 96L prefix. All the rifles I purchased were indeed stamped '1950' and had/have 95L serial number prefixes. I don't know how the serial number prefixes went, but a friend who's obsessed with Lee Enfield No. 4 rifles has a LB manufactured in 1949 with a 91L serial number.

For those particularly concerned with lands/grooves measurements as I was at one time, all those 1950 LB rifles I purchased had five groove rifling. Properly measuring a five lands/grooves casting is challenging - I satisfied myself by using .0005-" tolerance pin gauges to determine bore size. I learned what I know of the history of these last LB rifles when I got briefly interested in finding a post war LB with a six groove barrel - supposedly they were recognized for superior grouping ability. I ended my searching when it occurred to me that, if that were so, LB didn't think it sufficiently important to ensure all LB snipers had six groove barrels mounted.

Given the massive number of LB rifles already in hand when WWII ended in 1945 and the equally well established FTR program alongside of first, second, and third line maintenance by the gun plumbers, my guess is that it would be relatively rare for a LB rifle to have seen war service with Canada during the Korean War... and Canada adopted and began manufacturing the C1, the FN FAL, sometime around 1955. Which, BTW, is when Long Branch was renamed to 'Canadian Arsenals Lt.' (C.A.L.).

However, Canada/Long Branch sold their Lee Enfields all over the world. Mine came from Belgium; others have shown up in military reserve stores in Greece, South Africa, the Netherlands, New Zealand, etc. Of those, particularly South Africa, it is quite possible that some of those LB rifles did show up on the two way rifle range. None of the rifles I purchased had any markings on the metalwork or furniture that would indicate either going into a regimental armory or the knocks and dings of wear even in peacetime training: packed full of grease and each with a brown hang tag affixed to the rifle with a piece of twine string. With that in mind, there's a very good chance your Long Branch rifle never saw the inside of a unit armory nor likely was it issued to a soldier prior to you purchasing it.

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I have a friend that has a #4 with head space at max with a #2 head. Anything over a #1 is not to be found.

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That would make sense; a couple of the LB rifles I had arrived with a '1' bolt head, all the rest have a '0' bolt head. If my memories of what I have read about these rifles is correct, a newly manufactured rifle that would pass go/no go inspection with a '1' bolt head was acceptable. If my memory is correct, there isn't much chance of any 1950 LB rifle out there having sufficient use that first or second line maintenance would have resulted in the rifle being fitted with a '2' or '3' bolt head. While I don't go looking for LB rifles, I have never heard of a late year manufactured LB rifle with FTR markings.

Beyond that, I have seen more than a few No. 4 rifles from various manufacturers with '3' bolt heads on them. There is occasional mention that there was also a '4' bolt head - but I haven't heard of any of the collectors ever getting their hands on one if they do exist.

For pragmatic purposes, if I was really hot under the collar to own a No. 4 Mk. 1, especially to do some serious shooting with, I would pass on anything with a '2' or '3' bolt head unless it was a screaming deal or I knew the rifle grouped incredibly well. I'd just hold out a bit longer and/or spend a bit more money to get the rifle I wanted.