BSA P-14 Enfield Factory Sporter?

[Harrisbg]

 

 

Here are pictures of the barrel proof marks, and the top of the receiver, on a BSA .30-'06 sporter that appears to be a factory sporterized rifle. What do I have?

I have a few M1917 Enfield sporters of various quality, and bought this one because it was the nicest I've seen, and has a pristine looking bore. Most of the parts appear to be U.S. surplus with a polished blue finish. The bolt handle has no dogleg in it. Not apparent in the photo of the receiver top are the words "Made in England" above the ejector box.

Is the load on the barrel the "proof" load?

 

Byron

[AzRednek]

When I had my FFL I remember odering one of these BSA 30/06's. Think it came from Dixie Gun Works. Can't forget the deal because he used it to commit suicide and I was asked not to attend his funeral. I don't remember it having the same markings but do recall the Brit proof marks. I remember it looked like a brand new rifle, high polish blue, nice stock and it arrived with a user's manual. I can't remember if it came with iron sights but I'm pretty certain it came with no ears drilled and tapped. If you come across an old Dixie Gun works catalog earlier than 1990 you might see it in there.

[Harrisbg]

This rifle has a buckhorn barrel mounted rear sight, marked with the BSA stacked rifles, and a ramp front sight. The right side of the rear receiver bridge is drilled and tapped for a receiver sight. The rear receiver bridge is pretty flat where the BSA logo is, so the inside curve of a Lyman 57SME sticks out in space for about 1/16". It has a 5-groove, left hand twist barrel, but no military proofs, unless they were removed.

 

Byron

[dave h]

A shot in the dark here (no pun intended ) But a number of sporterized weapons were built for private sale at the Army/Navy stores through out the "Empire " It was fashionable for a Officer to have a weapon a cut above the other Ranks .I've seen Greener .303s like this .I'm wondering if this could be a variation of that mode of Firearm

 

Dave

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

 

Now does the rifle look like this:-

 

 

Top one is a BSA Model E, bottom one is a modified model D. Both mine are in .303 but they were also offered in .270 Win and .30 Springfield (30-06). BSA made about 13,000 of the five models A-E between 1949-1953. They are built on rifles which were sold by the British government in 1949 when they were clearing out some depots. These rifles were battle field pick ups and refurbished rifles from WW1.

 

The tope models which were the D & E had new barrels fitted, new sporting stocks and refinished, the lowest model just was cleaned inspected and the handguards removed, the others fitted in somewhere in-between. The recievers are drilled an tapped for Parker-Hale scope blocks and on the right side of the action for a P-H 6E sporting aperture sight, which you can see still fitted to the slightly chopped Model D.

 

Fitted with 3-7x36 Pecar Berlin scope in P-H rings

 

The hard rubber butt plate has the BSA Piled Arms trade mark as does the rubber grip cap. The oval hole in top of the reciever on both of mine is filled wiht a plug whihc carries a garter with the BSA trade mark inside it which can just be seen in this photo :-

 

 

And clearly in this one of the Model E:-

 

 

Proof marks for the .303.

 

Barrel markings:-

 

 

Hope that helps you a little