p14 bullett

O.k., lets take the silliness out of this thread and correct a few errors.

The rifles now known as the Pattern 14 is essentially the same as the Pattern 13 rifle, a Mauser type bolt action designed to fire the revolutionary new .276 Enfield. After some fairly embarassing losses at the hands of Boer commandoes using the 7x57 round Old Blighty decided to update to a rimless 7mm cartridge with serious thump. Unfortunately was plagued with 2 problems. Firstly, it was practically on par with the 7mm Rem Mag meaning soldiers complained of recoil and inaccuracy as a result. And secondly, the Britsh government ran out of money when WW1 arrived. As such the P13 was adapted to fire 303 British and renamed the P14. They ordered a reasonable amount of these rifles from US manufacturers only to renige on the purchase later crying poor. As such the US Govt took a good hard look at the P14 decided it was perfect for reconversion back to a rimmed cartridge, namely their relatively new 30-06 cartridge, and rebarreled and altered the bolt face and other parts accordingly. It was then renamed(again!) the M17 and many saw service in WW1 in the hands of US servicemen.

P14 rifles as such don't fire anything different to a SMLE or Martini Enfield. In fact the P14 was possibly adapted with the MkVII round(174gn spitzer @ 2440fps) than any other model of .303 service rifle.