doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com An Interesting P14 Project

I had a great uncle who worked at Eddystone during WWI. He had a lot of disparaging things to say about the general quality of the rifles they built, but then again he had a lot of disparaging things to say about everything. He did mention that the government inspectors were prone to let a lot of stuff slide in the interest of production. This all came to light when he was kibbitzing in my grandfather's garage where gramps and my dad were in the process of Bubba-izing a '17 Enfield. (And yes, there was alcohol involved!)

Good story...

Gary, you just got to love it. How old was your great uncle at the time?

Frank would have been right around 70 then. A lifelong bachelor, he was drafted at age 45 in 1942. Turned 46 in boot camp, at which point the Army admitted to him they made a huge mistake on their part and offered him a general discharge, whereupon he went back to his job as a hotel bartender in Harrisburg, Pa. Pop "sporterized" that Enfield in the mid 60's when I was in my mid-teens. Great uncle Frank was my favorite, but Mom would try to get us out of sight when the old cigar chewing curmudgeon showed up. He left me a dandy Krag when he died, which no one had a clue he even owned. Probably took it as payment for a bar tab.

Gary,
That was not all that unusual at that time. The Nagants made in the US for the Czar's army were made were I now live, Meriden CT. The "old timers" I knew (we're all old timers) had fathers that worked at this factory. The same factory that made the AJ Aubrey shotguns, etc, for Sears. The factory building was torn down only 10 or so years ago, and was replace by a modern factory building.

One story I was told was that the Russian inspectors would inspect a rack of rifles, which were then rolled into another room & another rack rolled into be inspected. When that was done, the second rack was rolled out & the first rack rolled in to be inspected again. The only ones inspected were those two racks!

Another story is that the Russians wanted the rifles shipped to a Baltic port and the bolts shipped to a Pacific port. "Don't want to have them fall into the wrong hands", BUT no chance of them being reunited. You can imagine the attitude of the poor Russian gunt that got issued a rifle without a bolt!

I have heard similar, but more recent stories, from Winchester. One guy was a known drunk, but was good at what he did. (??) Anyway, a famous person showed up with his shotgun - the guy had to be propped up to fix it, but he did. They got a letter back praising the work, saying "now I can hit those birds!" So the famous customer was pleased.

Got to make you wonder. None of this would pass these days.
Regards, Ron

Your uncle being 70 is not a surprise...says alot about the human condition. LOL
You and I are probably close to the same age and as I age (can't speak for others) find myself being more alike with your uncle then different.

As I said you have to just love it. Sounds like you have fond fond memories. Great!

There is a good thread on Nitro Express board on some P14 customs

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat....e=0&fpart=1

I just decided that it would be too much work for me and then I wouldn't use it anyway, being a lefty. I put it up for sale on Gunbroker as auction Number 214648962 .