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Pattern 1914 Enfield
The M1917 American Enfield was the ultimate development of a rifle that originally began as a replacement for the SMLE in British Army service. It is a Mauser-type action with 2 forward locking lugs, an external non-rotating claw extractor, and a staggered-column box magazine contained entirely within the stock. It can be easily identified by the prominent metal "ears" that protect both the front sight and the receiver-mounted rear sight.
Background
Development
During the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the British Army found that the SMLE rifle chambered in .303 was severely outclassed by the M1895 Mauser rifles used by the Boer forces. The high velocity and flat trajectory of the 7x57mm Mauser cartridge proved much more accurate and powerful at long range than the British .303 MKIII cartridge, giving the Boers a decisive advantage in the open veldt of South Africa. Attempts to upgrade the Lee-Enfield design proved unsuccessful due to its rear-mounted locking lugs, and in 1910 the Small Arms Committee issued a requirement for a Mauser-type rifle with front-locking lugs, single-piece stock, and small-caliber cartridge. In 1911 the Royal Small Arms Factory produced a modified cock-on-closing Mauser-type design, which was adopted for testing in 1913 as: Rifle, Magazine, Enfield, .276-inch, colloquially known as the Pattern 13.
Pattern 13
The new rifle featured a Mauser-type cock-on-closing action with front locking lugs, non-rotating claw extractor, and a staggered 5-round box magazine contained within the one-piece stock. The bolt handle had a distinctive "dogleg" shape, bringing it down and back toward the operator's hand. A 2-position thumb safety was located on the right side behind the bolt handle. The rifle had a 26" barrel, with a protected front sight, and aperture rear sight with flip-up elevation ladder mounted on the receiver bridge, which gave the rifle an extremely long sight radius. It was chambered in a new 7mm cartridge specifically developed for the rifle, the .276 Enfield, which propelled a 165gr bullet at 2,800fps. The rifle was not popular with troops, who reported excessive muzzle blast, overheating, and rifling wear.
Pattern 14
When World War I began, it was determined that it would be impractical to convert the British Army to a new rifle and cartridge, and development of the .276 Enfield was forgotten. Production of the rifle in Britain was also impossible, as all available facilities were cranking out SMLE MkIII's. However, it was decided that the rifle could be re-chambered in .303 without altering the basic design. Thus the design became: Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914. The British government then contracted out production of the Pattern 14 to Winchester Repeating Arms and Remington Arms in the United States. From 1915-1917 1,235,298 rifles were produced by Winchester, Remington, and Remington's subsidiary Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. The rifle's length and weight made it unpopular with regular troops, who found it difficult to wield in the close-range combat of trench fighting. It was, however, popular with snipers, where its barrel length, long sight radius, and weight made it more accurate than the SMLE.
M1917
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the M1903 Springfield was the standard-issue battle rifle of the US Army and US Marine Corps. However, only 840,000 had been produced, and the United States desperately needed an alternative to arm the American Expeditionary Force. The Pattern 14 rifle, then in production for the British Army, was found to be easily converted to the US .30-06 service cartridge. All production of the P14 was ceased, and Winchester, Remington, and Eddystone began manufacturing the new U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1917. From 1917-1918, 2,193,429 rifles were produced, far outnumbering M1903 production. By the end of the war, roughly 75% of the American Expeditionary Force was armed with the M1917. Like the British troops, American soldiers disliked the rifle for its length and weight; with its 17" bayonet it was usually taller than the man carrying it.
Specifications
- Weight: P13: 8lb. 11 oz. (3.9kg); P14: 9 lb. 6 oz.(4.25kg); M1917: 9 lb. 3oz.(4.17kg)
- Length: 3 ft. 10.25 in. (1175 mm)
- Barrel length: 26.0 in (660 mm)
- Cartridge: .276 Enfield (Pattern 13); .303 Enfield (Pattern 14); .30-06 Springfield (M1917)
- Action: Modified Mauser turn bolt
- Muzzle velocity: 2,785 ft/s(848.9m/s); 2380 ft/s (725.6m/s); 2700 ft/s (823 m/s)
- Feed system: P13, P14: 5-round box magazine; M1917: 6-round box magazine
The Pattern 1914 Enfield and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sniper | British soldiers | Enfield P14 | 1931 | |
| If War Comes Tomorrow (Esli zavtra voyna) | Enemy troops | Enfield P14 | 1938 | |
| Went the Day Well? | British Home Guard/German Paratroopers | 1942 | ||
| The Golden Eshelon (Zolotoy eshelon) | Arkadi Trusov | Lipat Korneevich | Enfield P14, some with P1907 bayonets | 1959 |
| Aleksandr Tolstykh | Stepan Krutikov | |||
| Anatoli Yushko | Chernykh | |||
| Red partisans | ||||
| Dersu Uzala | Adolf Shestakov | Captain Vladimir Arsenyev | Enfield P14 | 1961 |
| The 317th Platoon | Laotian troops | 1965 | ||
| The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin (Giperboloid inzhenera Garina) | Garin's private army soldiers | Enfield P14 | 1965 | |
| The Naked Prey | Gert van den Bergh | The 2nd Man | 1966 | |
| Night of the Living Dead | Posse member | 1968 | ||
| Oh! What a Lovely War | American soldiers | 1969 | ||
| The Intervention (Interventsiya) | Hold by statues | 1969 | ||
| The Omega Man | Charlton Heston | Col. Robert Neville | 1971 | |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sobaka Baskerviley) | British Police | Enfield P14 | 1971 | |
| The Seventh Bullet (Sedmaya pulya) | Khamza Umarov | Hairullah | M1917 | 1972 |
| And on the Pacific... (I na Tikhom Okeane...) | Viktor Avdyushko | Nikita Yegorovich Vershinin | M1917 | 1974 |
| Red partisans | ||||
| March or Die | American soldiers | 1977 | ||
| The Island of Dr Moreau | Nigel Davenport | Montgomery | 1977 | |
| The Island of Dr Moreau | Michael York | Andrew Braddock | 1977 | |
| Dawn of the Dead | Seen on a gun shelf | 1978 | ||
| Velvet Season (Barkhatnyy sezon) | Spanish Republicans, French police | Enfield P14 | 1978 | |
| Enter the Ninja | Guards | 1981 | ||
| Come and See (Idi i smotri) | SS soldiers, Soviet partisan | Enfield P14 | 1985 | |
| Out of Africa | Hunter | Supposedly a sporterized Pattern 1914 in .303 British | 1986 | |
| The Untouchables | Royal Canadian Mounted Police | 1987 | ||
| Crocodile Dundee II | Paul Hogan | Michael J. 'Crocodile' Dundee | 1988 | |
| Crocodile Dundee II | Linda Kozlowski | Sue Charlton | 1988 | |
| Crocodile Dundee II | Luis Guzmán | Jose | 1988 | |
| Cargo 300 (Gruz 300) | Afghan mujaheddins | Enfield P14 | 1989 | |
| Richard III | Richmond's soldiers | 1995 | ||
| Spawn | U.S. honor guard soldiers | 1997 | ||
| The Lost Battalion | Rick Schroder | Major Charles Whittlesey | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | André Vippolis | Pvt. Lipasti | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | Rhys Miles Thomas | Pvt. Bob Yoder | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | Arthur Kremer | Pvt. Abraham Krotoshinsky | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | Daniel Caltagirone | Pvt. Phillip Cepeglia | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | Michael Goldstrom | Pvt. Jacob Rosen | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | US Army soldiers | 2001 | ||
| King Kong | U.S. Army soldiers | 2005 | ||
| Days of Glory | Roschdy Zem | Messaoud | 2006 | |
| Days of Glory | Free French soldiers | 2006 | ||
| Assembly (Ji jie hao) | Nationalist Chinese soldiers | 2007 | ||
| Intimate Enemies | French soldiers | 2007 | ||
| Emden Men | French soldiers | 2012 | ||
| Wonder Woman | Ewen Bremner | Charlie | M1917 | 2017 |
Television
| Show Title | Actor | Character | Note / Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission: Impossible - Season 2 | Warren Stevens | Karl de Groot | Sporter model | 1967 |
| Dad's Army | Arthur Lowe | Captain George Mainwaring | 1968-1977 | |
| Dad's Army | John Le Mesurier | Sergeant Arthur Wilson | 1968-1977 | |
| Dad's Army | Clive Dunn | Lance Corporal Jack Jones | 1968-1977 | |
| Dad's Army | James Beck | Private Joe Walker | 1968-1977 | |
| Dad's Army | Ian Lavender | Private Frank Pike | 1968-1977 | |
| Dad's Army | John Laurie | Private James Frazer | 1968-1977 | |
| Long Road in the Dunes (Ilgais cels kapas) | Latvian Army soldiers | Ep.2 | 1982 | |
| Anzacs | American troops | 1985 | ||
| Police Rescue | Australian New South Wales Police | 1989-1996 | ||
| Foyle's War - Season 2 | Home Guard soldiers | All episodes | 2003 | |
| Foyle's War - Season 3 | Tony Haygarth | Leo Maccoby | P14(T) Sniper Rifle; "The French Drop" (S3E1) | 2004 |
| Foyle's War - Season 5 | Home Guard soldiers | "Casualties of War" (S5E2) | 2007 | |
| Foyle's War - Season 6 | Home Guard soldiers | "Plan of Attack" (S6E1) | 2008 | |
| Doctor Who (New Series) | Hooverville citizens | "Daleks in Manhattan" | 2005 - | |
| Boardwalk Empire | Michael K. Williams | "Chalky" White | 2010-Present |
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battlefield: 1918 | P 14 | 2003 | |
| Forgotten Hope 2 | Both M1917 Enfield and scoped Pattern M1914 (P 14) Enfield | 2005 | |
| Sniper Elite III | American Enfield | Hybrid M1914/17 | 2014 |
| Battle of Empires : 1914-1918 | Enfield | P17 | 2014 |
| Verdun | "Enfield M1917" | 2015 | |
| Battlefield 1 | M1917 Enfield | Added in Apocalypse DLC (2017) | 2016 |
See Also
- Royal Small Arms Factory - A list of weapons produced by RSAF Enfield