Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada P-14

They shoot very well, considering their ages. Both are over 100 years old, but were well cared for in and out of service. With handloads and P14 iron sights, I can shoot about 2 to 3 inches at 100 yd. Most people these days don't shoot iron sights too often. Both the P14 and the No 4 LE rear sight are superior to the majority of other iron sights because they are the aperture type. The eye goes automatically to centre of the aperture and it is easy to concentrate on, and place the front sight where it needs to go. Military surplus rifles, especially the No 4 and P14 were used for many years as hunting rifles because aperture sights were dead easy to use. V and U notch sights have issues at ranges greater than 50 or 75 yards.

If you use irons, the P14 was designed to use the 6 o'clock hold, unlike the Americans who adopted a dead on hold for the front sight.



As Dwayne touched on, the triggers have a slow lock time. My former colleagues called P14s "click bang" rifles. While that was an oversimplification, they were built for the military and not for target shooting or hunting. They were slower to the firing pin.

If I had two "as issued" rifles in similar condition, I would expect the P14 to outshoot the Lee Enfield out to three hundred yards, but not by much. Both were well built.

Both require gunsmithing to use a scope. The protective rear sight ears of the P14 have to be ground off and the top of the receiver prepared to take mounts. Once upon a time it was easy to find aftermarket scope mounts that attached to the rear sight without hacking up or grinding anything off, but I haven't seen any lately. For me, the slow trigger was not as much of a problem as the bolt throw. It was looooong, but not really a problem when hunting.

Century Arms and one or two other companies rebarrelled a bunch for 7mm and 300 Magnum rifles. They were also available as 30-06s. Again, that was a while ago.

If I came across a chopped up P14, I would pick it up.