KillerBee; Good afternoon to you sir, I hope the day is as mild and still in your area east of the big hills as it is here today and that all who matter to you are well.
Before I attempt to answer anything for you though, please know I don't consider myself an expert on anything truly and certainly not vintage rifles. For sure I've been a lifelong student of most firearms but I'd suggest I'm at the place where I can ask an intelligent question once in awhile on that particular journey.
One of the many other things I struggle with is brevity, both in person and in written responses, but I figure folks can either pick and choose or ignore it all together, the price is the same for them, you know?
Here's a true expert on vintage arms talking about how the Pattern 14 rifle came to be.
Were some of the Pattern 14 and P17/M17 rifles used for sniper service? Absolutely they were.
These guys at C&Rsenal are a bit longer video, but they are fantastically well researched.
Pattern 14 then.
And P17/M17 from C&Rsenal
From the videos then we'll see that they were made by Eddystone which was run by Remington, by Remington at their own factory and then some - but certainly not as many were made by Winchester.
While they were never intended to be a first line rifle for either Commonwealth or US troops, there are photos of them in combat all the way to the end of WWII. Some of the .30-06 P17/M17 rifles were issued to Canadians too which makes for interesting logistics I'd think?
After the war BSA ended up with a bunch of rifles and here's where it gets muddy because I'd always thought that the BSA rifles I saw in .30-06 and .270 had started out as P17/M17 rifles - but that "might not" be the case.
So the last video homework assignment is from these folks in Switzerland who are very knowledgeable as well.
If your BSA is more like one than the other then perhaps you'll get a bit closer to answering the mystery of the BSA.
The bolt face and the type of extractor will tell the tale I'd think?
If then the bolt face is a Pattern 14 type with the smaller extractor, then it was converted and/or barreled to what it is now by BSA after it came out of military service. That likely means it wasn't a sniper rifle.
Also, when we look at Forgotten Weapons videos of how the scopes were mounted on at least some of the Commonwealth sniper rifles, that'd be another telltale sign.
I'm not sure if all that answered the questions or made for more?
Hopefully it's an interesting read/listen/watch for you in any case sir.
