From Field & Stream:
The P-17 Enfield
By David E. Petzal
March 2, 2015
As we all know, the Doughboys of World War I made the Kaiser dance with that quintessentially American bolt-action, the Model 1903 Springfield. This included Sergeant Alvin York, who won his Medal of Honor with an ’03 and a Model 1911 Colt. Right?
Wrong. The truth is that our main battle rifle in the War to End All Wars was a long, heavy, unglamorous piece of machinery that was actually designed by the British—the U.S. Model 1917 Rifle, more commonly called the P-17 Enfield.
In 1910, as a result of having the hell shot out of their troops by the Boers, who were armed with Mausers, the British redesigned their Short Magazine Lee Enfield, which was chambered for the old, slow, .303 cartridge. The new rifle was called the P14, and it was chambered for a radical new .276 cartridge with nearly 300 fps more velocity. It was a longer, heavier rifle than the SMLE, but it had a superior aperture sight, protected by two “ears” on the receiver, fewer parts, and easier disassembly.
But then in 1914 came World War I, which everyone assumed would be over in a few months at most, at which time all concerned could go home for tea and medals. When the initial slaughters were over, the British realized that: a) they would have to raise a huge standing army and b) they did not have nearly enough rifles to equip their soldiers. So they retained the .303 SMLE as their main rifle and contracted with American manufacturers to turn out P14s in the meantime. But as it turned out, Britain produced enough SMLEs so its troops could die in the tens of thousands suitably armed, and cancelled the American contracts for the P14.
Then, in 1917, came our turn, and as the world has learned, when it comes to unpreparedness in getting into a war, no one does it like the good old USA. We didn’t have enough troops, or uniforms, or campaign hats, or gas masks, or rifles. Especially rifles. Only the Springfield and Rock Island Arsenals were producing ‘03s, and they could not possibly turn them out in time to arm the 4 million men who were being called up.
And then someone remembered that we had factories already tooled up to produce P-14s. They weren’t chambered for the .30/06, but that was easy to fix, and by the time the war ended, we were cranking out 10,000 P-17 Enfields a day.
And they were good military rifles—very robust and very accurate. Their main drawbacks were weight—9.3 pounds unloaded, 11.1 pounds with sling, bayonet, and oiler—and length. The barrel was 26 inches long, total length, 3 feet, 10.25 inches, and when you fixed the Model 1917 bayonet with its 16-inch blade, the thing was almost useless in the confines of a trench.
