P14 bolt close

[Barryeye]

Should the bolt on my P14 close on an empty magazine? Mine does. The only other Mauser action I own, a Spanish FR8 holds the bolt open when empty.

[JB White]

Is the back of the follower beveled? Common mod for civlilian shooters.

[John Sukey]

also there was an insert that could be placed on top of the follower to do the same thing without altering the rifle. And easily removed as well.
(Mainly used for rifle drill )

[Barryeye]

Is the back of the follower beveled? Common mod for civlilian shooters.

I just checked. Your right J.B. The back of the follower is beveled. The bolt rides straight over it. I take it that this feature is not standard on the original set up? Now I can understand why the military would find a hold open option an advantage. Handy to know your rifle is empty. But what advantage would it be to a full bore target shooter to remove it?
So to get my rifle back to military I need just replace the follower?

[Griff Murphey]

Barry, by doing that, the shooter could single load by laying the cartridge on top of the follower, or poking it into the chamber. In either case, as the bolt was pushed forward, the extractor would snap over the cartridge rim, and all would be well, without going to the trouble of pushing the round down and snapping it into the magazine, or depressing the follower, and fiddling the bolt forward, then dropping the round in front of the bolt.

Judging by its sight, this rifle was a typical long range Commonwealth belly flopper's piece for long range slow fire prone.

[JB White]

So to get my rifle back to military I need just replace the follower?

Barry, if your rifle is feeding fine you really don't need to replace it. Nobody will notice but you and maybe anyone you let shoot it. Providing they're familiar with the idiosyncracies of the P14/M1917 series rifles.
However, in answer to your question the answer is yes. All you would need is an unaltered .303 follower. The spring isn't riveted into place ala' SMLE.
Yours is a Remington if memory serves? Then you'll want to find a Remington follower. An Eddystone follower has a good chance of working correctly but, a Winchester might give you more problems than its worth. There are occasionally some differences with the magazine box between the two. One doesn't always readily fit in the other. At least that's what I've run across with the M1917's.