A Lee Enfield Ishapore 2A1 .308 followed me home today...

gsbuickman · Oct 10, 2018

Hiya Guys, it looks like a beautiful ol' Lee Enfirld followed me home, but not just any Enfield...

I've been on the hunt for an all-original unmolested ounsporterized Enfield for a few years now since my ex up & moved out and I was forced to sell my firearms collection including several Enfields that I had to get back on my feet so I could keep this place and get things back on track again. Well, sure it is a few years later and I've had the chance to pick up several sporterized Enfirlds that I just wasn't interested in because I'm more interested in replacing some of the firearms that I had in my old collection rather than settling with or making due with something that's been molested.

Well, it looks like I've been making the right choices for the right reasons lately and things seem to be going my way for a change and I actually caught a break this go-round'. I was perusing the local gun Grapevine after my little brother left yesterday and I was kind of kicking myself for not jumping on a 1977 Winchester model 94 30-30 that I could have scored for $200 but I decided to be responsible and not pick it up after what I spent on brass and stuff for my reloading bench lately when I ran across a listing for a Lee Enfield Ishapore 2A-1 in .308, needless to say I just had to reach out and touch bases with the guy that had it.

As it turns out he was just a kid and a student over here at Boise State that had recently escaped from California and moved to Boise with his family and he's been enjoying the gun laws or lack there for of here in Idaho. He had the Enfield listed for sale or trade but he was more interested in a trade for something like a nice handgun for ccw that he could enjoy taking to one of the many indoor ranges around here. We talked about things for a little while and he decided he was really liking my Modelo Star M40 Firestar, and well, since I'm laid up and I can't carry it like I got it for in the first place and even though I really didn't want to let it go I made an exception for this Enfield

.

I rolled outta bed this morning & let my girlfriend sleep in for awhile while I had my coffee before I woke her up and we headed into Boise since she had to pick up a few things for her work anyway. Now that we made it back home and grabbed something to eat for dinner I'm got some free time to examine this Enfield better & I gotta say, this thing is beautiful and has some serious character to it. I had to grab my magnifying glass and get this in the right lighting to decipher the ID tag on the right side under the bolt handle but I can verify that this is a 2A1 marked 7.62mm 2A1 rifle 1967. It only took 4 or 5 yrs but I finally have an unmolested unsporterized Enfield back in my collection & a 308 to boot

..

gsbuickman · Oct 10, 2018

ontarget · Oct 10, 2018

Good score. I'm not really on the look out for one of those but if one comes up in my price zone I'll be all over it.

DannyLandrum · Oct 10, 2018

Outstanding.... and you have a bright yellow moving target to test it on.

These are great truck guns.

Hokie_PhD · Oct 10, 2018

Comgrats

GBExpat · Oct 11, 2018

Very nice, congratulations on the great find!

I bought 2 of the slightly earlier 2A rifles from AIM when they first became available there in Summer'06. I still have one.

Other than the cheap black paint that had been slathered all over them (which was "easy" to remove) these are wonderful rifles.

The bores on my two were pristine, with both of the muzzles gauging .300 or slightly under. Very accurate rifles.

GunnyUSMC · Oct 11, 2018

Back around 2008 AIM put a bunch of 2A and 2A1s on sale. They were listed for $99 with cracked stocks. With the perches of the rifle you were allowed to buy a 200 round battle pack of South African 7.62 NATO for $49. I took advantage of the sale and got a very nice 2A that needed minor repairs to the fore stock at the rear of the action. I still have that battle pack of South African 7.62 NATO.
The butt stock on the one in the video is incorrect. it's a No.1 MkIII butt stock.
Your rifle has the correct stock set.
Dan's Ammo has the German 7.62x51 training ammo for just under $200 a 1000 rounds. It feeds pretty good in the 2A rifles and is accurate out to 100 yds, and recoil is about like a 22lr.
http://www.dansammo.com/ammo.asp
The finish on the 2A and the 2A1 is a park finish coated with black paint that was cloce to the British Sun coat.

Sistema1927 · Oct 11, 2018

I had one of the 2A1's that were sold cheap. Mine had rotting mushy wood, so I didn't feel bad about doing some major modifications. I cut the barrel to 19", replaced the rear sight with a rail, mounted a forward LER scope, and put a synthetic stock on it. Not a bad pseudo-Scout. I traded it off a couple of years ago when I purchased a Ruger GSR.

NIGHTLORD40K · Oct 11, 2018

Nice! I had one of the 2A "Tankers" years ago, but it came apart and threw parts all over the range the first time I shot it. The problem was with the lousy conversion, not anything Ishapore did. I forget if it was Century, or some other importer who hacked those up......

My kid loves her .410 Ishapore musket, though-

I've got my eyes open for a .308 at some point too.

Whiterook808 · Oct 11, 2018

Good find and lit looks like you got a nice Mills sling with it.

ifit · Oct 11, 2018

Nice
I also have 2a1/1967, did more research and when I found out that the ishy 2a1 from the factory in .308 NATO I had to get one. I was surprised on all matching numbers on my rifle, from the bolt/magazine/rear sight/bayonet mount. Unique is the aluminum buttplate to the 2a1, mine also has the fading black paint...great patina to these unique enfield types.

ilbob · Oct 11, 2018

I got one for like $129 a couple of decades ago. neat rifle.

GBExpat · Oct 11, 2018

GunnyUSMC said:
... The finish on the 2A and the 2A1 is a park finish coated with black paint that was cloce to the British Sun coat.

The cheap black paint that was slathered on the metal (and slopped on some of the wood) of the 2006 AIM rifles was nowhere near the quality of Suncorite, which is incredibly tough stuff.

I wish that my 2As sported a Suncorite finish.

I believe that most of us new 2A owners surmised that it represented a quickly-applied, inexpensive, long-term storage solution.

On my two 2As, underneath the crappy black enamel paint was a phosphate finish.

EDIT: BTW, my two were examples of both early and late 2As of which, IIRC, only about 50,000 were made. The serial numbers on my rifles were A01405 and A47206.

cheygriz · Oct 11, 2018

Neat rifle. I love the Enfields.

Whiterook808 · Oct 11, 2018

I bought a Maltby No 4 from Springfield Sporters years ago and it was slathered with the black paint and had the Ishy stock bolt installed. It cleaned up nicely and the original finish was under all that paint.

GunnyUSMC · Oct 11, 2018

GBExpat said:
The cheap black paint that was slathered on the metal (and slopped on some of the wood) of the 2006 AIM rifles was nowhere near the quality of Suncorite, which is incredibly tough stuff.

I wish that my 2As sported a Suncorite finish.

I believe that most of us new 2A owners surmised that it represented a quickly-applied, inexpensive, long-term storage solution.

On my two 2As, underneath the crappy black enamel paint was a phosphate finish.

EDIT: BTW, my two were examples of both early and late 2As of which, IIRC, only about 50,000 were made. The serial numbers on my rifles were A01405 and A47206.

I didn’t say the black paint was Suncorite. It was said that it was the same paint used to paint the locomotives in India.
Some of the 2A rifles had blued finishes under the paint but most were parked. The paint on mine was just about all gone so I removed what was left.

gsbuickman · Oct 11, 2018

Alright Guys, I got a better look at this Enfield & got'r cleaned up

. Before I did anything with it I pulled the bolt and pointed the barrel at the Clear Blue Sky to get a look at it and the Bore lit up bright and shiny but I decided to give it a quick cleaning anyway since I wanted to clean up the rest of the rifle. I pulled the trigger group, sling and barrel clamp and the slip on muzzle brace or whatever you want to call it and I wanted to pull the barreled receiver out of the forestock & the hand guard but I can't divorce the stock from me rear of the receiver where the separation is and the butt stock starts because there seems to be a metal strap at the rear of the stock that seems to be pinned in place that you can see just to the left of the flathead screw that's keeping me from separating the stock from the receiver :

I don't want to force it and I sure as hell don't want to break the stock because it's in remarkably nice shape so I decided to clean it as best as I could while the barreled action was loose from the stock as is. I sprayed the barrel, the parts I pulled off of it and the stock down with some Hoppe's #9 and let them soak for a little bit, then I wiped the stock down real good with a clean Rag and flushed the barrel and all the parts with some WD-40 and wiped those down real good as well. I ran a wire brush thru the bore, flushed it, brushed it again then flushed it before running a few patches thru it. The first batch came out wet and slightly discolored as expected but the second patch came out nice and clean, so I gave the bore a shot of Rem-oil with a patch & called it good and reassembled everything. One thing I can say is this has one of the nicest bore's that I've seen in a long time right next to the 91/59 that I had and the Romanian M44 that I recently picked up, but since this is a post-war 1967 model I'm betting it's seen little to no use and that's probably why it's so damn nice. I can't wait to get some shells loaded up for this thing and get it out to the range. From what I've been told it's minute of tennis ball accurate @ 100 yds & if true with these sites I'll take that all day long

...

dh1633pm · Oct 11, 2018

Nice catch.

GunnyUSMC · Oct 11, 2018

Here’s a little help with your stock.
First, don’t put petroleum products on the stock. Petroleum base oils will soak into the wood and break down the national glue that holds the fibers together. The wood will become soft. Get yourself a bottle of Howard’s Feed n Wax to clean your stocks.

GunnyUSMC · Oct 11, 2018

The metal cap with the sight protectors is called the nose cap.

There are two screws that hold it in place. One on the side just to the rear of the front sight, and one on the bottom just behind the bayonet lug.

The rear band is removed by removing the band screw. The band has a hing at the top that will allow you to open it up to remove it.

The screw just behind the rear band at the bottom will need to be removed, it is attached to a band that goes around the barrel under the handguard

You don’t need to remove the screw under the rear sight. It holds the rear sight proctor in place.
You will need to remove the King screw at the front of the trigger guard and the small screw at the back of the trigger guard and the wrist socket.

Sometimes the fore stock will be tight on the rifle and will need to be tapped off. Use a block of wood as in the pic and gently tap it with a small hammer.

GunnyUSMC · Oct 11, 2018

Almost forgot about the metal strap at the back of the fore stock.
You are right, it is pinned in place. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE IT! It is there to reinforce the stock.

The 2A1 is a close copy of the No1 MkIII but this is one area that is different. In the pic is the fore stock for a No1 MkIIl on the left and a No4 Mk1 on the right. The No1 has a stock key (metal tab) that reinforces the rear and keep the stock bolt from coming loose. On a No1 the fore stock must be removed before the buttstock can be removed or you would damage the fore stock.
The No4 used a metal strap to reinforce the rear, and the buttstock could be removed with the fore stock in place.
The 2A uses a strap like the No4.
Here is something you need to know about the buttstock screw on the No4 and the 2A. No more then two threads of the screw should come through the wrist socket when tightened. If it comes out to far, it will put pressure on the reinforcement band and damage the rear of the fore stock.

I hope this helps.

gsbuickman · Oct 11, 2018

GunnyUSMC said:
Here’s a little help with your stock.
First, don’t put petroleum products on the stock. Petroleum base oils will soak into the wood and break down the national glue that holds the fibers together. The wood will become soft. Get yourself a bottle of Howard’s Feed n Wax to clean your stocks.
View attachment 807013

I usually use Pledge on my stocks, but if I can get the stock separated from the receiver with that band that's pinned in place without damaging it I was thinking about working this stock over with some Murphy's Oil Soap to try and clean it up & get some of this black crud off of it because the front of the stock has a really nice cherry color to it but the further back you go the more it fades into a black on to the butt stock

ifit · Oct 11, 2018

Stingytrigger has a great video on the ishapore 2a1 history

GunnyUSMC · Oct 11, 2018

gsbuickman said:
I usually use Pledge on my stocks, but if I can get the stock separated from the receiver with that band that's pinned in place without damaging it I was thinking about working this stock over with some Murphy's Oil Soap to try and clean it up & get some of this black crud off of it because the front of the stock has a really nice cherry color to it but the further back you go the more it fades into a black on to the butt stock

I have a post on the restoration of a No4 Mk1 that I did not long ago. It will show you how to clean up the stock and make it look like it should.

Whiterook808 · Oct 12, 2018

I use Murphy's as well and it does the job without damage to the stock. Gunny, the No. 1 has some bits under the fore stock to watch out for - did they eliminate these in the 2A? I remember a spring and plunger or something. It is been a while since I have had one of mine apart.

A Lee Enfield Ishapore 2A1 .308 followed me home today...

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