Ishapore Enfield 2A

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finfanatic

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I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to find a used .308 bolt gun that I liked, and that I thought was worth the price... It's close to deer season so the price is higher I guess?

So I bought an Ishapore Enfield 2A from AIM.

These are before I cleaned it up.

enf-2A-right-small.jpg


enf-2A-left-small.gif

Plus, this one has 12 round mags. You can even buy extra mags....If you have $39.95 that is! I spent ALMOST as much on three extra mags as I did the rifle!!

enf-2A-mags-small.jpg

I cleaned it up good. Bore and rifling didn't show any use. Looks like it has been dropped several times, but never fired. This rifle couldn't have been fired much IMO.

Their are two spots where the stock was repaired, some dings, one screw is missing out of the butt plate, a gouge in the forestock, and some buggered up screws, but it cleaned up good.

Took it to the range today, and of course, the 100-150 yard line was packed, so I had to settle for the 50 yard target line.

enf-2A-target-small.jpg

I was shooting some cheap Brown Bear ammo, but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't use a rest or any sand bags, and at 50 yards, if I did my part, the Ishy would more than do it's part.

Supposedly the Brits could get off 30 rounds of aimed fire at 200-300 meters in 60 seconds. I'd like to see that. The three bullseyes were slow SLOW fired. and the long string touching up and at two o'clock were a SLIGHTLY faster rate of fire.

The others were fired as fast as I could cycle the bolt and get the front sight on the target.

All in all, I am very pleased with this rifle. So much so, I might buy another one.
 
Great choice! Nice pix.

I also bought an Ishy from Aim (several years ago) and love it.

Here's a tip--in addition to swapping magazines, you can also reload it with .308 stripper clips.

Looks like your shoots to point-of-aim. That's great. Mine shot about 6" high at 100 yards, and about a foot high at 200 yards, with the rear sight all the way down. I could've bought a taller front sight, but I just built it up with solder to where it shoots where I point it, now.

So much so, I might buy another one.
Click to expand...
If you're looking for someone here to talk you out of it---forget it!
 
To be honest, the only time you need to change the mags are when one is too damaged to use.

The Enfield rifles were not designed with detachable mags for changing during firing, and the mags here aren't that 'user friendly'.

It's much quicker to reload from strippers.

Edited for mealy-mindedness.
 
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Hmmm,

Since all detachable box magazines trace back to James Paris Lee, how is it you can argue that the Enfield was not designed with detachable mags?

Unless by that you mean that the Enfield was not intended to be reloaded by changing out the magazine in which case I agree and that reloading with strippers is pretty ideal.

Ash
 
Enfield mags are not designed to be quickly removed and replaced with a full mag. They come off the rifle with a little bit of fighting, and go back in the rifle a little less easily than that. They are to be removed only for cleaning&lubing purposes, or in the event that the mag is to be junked for malfunctions.

Taking the mag off an enfield is not a reloading procedure, it is a dissassembly procedure.

But, now that i'm on the subject, I wonder if anyone has ever converted an ishapore to use FAL mags?
 
Oh, I own two Enfields, #1 and #4 (and have owned others). I know how the mags come out and how easy. They aren't hard to remove. However, I still agree that the magazines were intended to be charged rather than replaced.

Ash
 
Nice find in the Ishy. Mine is as smooth as butter. So far everyone is correct about the mags. They are detachable, but were never meant to be so for a reload. Strippers are great and, from a strategic outlook, weigh less than mags.
 
Being from India... my .00000000002 cents.

Stay away from them. All of them.

In a word... JUNK.

You want a .303.. get an Enfield. Not enough money? Save more.
I would not buy any weapon made in India.

Ammo might be a different story based on the year of manufacture.

The philosphy is... in attle spread is more important than accuracy.
 
Actually, Afy, this is one case where the India-made product is the better one. The Ishapore Enfields are made with better steel, by and large, although the machining work may not be quite as fine.

I'm looking for a couple of Ishapores, to round out my set.
 
Try to find some stripper clips for it. Some of the Indian surplus still comes on them in bandoleers, very useful. The gun was designed to be used like it had a fixed magazine (1 per rifle) using the stripper clips. Excellent guns BTW, that target shows that they are more than enough accurate for deer. Congrats, Bill
 
And the #1Mk3's made at Ishapore in WWI-WWII are as good as British make because they were made by the Brits (Ishapore was a British arsenal and Brits oversaw Enfield production there not, of course, that I think there is anything wrong with Indians).

Ash
 
mine was junk and i gave it away

i cleaned the stock and duracoated the metal parts. one of the prettiest ishy's ever. wouldn't feed wouldn't eject. hard bolt. i hated it. rant off:cuss:
 
Hope you guys don't get too hard by Gustav, Ash. People are freaking out up here in Jackson. My parents are in Central Louisiana and are seeing many, many evacuees come through.

I've been seriously considering a 2A. C&R makes it easy to get one, but the local shop has some sort of Enfield in .308 (not sure which) priced at $165 out the door - gun itself is in good shape, but somebody put it in a synthetic stock. I'd prefer wood. Could probably get them to drop $20 or $30, though.

Glad to see another satisfied Ishapore user - it's pushing me closer and closer to a purchase. Show us some pictures of the gun cleaned up!
 
I shoot Enfields. Enfields were not made to be reloaded by swapping magazines. Every person I have seen reload a Enfield either by removing the magazine and loading it or swapping it for a loaded magazine and slamming it home ended up with feeding issues. The magazine lips get tweaked when you slam them home.
 
Yeah, Gustav looks like will catch us on the edge pretty good (nothing like Katrina though). I've plenty of fuel and grub so we'll be fine.

Ash
 
Detachable Mags

Thanks for the replies.

I knew you could use stripper clips, I just don't have any.

My question after reading was "Will it damage the rifle or mag by changing mags for reload?"

I also have read about problems with the mag lips being bent and having feed problems.

I saw some stripper clips for sale on some website when I was looking at the 2A. They seemed over-priced to me.

Anybody know where you can buy 7.62 Nato already on a stripper clip? ;)
 
Strippers for 8mm Mausers or 1903 Springfields should work just fine. You won't damage the rifle by doing a mag change. It is possible to damage a magazine (bending the lips against the trigger guard or some such thing), but that possibility lies with any detachable magazine-fed weapon (save for the TT-30 based pistols which have the feed lips actually machined in the pistol).

Ash
 
No it won't damage the rifle but don't be surprised if you start having feeding issues by swapping out magazines. Sometimes an Enfield magazine can be a real pain to get tuned just right so feed properly.
 
I've owned 3 2A's. All were good shooters even with milsurp ball.

The last one I bought had all the metal SLATHERED with what appeared to be black acrylic house paint that went straight into the cosmoline dip without drying. It took several treatment of Moskerman's paint and varnish remover to just get this half dry, tarlike substance off the metal. Didn't have that much trouble with the others I had.

Buddy of mine just sent me a pic of a 5 shot group from his 2a using SA ball at 100 yards. A cloverleaf that ran about 5/8 inch edge-edge with a flyer that opened it up to 1.25"

They're good for what ails you!
 
I have an Ishapore 2A1 and haven't had any problems with it. Mine was one of the ones that was pre-bubba'd by the importer; it wore a cutdown stock and flash hider so it could be marketed as a 'jungle gun'. Meh.

I knew it was going to be a trunk gun so I didn't really care, I bobbed the barrel a bit further back to 16 inches and had an FAL flash suppressor attached. It wears a synthetic stock and an XS sight systems scout-scope mount with a long eye relief scope.


Mine was a true bargain :), it was wearing a .303 extractor when I looked at it and the seller admitted that he had problems getting ti to work. Gunparts Corp. solved that little problem pretty quickly, though.
 
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