Ishapore Being Considered

[HoosierQ]

My local shop, one that specializes is old service rifles...by buddy call the place "Mosins-R-Us"...has an Ishapore in 7.62. I often heard that .303s converted to 7.62 are not safe...even if you stick to 7.62 and never go with .308.

But Ishapores were, I presume, designed with 7.62x51 as the spec and thus the metalurgy and whatnot is right.

Any experience out there with Ishapores? The idea of an Enfield rifle with what I think is a 12 round magazine is pretty neat.

 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

Get the headspacing checked and shoot 7.62 NATO and you'll be golden. The 12 round mags are nice.

I like my two that I have refinished, they are sharp looking rifles. They don't shoot too bad either.

 

[elmerfudd]

Mine shoots nicely. I hear a lot of people bitch about the sights, but I find them to be pretty good myself. Sure, they're not as nice as a good peep sight like you would find on an AR or M14, but I think they're just as good as the iron sights on my K31 or M39.

 

[cornman]

Ah, the unsafe Ishapore internet myth continues.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Ishapore 2As are FINE with 7.62x51mm NATO (assuming headspace is correct). But to be safe, do NOT shoot commercial .308 win, which is hotter than mil-spec 7.62x51mm (just the opposite of the .223 rem/5.56x45mm comparison).

Ishys are cool except for the crappy sights - if they had No. 4 sights, we'd be cookin with butane and that would be my pickup truck rifle.

Ah, the unsafe Ishapore internet myth continues.

Why do you say that? No one in this thread said they were unsafe anywhere - save alluding to headspace, which is accurate - any rifle with improper headspace can be unsafe. And save the reference to not shooting a cartridge which will fit and fire, but which the rifle was not designed for, that being .308 winchester - this too is true of any rifle - you don't shoot anything except that ammo which has a headstamp matching precisely the stamp on the side of the barrel (or what the rifle is designed for).

 

[Jeff F]

My gunsmith told me that as long as head space is good to go, you can shoot .308 or 7.62. He said its a pretty strong action and will handle either just fine. He said some of the semi autos could have a problem but bolt action in working order do not.

 

[Dave R]

Any experience out there with Ishapores? The idea of an Enfield rifle with what I think is a 12 round magazine is pretty neat.

Yeah,its neat. They are good shooters. At least, mine is. Sights are not world class, but they're better that Mauser sights and are fine enough for decent accuracy.

I like to take mine to the range and hit the 225 yard gong (18") consistently. Always draws nice comments.

And if you want to scope it, there are scout scope mounts that replace the rear sight. Without permanent alteration. Probably other options that I'm not aware of.

 

[Soybomb]

My gunsmith told me that as long as head space is good to go, you can shoot .308 or 7.62. He said its a pretty strong action and will handle either just fine. He said some of the semi autos could have a problem but bolt action in working order do not.

This is one of those hotly debated subjects but I believe he is correct provided the bolt won't close on a .308 field gauge. If it does though you can't use .308 and will need to see if its safe to fire nato in it or not safe at all. I've still never seen a nato field gauge so I'm assuming most are going to be checked with .308.

do NOT shoot commercial .308 win, which is hotter than mil-spec 7.62x51mm (just the opposite of the .223 rem/5.56x45mm comparison).

This seems to be one of those common misconceptions and is likely caused by the different methods used for measuring pressure between the nato standard and by saami. Just looking at a couple rounds should show us they're roughly the same pressure though. Your nato round would be maybe 146gr @ 2760 fps and a .308 147gr winchester round chronos about the same

 

[Franco2shoot]

Came close to going the Ishy route, but wound up with Mosin-Nagant. Cheap ammo very easy to come by, and my91/30 once accurized is a tack driver. Glad now that I didn't go the Ishy route.
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