A nice find in .303

Muir

Well-Known Member
I was in a gun shop in the city today and they had a 1949-dated Ishapore (RFI) No 1, MKIII* rifle with a shiny bore and rack beaten wood. I primarily collect British Enfields but all un-altered No1 rifles draw my attenion these days. The bolt and the reciever had matching numbers which is rare these days for RFI guns, and looking further, so did the rear sight and nose cap. I asked to see the magazine and lo! it also had the same serial number. When I pulled off the back section of top wood (causing the young clerk to startle greatly) the serial number under the grease on the barrel also matched. The rifle was $225 and that is more than I like to pay, usually, but this rifle seemed unique in its completeness so I bought it. Here's the odd part: I have a slew of Enfields. Additionally, I have had hundreds and hundreds of them pass through my hands in various states of condition. On almost all of them, a patch down the bore with a good copper killer like Sweet's 7.62, or even Hoppes #9, will produce a blue tinged patch on the next pass. From this particular rifle however, the patches come out unmarked but for the solvent they are saturated with. The bore is absolutely c-l-e-a-n. Shiny and bright with sharp rifling.

Either the person to whom this rifle was issued took VERY good care of it, or it was rebarreled (and), or just not used! In any event, it's an interesting piece and I'm glad i came by it.~Muir
 
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We have had a few completely unfired, still in the grease rifles recently come onto the market down here - all WWII-vintage Fazakerley's i think. Be interesting to know where they turned up. I have been having to control an urge to buy one of a few nearly unused sporterised BSA SMLEs i have recently found. I probably will, eventually.

I find it funny that there is such a passion for the K98, yet the poor old SMLE is completely overlooked. And was a far superior service weapon, and can make a pretty handy stalking rifle if you like using old service weapons for your hunting at times.
 
I was in a gun shop in the city today and they had a 1949-dated Ishapore (RFI) No 1, MKIII* rifle with a shiny bore and rack beaten wood. I primarily collect British Enfields but all un-altered No1 rifles draw my attenion these days. The bolt and the reciever had matching numbers which is rare these days for RFI guns, and looking further, so did the rear sight and nose cap. I asked to see the magazine and lo! it also had the same serial number. When I pulled off the back section of top wood (causing the young clerk to startle greatly) the serial number under the grease on the barrel also matched. The rifle was $225 and that is more than I like to pay, usually, but this rifle seemed unique in its completeness so I bought it. Here's the odd part: I have a slew of Enfields. Additionally, I have had hundreds and hundreds of them pass through my hands in various states of condition. On almost all of them, a patch down the bore with a good copper killer like Sweet's 7.62, or even Hoppes #9, will produce a blue tinged patch on the next pass. From this particular rifle however, the patches come out unmarked but for the solvent they are saturated with. The bore is absolutely c-l-e-a-n. Shiny and bright with sharp rifling.

Either the person to whom this rifle was issued took VERY good care of it, or it was rebarreled (and), or just not used! In any event, it's an interesting piece and I'm glad i came by it.~Muir

Nice find Muir, am mulling over an Ishapore 2A over here for a bit of range work.

ATB,

Scrummy
 
We have had a few completely unfired, still in the grease rifles recently come onto the market down here - all WWII-vintage Fazakerley's i think. Be interesting to know where they turned up. I have been having to control an urge to buy one of a few nearly unused sporterised BSA SMLEs i have recently found. I probably will, eventually.

I find it funny that there is such a passion for the K98, yet the poor old SMLE is completely overlooked. And was a far superior service weapon, and can make a pretty handy stalking rifle if you like using old service weapons for your hunting at times.

Only the unelightened overlook the Lee Enfield ;) those who are enlightened know their worth in the field :smug:.
 
Only the unelightened overlook the Lee Enfield ;) those who are enlightened know their worth in the field :smug:.

Kevin: Amen to that! I have mostly military rifles but I have two Africa-used "light express" rifles with 3-leaf sights, etal, and two American sporterizations. All shoot marvelously. As some know, I shoot cast bullets in 99% of my Enfields which allows me to adjust bullet diameter for the occasional odd-groove diameter. This can give me amazing accuracy.

Scrummy: I have an Ishy 308 and it shoots pretty well.~Muir

PS: Just ran another patch through the gun using Sweets. No trace of copper. This is just so odd... Only my pair of unfired No4, MkII's have been this clean.
 
Well, if it's odd cleanliness bothers you that much Muir, you can always send it down to me.:p

(Just trying my best to help you out amigo!):D
 
Thanks Muir, good to know. .308 ammo is a lot cheaper than the .303 over here in Switz, even more so than the UK from what I can see.

ATB,

Scrummy
 
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