308 Lee-Enfield converted for hunting

smellie said:
That barrel does not look to have been shortened. It IS possible, given that you have a big enough Lathe, simply to chuck the BARREL into the 3-jaw, letting the ACTION rotate out in mid-air. Then you can run a REAMER in from a chuck in the Tailstock. If everything is lined-up properly, there should be no problems: the way is clear all the way from the Butt Socket to the Muzzle.
Click to expand...

Re read your post. Got it now.
 
I haven't read all the posts so someone may have noted this before, but the reason it says "ENFIELD" is it was made at the Enfield Lock factory. If it was an Ishapore rifle it would say that instead. I don't see any sign of "I" after the "G.R." myself, and it would be a first if it was there.

Presumably this is a barrel off an Ishapore 2A refitted to this action.

If it was mine I think I'd take it off and fit it to a No.4 or perhaps a nice late date Lithgow SMLE as second best, or fit it to a Ross and have no worries at all. ;)
 
Yeah, I didn't see the I when I looked closely either. The posts have been all over the place btw. It looks like it is an ishapore barrel with a no 1 action. It is definitely a Frankenstein rifle, but its alive! Gonna get it checked out friday and then hopefully get a round through it this Sunday. I will report back on all the issues it has, which to be honest, I am expecting. Glad I talked to everyone on here before I fired it though. I really hope it works as I really like the rifle and action. If not, will have to save for a ross maybe or invest some money and get it shooting right.
 
If it is an Ishapore 7.62 it will handle 308 and 7.62 ammo just fine, but that pressure will be hard on the action. Both calibers are loaded to the same pressures.

If you handload, just load with 300 Savage data and you will be fine.
 
Dudes at calgary shooting centre said they wouldn't fire it unless it was hand loaded ammo :(. That kinda sucks. They weren't gunsmiths, but they were pretty sure that they would have said the same thing.
 
So you handload your ammo.

Use .303 data and she should work fine.

Or do as GANDERITE (who has a HUGE amount of experience with LEs) suggested.... and uses .300 Savage loads in .308 casings. Brings the PRESSURE down very nicely.

Believe me, Bambi will NEVER know the difference!

BTW, most LE rifles shoot more accurately with a slightly-mild load, anyway. Take the military spec, reduce the VELOCITY by 10%. That will reduce the PRESSURE close to 20%. You now have SAFE loads which ought to be very accurate. Stress on the rifle (and on your shoulder) will be minimal.

I handload for close to 40 rifles and NONE of my loads are full-house.... but most of them are just as accurate or moreso.
 
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