Ishapore 2A?

[sailorjosh]

What's the deal with these in Canada? They seem cheap and plentiful in the states, but I've barely seen any up here. Are they available? How much do they usually sell for? And one last question - I have never seen a firm yes or no on whether or it is safe to shoot commercial .308 out of them - some say yes, some say no.

 

[HeadDamage]

They where selling here a few years ago for a couple of hundered each. Very nice rifles once you get past the made in India part.

 

[albayo]

Lee-Enfield 2A1

The 2A1's are rare these days and some show up from time to time. I have two and one is as issued the other is re-stocked and in mint condition. I recently bought a new set of wood for one that a guy thought was for a regular No1.
They are well boilt with a chrome bore, re-calibrated, for the 7.62X51 and accept the FN stripper clips. I have noticed some on the History channel, and I think one was on a documentry on Arnham.

 

[Steppenwolf]

50,000 2A and 250,000 2A1 rifles produced, it would appear that most went to the U.S. I have one of each 2A's had the .303 calibrated rear sight, 2A1's a 7.62 calibrated rear sight.
Top three are Indian: 2A1, 2A, Indian 410

 

[Timberlord]

I managed to snag a 2A1 from the local gunshop a couple years ago . It was the only time I seen one . It was covered in the usual black guck which I went to work on . Under all that guck was deep red , matching, Luan Mahogany stocks . It feeds and fires great , however it's not quite as accurate as my No1's or the No4's I have...But , I need to shoot it some more ..practice makes perfect.
As far as .308Win / 7.62Nato , I'm sticking with the 7.62Nato .
The thinner walled .308Win brass and the oversized chamber ,for battle conditions, is enough info for me to shoot 7.62nato only

 

[madtrapper143]

I shot alot of commercial .308 in my 2A1. Most of the cases were swollen around the web. They were fine for one time shooting but I wouldn't attempt to reload them as I feel they would fail at that point. For hunting and one time shooting I don't think the commercial .308 would cause any harm. I did eventually get some Nato brass and download by 10% (from commercial) that worked great.

cheers Darryl

 

[MasterGunner]

I picked up an Indian 2A made in 1965 by Ishapore many years ago. It is a fine rifle, but there are some very cheap parts on this rifle in the form of stampings. Fortunately, the No. 1 Mk III parts completely interchange with the offenders (in my eye). I replaced both the front and rear sling swivels and front band. I replaced the nose cap with the No. 1 Mk III and added the stacking swivel. I also found NOS No. 1 Mk III upper handguards and forearm. The transformation to the rifle was dramatic. The resulting rifle is a fine shooter.

Recommendation: if you can find one, get it.