Picked up this enfield today, looking for info. (pic warning!)

Wrong Way

Wrong Way

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
198   0   0
Location
Ontario.....far enough N of T.O. that I (almost) c
Gentlemen. I picked up this Enfield today, and while not a milsurp guy :)redface: ) I was intrigued by a few things. First...the condition. It appears to be in fantastic shape. Even the bore is nice and shiny! Second: Every serial # matches, even the one on the magazine. And third: I don't recall seeing an Enfield quite like this before (again....not a milsurp guy)

Therefore, I defer to the experts here at CGN. Can you give me any info on this rifle you may have? Age, commonality, opinions, value?

Thanks!

LE1_1_1.jpg

LE2_2_1.jpg

LE3_3_1.jpg

LE4_4_1.jpg

LE7_5_1.jpg

LE5_7_1.jpg

LE6_6_1.jpg

LE8_1_1.jpg
 
That is an ishampore FTR rifle i think, she is a beauty. I just pick one up today as well. I can't wait to take it to the range. Here is a pic of my one after spending the rest of the day cleaning her up.
HPIM0379.jpg
 
I went over the gun with a fine tooth comb....I cant even find any real wear marks! No cracks, no major dings, bore looks new, mag doesn't even look like it's ben loaded......I can't believe this is a 91 yr. old rifle!
Is it common to find a rifle that all #'s match...including the rear sight and magazine?
Just out of curiosity....whats it worth?
 
Rifle was rebuilt in 1943 and maybe even later. S^A marked Indian made stock dates stock from the 1950's. The P on the buttsocket means it was rebarreled also. Probably rebuilt one last time in the 50/60 and stored away in War reserve and never issued.
 
Wrong Way said:
I went over the gun with a fine tooth comb....I cant even find any real wear marks! No cracks, no major dings, bore looks new, mag doesn't even look like it's ben loaded......I can't believe this is a 91 yr. old rifle!
Is it common to find a rifle that all #'s match...including the rear sight and magazine?
Just out of curiosity....whats it worth?
Click to expand...

As was pointed out it was factory refurbished in 1943 at the Ishapore rifle factory in British India. It was done pre-independence, so the workmanship was done to British standards, the only exception being the re-inforcing screw through the forestock - not sure why the Indian factory did this but no-one else did. It may have been rebuilt again since then.

The condition can be attributed to the rebuild. During rebuild, rifles were returned to "like new" condition and all necessary parts were replaced to make it so, re-used parts were stripped, checked to ensure they were in spec, reblued, and then re-installed.

Nice looking rifle.

the ISA -> cartouche on the buttstock is "Ishapore Small Arms [factory]" and the RFI1943 stamp is "Rifle Factory, Ishapore [refurbished in] 1943"

Ishapore is the name of the old British Imperial arsenal in India. It still exists today and made new Enfields at least as late as 1987.
 
Wrong Way said:
Just out of curiosity....whats it worth?
Click to expand...

IMHO it's worth $250-300 due mostly to the nice condition. If it was in that condition and NOT a refurb, it would be a $400+ rifle.

Indian refurbs are valued less by collectors for a number of reasons, but from a shooting standpoint it won't make any difference.
 
Cocked&Locked said:
GAH! where do you all find these! I wants one, wants it my precious!
Click to expand...

Start spending more time at gun shows. Over the past 5 years, I think I bought and sold about 20 or 30 nice SMLE MkIII's and some of them were Canadian marked as well. If anyone is serious about collecting military rifles, the best thing to do is start getting a table at any local shows. You'll soon find out that most of the deals are done before the doors open to the public. :D

PS: Just to let you know, I'm not into the Enfield thing anymore. Of the 55 or so Enfields that I use to own (8 of which were long lees) I only have about 5 left.
 
WrongWay, if you take her out to the range you might be presently surprised! i was, heck i still am and it has been a full ten minutes that i am back from the range. My ishy shoots great!! with old 40's and 50's issue ball. When i sighted her in at 25 yards out of five shots 4 made a nice little hole of under and inch, and at 100 she was about 4 inchs high and well with three inchs for 5 shots :eek:. I was and am still shocked i really though she would group no better then 5 or 6 inchs. i am gonna go back to the range tomorrow and do a full range test i will also bring my camera to show results.
Cheers
 
That is the second thing i did when i got home :p. Yet i did have one interesting thing happen today and that was for the first time in my life i had ammo that gave me a few hang fires, it is an interesting thing to hear the click and then the bang. That kinda gave me a few flyers hoping for better tomorrow.:)
 
Please put the sling on the right way;)
Tabs should be on the inside, smooth side of the rivits facing the wood. Lower loop one hand breadth wide. length adjustments made on upper loop.

Of course you probably already knew that, but I just couldn't resist:D

Was that click-bang stuff headstamped POF?
 
No the Click bang ammo wasn't POF headstamped, It was DI 50 VII z headstamped. I had Several more today at the range while i was trying to do some grouping tests on 5 rounds i had 2 click-bangs that went low and three that grouped nicely together. i thick i have to shift the sight to the left a bit, but i am thus far unsure as to how that is done. I am gonna wait t'ill this spring to do some proper test and i will post the results. oh and hear is another pic of my ishy and Long branch at the range today with fixed bayonets
HPIM0399.jpg
HPIM0402.jpg
 
Last edited:
We have been working with SMLEs around here a bit and find that if we are super-careful, we can get an inch at 100, given that ammo and rifle like each other, and that's without drilling any holes and mounting scopes. It can be done.

Start handloading, get some really good brass (that DI Z stuff is excellent), try loading a Sierra 180 to about 2250 ft/sec MV and seating to the overall length of a Mark VII Ball round. Use of a medium-speed powder seems to work well. This is 200 ft/sec BELOW issue performance and is quite safe.

The "dreaded Ishy screw" through the wood was to stop it splitting when taken from one part of India to another..... they have climatic extremes that Canada just does NOT have! Worked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom