Ishapore 2A Scout rifle

[Hunter65]

Here is a project scout rifle I made from a Ishapore 2A, 7.62 nato rifle. I removed the sights and cut the barrel down to 51 cm. A custom made scope base is silver soldered unto the barrel. I bead blasted the metal and blued into a matte finish. I installed the rifle into a snythetic stock and I mounted a 2x Leupold pistol scope with quick detachable rings.

The major deveations from Jeff Coopers scout rifle concept are lack of sights and bipod.

Accuracy is acceptable, fairly light, fast handling and fast target acquistion. I mounted the sling on the front sling stud and to the eye in front of the magazine to create the Ching sling concept,

Vikram thanks for the info about pasting a picture.

Hunter 65

[xl_target]

Very nice! I've seen a few scout rifles but your execution of the concept is very well done. I've never seen anyone else use a Ishy 2A as the starting point.
Makes sense though, the Lee Enfield type of rifle has one of the fastest, slickest bolt actions of any service rifle.

[Sakobav]

hunter65

Plus one Xl remarks that gun looks quite different. luckily Ishapore probably were one of the last decent rifles produced by India. They have quite a following now ...

cheers

[dr.jayakumar]

ishapore.....indian made in US.how did it happen?why would anyone like an indian made?.can anyone enlighten.

[timmy]

I have an Ishapore 2A and I got it especially because it was made in India. I had always wanted a SMLE, but nowadays here, almost all of the surplus .303 is gone, except for some lots of POF stuff that may actually go bang occasionally when the trigger is pulled. I also wanted a gun made in India. So, the 2A gave me the chance to have a gun made in India, a SMLE. and one in .308 (7.62x51), which is more practical in the USA both for surplus and for reloading.

But, I've found other benefits. When I have had Indian friends over to the house, they became very cool when I mentioned my interest in guns. However, when I hauled out the 2A and pointed out the Asoka stamped on the butt stock socket, they became a lot more interested. I may have 1 or 2 folks interested in starting to shoot, once they have finished grad school. I know that one of them for sure has visited IFG and checked things out. So, that's a fourth benefit: It gets other Indians here interested in guns.

I also give a +1 for your scout, H65, you put nice glass on it!

-- Mon Feb 28, 2011 0:28 --

I'd also like to mention that the workmanship on the Ishapore 2A is as good as any SMLE -- which is to say, it is very good!

[xl_target]

ishapore.....indian made in US.how did it happen?why would anyone like an indian made?.can anyone enlighten.

Dr Jayakumar, a good history of the rifle can be found here:
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting200 ... /index.asp
Many of these rifles were imported and sold here in the US. The availability of surplus 7.62 NATO ammunition makes them desirable.

Here is a review of the standard .303 Ishy:
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/ishy/index.asp

[Vikram]

Well executed,Hunter65. Nice pic and a very nice rifle there. I like the Enfield action a lot. How does it shoot?What kind of accuracy do you get with it? Thanks for posting it.

Best-
Vikram

[dr.jayakumar]

ishapore.....indian made in US.how did it happen?why would anyone like an indian made?.can anyone enlighten.

Dr Jayakumar, a good history of the rifle can be found here:
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting200 ... /index.asp
Many of these rifles were imported and sold here in the US. The availability of surplus 7.62 NATO ammunition makes them desirable.

Here is a review of the standard .303 Ishy:
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/ishy/index.asp

thanks friend,i too have heard about cowboys using our 303for their ranch work.what my question is how come the government with all the restrictions and laws sold these abroad?and why do they have to consider this weapon at all,when they have such wide range of arms in their country.what is the speciality?

[prashantsingh]

What a fantastic facelift to the .303
drjayakumar we still have lots of these rifles in India.
It is a common rifle with the cops in U.P.
They also have the ammo of the same era to go with them.
Cheers.

[vrohan59]

Nice modification to the rifle,something interesting.@Prashant,wanted to ask you if the cops in your part of the country are equipped with No.5 jungle carbine?I have handled and fired these rifles in Silchar Asom...the only negative point I found was that these rifles have more recoil and muzzle blast as compared to the No.4 ans SMLE rifles,despite being equipped with rubber butt plates and flash suppers.

[MoA]

Hunter65: Nice bubba job. Good work however I am no fan of bubba jobs. But do appreciate the work.

[sa_ali]

Thats nice work. what a irony, We in india are not able to work on the same rifle because of some crap disparity between NB and NPB.

[xl_target]

thanks friend,i too have heard about cowboys using our 303for their ranch work.what my question is how come the government with all the restrictions and laws sold these abroad?and why do they have to consider this weapon at all,when they have such wide range of arms in their country.what is the speciality?

The .303 Lee Enfield was one of the finest bolt action battle rifles ever made. It played a significant part in the history of the world. Any gun buff or war history buff knows of its sterling performance in two world wars and numerous other skirmishes. It is rugged, reliable, reasonably accurate and with its short throw bolt handle it is one of slickest and fastest rifles to operate.
There is no wonder, Dr. Sahib, that it is such a desirable rifle. I also forgot to mention that in the US they were sold really cheap at one time, which might have been another factor in its popularity . There was also a large amount of surplus .303 ammo available at one time. I bought my No 4 Mk1 for $50. How often can you get a battle proven piece of hardware that functions every time, no matter how little care you give it, for fifty bucks. Unfortunately, mine was stolen many years ago.

How come the government sold these abroad? They don't care if someone has guns, they just don't want their own citizens to have them.

[sa_ali]

How come the government sold these abroad? They don't care if someone has guns, they just don't want their own citizens to have them.

Thats the Irony , it might have reached out during the wars, i am sure it would have landed in other ppl hands also.

I dont think our govt is enterprising enough to sell it and make money from it.

[xl_target]

I dont think our govt is enterprising enough to sell it and make money from it.

There were many sources of Lee Enfield rifles apart from just the usual suspects. For example my No4 mk1 was made by Savage (in the USA). In the early days of Ww2 when Britain was all alone, fighting for her life, arms were shipped to them from the US under lend-lease. Some of these lend-lease rifles were repurchased, brought back to the US and sold on the open market. The fact is that a lot of Ishapore manufactured rifles showed up here. The only people with large quantities of Ishapore made rifles is/was the Government of India, so some babu got off his duff and made some money for the Government.

MOA, there's Bubba and then there's Bubba. The scout rifle pictured here is a very well done conversion and certainly not what I would call a Bubba-job. What else are you going to do with a common or garden Lee Enfield? You can only have so many in the gun rack to look at. Why not give it new lease on life and actually use it? Its way too cumbersome to use in its original form, especially if you need a quick handling brush gun for hunting. 10 round mag, slick bolt and 7.62 NATO to boot; what's not to like? If the OP really wants an original Lee Enfield, there are a ton of them around here. Who knows, maybe he already has a few.