Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Lee Enfield MK IV Ishapore 7.62

I have a LE MK IV No 1 I believe-complete as issued but re-barreled in Ishapore to 7.62 NATO -probably in the 1950s.-early 60s.
The IDs under the bolt are painted over with older black paint, but the serial number is visible.
The rifle is in very good shape, with an excellent bore. I have shot both lead and jacketed bullets
in this rifle and it digests pretty much everything with good accuracy.

I am going to assume this rifle saw service in the India-Pakistan conflicts and came up
milsurp when both countries modernized rifles to FN/FAL and others. Magazine is left in as designed
for stripper clip military ball FMJ ammunition. Any experience with these?

Mellon in his "African Hunting" tells of being without a rifle due to a trip
and bad luck-purchased a LE in .303 which had a bad gas leak due to
headspace. He paid one pound for the rifle and he shot 3 elephants with it-bad seal and all.


His purchase price and mine were not far off-though mine retains its headspace.

I've had a couple over the years. A pretty nice military rifle.

I'm down to one SMLE, a No 1, and two No 4s from a total of almost two dozen owned over the years. Of those I have not owned an Ishapore in 308 though I have owned two in 303 Brit and two 410s. I have an eye open for one but those I have seen have been priced far more than I want to pay.

It would be great fun to have one in 308, ammo is easier to get and cheaper than 303 these days. I have a particular hankering for one with the copper wire reinforcement as they look particularly cool.

I'm also down to one Lee-Enfield..... A #4 Mk 1 303... A 1945 Long Branch all matching & nice. Always wished I could get a #4 in .308 but it never happened. Already regretting selling my # 1 Mk 3 last fall in a weak moment of retirement downsizing. I haven't purchased any .303 ammo in decades..... Already have some excellent handloads that work very well. No plans at present to sell the #4 because I'd like to hunt with it and us old guys with old eyes really like those aperture (peep) rear sights vs. the open sights on the #1 Mk 3. It would still be ultra cool to get a #4 in .308...... I already have dies for that, too.

I was given an Ishapor in 7.62 NATO, previous owner didn't like the wood stock so he put a plastic one on it. The fit was poor on the forend and pulled on the barrel pretty hard, couldn't hit the wall from inside the room. Took care of that but it still sucks shooting that thing.

The bottom rifle is the Ishapore.

I got a 1966 2A1 Ishapore 308 in cosmoline from Navy Arms in Shotgun News in Sept 1999 for $90 + shipping + FFL.
I paid $50 each for the other rifles in 303.

The best shooting ammo in it was steel cased copper washed surplus 7.62x51 ammo of 10 cents a shot delivered from Shotgun news.