.308 Enfield

[EMAN]

I have a .308 Enfield that was given to me some time back with a box of .308 Winchester ammo.

It has sat in a corner of the bedroom more or less as a doorstop. I drug it our recently to see if it was actually useable. It is clean and functions well but I have read and/or been told I cannot/should not use the Winchester ammo because of head tolerances or pressures.

I have heard pros and cons and of course the folks who say screw it, shoot the darn thing anyway.

As I love what remaining eyesight I have, I am notinclined to follow the latter advice.

I did take the rifle to G&L where the gunsmith there, a really nice guy by the way, told me there was like .012 heade clearance and he advised not shooting the weapon.

I have since been told that S. African .308 ammo is OK because it's military .308.

DOH!

I reckon I could rig the thing, tie a string to the trigger, stand back and see what happens to start at least. But will it hold up? Or will it blow up in my face at some future point?

I am open to opinion on this. I like this rifle and would love to shoot it but not at the risk of injury obviously.

Thanks folks.

[Guest Astra900]

With that kind of excess head space, it needs to keep holding the door open. Different kinds of ammo change nothing. ALL 308 ammo has to be the same overall size or they wouldn't function in all guns.(there are manufacturing tolerance differences of course)

The 'smith at G&L seems to be VERY good in everyone elses opinion, I have never used him yet. I would trust his judgment. 12 thousandths is enough to get you a ruptured case or a case head separation. Neither of which will be fun for you.

If you're not willing to spend the $$$ to fix it right, leave it alone. The cost of fixing it, would be more than the gun is worth in all likeliness. You'd have to set the barrel threads back, face off the breach end of the barrel, use a chamber reamer to take it back to correct headspace, THEN, the sights and bands and all the bits and bobs that are soldered and pinned in place on the barrel would have to be reset accordingly. It's a lot of work. If I had the $$$ I would make you an offer on it, and rechamber w/ a new barrel, and make full blown custom something out of it. I got too many of those as it is. If you want to go that route, you may be able to justify the cost, but no matter what anyone tells you, I personally would NOT shoot it. I am no expert, but NOT shooting it is the only ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE you'll get on that eyesight thing you mentioned:koolaid:

Edited January 20, 2009 by Astra900

[Guest Spuds]

The 2A and 2A1 Ishapore Enfields are chambered for 7.62x51 NATO, which, while for all practical purposes is physically identical to .308 in dimension, it has a different SAAMI pressure rating than .308. Safer to shoot NATO ammo in it.

FWIW, I've never owned one that extracted well, and those rifles of acquaintances I've shot with had the same extraction problems as I experienced. Enfields are my favorite rifles, but the Ishapore rifles, IMO, aren't worth the trouble to fool with. They are popular with the .308 crowd, so you could always sell it.

[towerclimber37]

I have an Ishapore Enfield. It extracts with no problems..but unlike the .303 Enfield, you can't remove the bolt from the rifle. It's a good shooting rifle, but would I take it into battle? ummm no.

I'd take a .303 since you can tune it so as to cycle a round smooth as butter and it's a little more accurate then the Ishapore, IMO. The Ishapore is Minute of man accurate though.

[enfield]

I have an Ishapore Enfield. It extracts with no problems..but unlike the .303 Enfield, you can't remove the bolt from the rifle.

The bolt comes out of mine!

[EMAN]

Thanks Astra and crap...I guess I keep hoping that I might get to shoot this thing at least once. Not sure why it's such a big deal. Just because probably. Maybe because it was free and it's otherwise in good condition.

The pressure rating is what was explained to me more than a physical difference in .308 and/or 7.62 x 51. And difference between casing materials.

So merely out of more curiosity, how do I determine the 2A/1A Ishapore thing? Only thing I've been able to remotely find about the rifle is that it was probably manufactured back in the 60's. I think around 1964.

[Guest Spuds]

I've been able to remove the bolts on all the Ishapore Enfields I've handled. Some can be tricky.

The buttsocket (band around the wrist of the stock) should have stamped into the metal either 2A or 2A1. I think the 2A rifles were earlier, 2A1 indicated an upgrade, but I don't recall the date. Sometimes it seems things are haphazard on these rifles, perhaps yours wasn't stamped?