Breda has a lovely photo of her Uncle (kinda I don’t know familial relationships well enugh to know the formal term….is it Uncle Once Removed?) with an No. 1 Mk.III Enfield Lovely photo from a different time.
Thought I’d take a picture of my SMLE.
Its one of my safe queens, but its a pretty neat rifle. For those not in the Know that’s an Ishapore Enfield 2A, which was (and still is in service as a Police rifle) the infantry rifle for the Indian Armed forces. It has super evil features of a bayonet lug, and a detachable magazine that holds the evil “High Capacity” quantity of 12. Also one neat feature is this gun was manufactured as a 7.62x51mm Nato rifle (I’ve been told commercial .308 will do bad things to these guns).
The build quality of this gun leaves a LOT to be desired compared to the British and Aussie SMLEs of the same era, and it has the older style v-notch rear-sights which are MINISCULE and very hard to sight.
Still its a SMLE, and I must say I do love the cock-on-closing action over the more conventional cock-on-opening, which allows for a MUCH more smooth cycling, even the somewhat sloppy bolt of my 2A.
Neat gun, and it didn’t cost me much of anything, and as expensive as 7.62x51mm is these days, its still cheaper than .303 Brit.
Oh, neat! Thank you!
NP. FYI an easy way to tell between a .303 SMLE and a 7.62 one is the .303 has a deeply slanted magazine floor-plate, and this one is almost square.
Weerd, .308 WILL do bad things to these guns. I have one, the only rifle my dad had retained until the end. He got a really clean sample and probably didn’t run more than 200 rounds through it. Headspace could now be measured in furlongs. Headspace is now at least .015″ oversize. Primers practically unseat themselves.
I may fireform some cases and shoot light charges to keep it running. The *only* thing that gun has going for it is the sentimental value!
Have you looked into a new bolt head? That was the standard fix on proper 303 Enfields, I can only assume the Indians did the same?
While I’m here, let me just say that the Rifle 2A is a bargain and is highly underrated by most. Light recoil, authoritative caliber, 12 round mag, smooth as butter bolt, and I like the sights.
How the fuck can you see them? I have VERY good eyes (with my glasses of course) and I find shooting my 2A is akin to shooting a military 1911, or some other vintage pistol with vestigial sights.
Butch, no I have not looked into a bolt head. I’m not very familiar with these guns, but now with that tidbit of info I will dig a bit deeper.
I’m not a huge fan of the cock on close, and i find the sighs lacking, it’s a nice rifle with some history. And anything that throws 308 is fine in my book 🙂
I hate the sights on mine too, but I LOVE cock-on-close. It makes the whole bolt stroke so much more uniform, and is awesome when the receiver gets hot, or you get a sticky case.
The SAMMI/CIP maximum pressure for the .308 Win cartridge is 62,000 psi, while the 7.62×51 max is 50,000 psi. Also, the headspace is slightly different.
My understanding* is that a gun chambered in .308 Win can handle 7.62×51 with no problem, and most modern guns chambered in 7.62×51 are intentionally over-engineered to handle .308 Win safely, but older guns chambered in 7.62×51 – like your SMLE – were NOT designed to handle the higher pressures of .308 Win, and cannot do so safely.
I assume this only holds true in modern firearms.
There’s also a difference in chamber length. The 7.62×51 has a slightly longer chamber than is found in a .308 Win rifle, with the expectation that the thicker military-grade brass will stretch when the round is fired. IIRC, most modern 7.62×51 rifles sold directly on the civilian market usually have a chamber length that’s actually between the military length and the civilian length, to avoid over-stretching the thinner civilian brass if .308 Win is used. Military surplus rifles, of course, don’t.
I’m not 100% sure (it’s been a little while since I read about this, and I can’t find the source anymore) but I think the difference in headspacing means a .308 fired in a 7.62×51 rifle may lose a small amount of accuracy because it doesn’t engage the rifling as quickly as in a true .308 rifle.
* I’m just some guy on the internet – I could be wrong. Trust, but verify.
CAPTCHA: PHUN – Use the wrong cartridge in the wrong gun, and it won’t be phun.
Not really sure about the case length. I DO know that 7.62x51mm NATO and .308 Winchester (Much like 5.56×45 NATO and .223 Rem) are NOT the same cartridge both in load pressure, and in case geometry, but as a general rule its totally cool to feed the gun designed for higher pressure both loads.
For 7.62/.308, .308 Winchester is the hotter cartridge, so a .308 Win gun can eat both, but check with your gun manufacturer before you feed a 7.62x51mm NATO gun Commercial .308 ammo. For 5.56/.223 the 5.56x45mm is the hotter cartridge.
Also an easy way to tell is to see what the higher-dollar rifles have stamped on the barrel. You’ll find most of the quality AR-15s have 5.56×45 NATO chambers, and just about all the 7.62 Battle Rifles made today (including my FAL) are marked .308 Win, even though the militaries that issued these guns fed them a steady diet of NATO rations.
IIRC, a USGI 7.62 NATO “MATCH” headspace gauge is the same as a SAAM .308 Winchester “FIELD” gauge, and foreignmilitaries (especially places like India) often have even looser tolerances on headspace, to account for dirt and corrosion.
I have the “type 7”, which is the “jungle carbine” version of the 2/2a, in 7.62×51. My magazines are 10 rounds, but not square, so maybe they’re .303 mags, but they feed the 7.62 just fine. These rifles were made so the police would have ammunition commonality when the Indian military adopted an FAL type. I understand the 7.62×51 has a little more headspace, so .308s, with thinner brass, can rupture in 7.62×51 chambers. I have rifles in both, and bunches of both kinds of bullets, so no problem.
Yeah the Indian Standard rifle after the 2A was the L1A1 (Brit Pattern FAL)
The “Jungle Carbines” are really badass. I’ve fondled a few, one day one will likely come home with me, but I needs to have the peep sights, and I’ll simply handload up some .303 Loads rather than bother to dig up surplus.