Indian SMLE Enfields from Century

[grnt]

Just went on the Century Arms website and saw that they have SMLE from India. Has anyone bought one from them? Quality, price, pics, matching? I love SMLE's but they have dried up in the last few years. Just wanted to know if this batch is worth the time.

[Silver Puss]

I haven't seen the ones currently for sale by Century, but years ago there were some grim looking Indians at the San Mateo show, some wire-wrapped. I asked the seller what the wire wrap was for; to keep the gun from blowing up? He said the rifles were intended for grenade launching and the wire wrap strengthens the wood, which I suppose it could do.

I have only one Ishapore, a .410 single-shot ordered from Springfield Sporters in 1997. Lots of repairs to wood, but generally done skillfully.

[Springfield45]

I have a Indian Enfield 2A in 7.62 NATO. Just like the last poster my stock has a lot of repairs in it. They must be rough on the wood over there. It is a good shooter. It was painted black when I got it. Finally could not stand it any more and stripped it down to the bear metal. A friend got one at the same time I did and it would not lock its magazine in.

[Crusader]

I have a Indian Enfield 2A in 7.62 NATO. Just like the last poster my stock has a lot of repairs in it. They must be rough on the wood over there. It is a good shooter. It was painted black when I got it. Finally could not stand it any more and stripped it down to the bear metal. A friend got one at the same time I did and it would not lock its magazine in.

If I'm not mistaken, the original finish on Enfields was a lot like black paint... I think you may have destroyed its original finish.

[bigthaiboy]

If I'm not mistaken, the original finish on Enfields was a lot like black paint... I think you may have destroyed its original finish.

Actually, many Ishapore 2As came with the metal work clumsily painted with a gloss black paint. You can tell this was done much later on as it looked like it was painted on by a blind leper. My guess is this was to prevent rusting before they locked them away, after the 2As were retired from service.

[zatoh]

I think this is called "stoving" which was common on may British commonwealth nation's arms. I scraped mine off from the one I got from Big 5 a while back - there wasn't much left. So now it's parked with bare spots now. I think even L1A1s had a stoving finish as well.

[Springfield45]

It was like a Gloss black paint and it was starting to chip off. I am all in favor of keeping old war rifle in as original configuration as possible. But in this one small case the damned stuff had to come off. I don't regret it and it looks more original now anyhow.

[grnt]

I looked again on the Century website and aside from the 2A1, they have the 303 version. Anyone got pics of these or a price they are selling them for?

[macadamizer]

Century is selling the Indian rifles from $149 - $189 depending on condition, etc.

I recently bought one of the British No. 1 Mk. III wire-wrapped rifles, it looked pretty beat when I opened the box, it's got a chip out of the stock (it was advertised as having a cracked stock, so no surprise). I spent some time cleaning it up, ran some cleaner and patches through the bore, took apart the bolt and cleaned it and lubed it, and you know what? It actually appears to be a pretty nice rifle, shiny bore, strong rifling, action works smoothly, smooth trigger, magazine functions as it is supposed to. I think I paid $149 or $169 plus shipping (which wasn't much, I bought a bunch of other stuff too). I haven't had a chance to get to the range with it yet, but soon.

I've bought a bunch of rifles from Century over the years -- I hate the cheese-grater import marks they put on them, and every one I have received has been dirty and looked like crap when I opened the box (my Romy SKS the exception -- looked good right out of the box), but every one cleaned up nice, and they all shoot well.