Ishapore .303

[eighteenninetytwo]

There ave been example into the 1980's apparently - never seen one myself but I know reputable Enfield collectors (and disreputable Enfield collectors) who have them. Plus of curse Pakistan was making teh NO.4 mK2 in .303 well into the 1980's also. They got the tooling from Fazackerley when that shut down production in the 1950's.

[courteousgavin]

I have a 1963 made No.1MkIII in .303 from Ishapore. It looks like they just dipped the metal into a bucket of paint. I was going to sell it over on one of the C&R forums, but then realized that it is not even a C&R firearm yet.

[eighteenninetytwo]

The No.1 Mk 3 Lee enfiedl is a C&R rifle even if made in the 1960's - the 2A1 in 7.62mm also is and they were made in teh 70's

[smle-man]

Yes the late date SMLEs and 2A's are C&R but not in California's eyes. They must be 50+ to allow FTF transactions.

[eighteenninetytwo]

Whoops.

[courteousgavin]

Yes the late date SMLEs and 2A's are C&R but not in California's eyes. They must be 50+ to allow FTF transactions.

Well I was planning on selling it to an out of state C&R holder because it is not yet 50 years old. But I checked the C&R list and couldn't find Indian made SMLE's on the list. I could only find the 2A and 2A1 in 7.62. I will check the list again.

[courteousgavin]

Yes the late date SMLEs and 2A's are C&R

Alright, I checked the list again along with all of the updates and still come to the conclusion that my 1963 SMLE from Ishapore is not C&R. This is the closest I could find:

Lee Enfield, No. 1 Mk III bolt action rifle, cal. .303, mfd. in Ishapore, India between 1946 and 1960. Original military configuration only.

So it looks like the late date SMLE rifles still have to wait until they are 50 years old before they become C&R according to the feds, unless they were made in 1960 or before. How did they even qualify for importation, since milsurps can't be imported unless they are C&R? I guess the importer assumed they were all made before 1960 and ATF didn't care enough to check.

[eighteenninetytwo]

The BATF don't really know the dates of manufacture it was only recently (in teh last 5 years ) that Ishy No.1 with dates into the 70's started turning up.