Gun Show Find Ishapore 2A1 Have Questions???

Picked up a 1967 Ishapore 2A1 at a very small local show yesterday. All numbers match including the magazine. Excellent crown and muzzle, very clean barrel and chamber. Just the right amount of small dents and dings plus a rack number on the butt, it has character. Also no shortage of stampings on the metal and wood in a very British fashion. I'm in the process of cleaning out the cosmolene now.

My questions are: should the fore stock not be removed as I have read on several other boards? It doesn't seem much more difficult than a regular No1 other than 2 more screws.
Next I have read that the black paint on it was there for storage purposes only. I can see the parts I have removed are green parked underneath, should the paint be removed?
Lastly the stock is extremely dark almost like dark chocolate inside and out. Is this normal or is there some preservative on the wood that should be removed?

I'm hoping to get it back together and get it to the range this week so I can take it all apart to clean it again! I'll get some pics up of it when it's back together. Thanks for any input. - Bill

I think I can only weigh in on the stock, the rest I'll leave to more advanced Enfield people: I've never heard of anything other than linseed oil being used to treat Enfield stocks, except sometimes grease on the inside of rifles for the purpose of storage (For the purpose of the metal components but I suppose some always gets on the stocks). I have seen plenty of rifles with very very very dark wood furniture, I can only assume it is from the grease, grime, sweat, and who knows what else that these rifles have been covered in in the last half century or more. I did clean up one old stock that was somewhat chocolatey like you describe with water, rags, and a toothbrush and after oiling it came back a very nice red. Also have two rifles that were a dusty black with some kind of dried up substance on them. No choice but to sand them back just the tiniest bit to get the solid gunky stuff off. In your case if you can still the wood with no kind of finish I'd say its what it is supposed look like. Enjoy your new rifle.

All the Ishapore 2A1's ive ever seen, have all had very very dark wood - darker than all other Enfields i either own or have handled/seen.

Oldfoneguy: My own 2A1 has an unusual light brown, waxy appearing wood of unknown variety in the forend. It is much beefier than the typical earlier Indian or British No. 1 forend. Mine has a very crappy black paint on the metal and there does appear to be some sort of of parkerizing beneath. I don't think it was meant to be temporary- it's just much less resilient than the black (suncorite) paint used on British rebuilds. As to the forend removal- I've certainly had mine off with no problems. I don't recall there being "two more screws" but mine is currently at the back of a safe and i can't grab it to have a look. Look forward to your range report.

Ridolpho

Thanks ridolpho. I've never had a No1 before and saw the 2 bottom screws in the fore end. Yes 1 had to be removed but the other is for the sight protector! Baby steps but I'll learn. The wood and barreled action are currently in pieces in black plastic bags wrapped in paper towels baking in the sun on this lovely 92 degree day. Hopefully this will sweat out the pound or so of cosmolene the resides inside it. The closest thing I have is a No4 and they are a much simpler design to break down. I'm hoping to have it back together by the end of the week. I didn't realize cleaning it up would be such a daunting task! On a milsurp I usually soak all the small white or blued metal parts in laquor thinner which cleans them up quickly. With this one I'm using kerosene which is much slower and still leaves some residue from the grease which has to be rubbed off with a rag. But I'll get it done, then the fun begins. - Bill