Ishapore 2A Restoration

This was a project a worked on a couple of years ago. I obtained a 1966 Ishapore 2A at a great price but it was in rough shape. The black coating usually placed on these rifles was flaking and the gun's finish was in poor shape. I already owned an all-original SHTLE that I would never restore so I figured this rifle would be a good restoration project. It had no significant history and once restored, I would have a great "SMLE" type Enfield that I would be able to shoot forever since it is chambered in 7.62x51. The gun was dismantled completely and the metal parts cleaned of the black coating. The metal parts were then taken to a local gunsmith to be bead blasted and then re-blued. The wood was stripped with Citristrip and then re-oiled with RLO. There was no sanding or scraping done. Here are the "before" photos.

The original owner didn't recognize the rifle after it was completed and almost wanted to buy it back! Lucky for him, he gets to use it whenever he wants. Here are the "after" photos.

Thanks for the inspiration. I have a couple of it siblings laying about in need of some cosmetic surgery or at least bo-tox. I have been gathering some missing bits and need to utilize some of my "social distancing" time to dive in. A little citri -strip and BLO might serve as hand sanitizer to boot.

Singer B, Great job on that one. Really came out nice--- Salt Flat