I just became an Ishapore 2A1 owner....

[Ridolpho]

intellivore: no problem- I didn't find it snarky! As soon as you can get photos on your hardrive the uploading engine on the forum here is fantastic as long as the images are less than a meg each. Check out the sticky for instructions. If you dig into the historical threads you'll find lots of great examples of repairs in the portion of the forend where I believe your problem is. I looked at a bunch of them hard before attempting my first. If you get photos up the true experts will offer solid advice on feasability of fixing.

To answer your question, we always can find .303 hunting ammo on the shelf at the local Canadian Tire hardware store but I'm mainly into target shooting these days and the various types of FMJ have become hard to find. I typically buy online and have it shipped from quite a distance for surprisingly low cost.

Back to my current snowy day project- a No. 4T forend with a crack in the same place as yours.

Ridolpho

[intellivore]

Here's the crack, the crack was hairline at first, but when probed with a toothpick,soft splinters almost showered out and in stopped at its current size.

[intellivore]

You're lucky to find .303 British at the corner shops... I've got 20 rounds POF Ball and 5 rounds of softnose... that's it...

[Ridolpho]

Intellivore: I'm not sure a crack as you've shown renders a forend unserviceable if the draws are in good shape and pulling both sides back snugly against the "cheeks". The strap is there to prevent any further spreading. I'd be curious to hear what people think as I have a few in my safe with such a crack and I'd hate to think I'm going to have to patch each one. And Intellivore- try to get a photo of the cracked area from the top to show the condition of the "draws".

Ridolpho

[intellivore]

My concern was how it rained soft wood after being gently poked with a toothpick with a gentle prod of a slightly discolored area.

The draws are in rough hewn but good condition, a little sanding is all i think it should really need. With the general rough shape of the bedding I would like to smooth out that area and possibly freefloat the barrel in the handguards.....

Wishful thinking.....

Right now im trying to find out what the hezmana the dull bronze patina is!

After taking the trigger guard apart, i realized i need to get her a new trigger soon. the original is down to two 1 mm nubs for the stages.....