Finally! An SMLE (Ishapore)

[cipherk98]

Well, I finally talked myself into grabbing a "Smelly". Wanted a Ross but this will do in the meantime, and I think these specific guns with the grenade launching reinforcements are pretty cool.


No I wouldn't suggest replicating that pose but I will say it was in there long enough to take the picture

It's a 1963 Ishapore No1 MkIII*, very clean bore, and all matching (mag has been renumbered) from what I could tell. Stock looks like it could have been treated better but gun is about as clean as the Suncorite will let it get so it probably wasn't actually shot much, or got rebarreled/refurbed at some point. Import mark is small and unobtrusive, in front of the safety. Got both the gun and sealed case of ammo as a package deal.

Almost hate to open the ammo, I was having issues with search terms that would get results but didn't see much for sale packaged like this. If I understand it correctly it is 1961 South African production .303 on bandoleers, 350 to the can, and pretty good stuff?

Information

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[P246]

Nice wire wrap. I have a 1944 ishy wire wrap. It's in the same condition as yours. My cup is an Ishy also.

[Maxwell Smart]

The Afrikaans word "Koeel" on the ammunition box suggest it is South African made

[browningautorifle]

1961 South African production

As long as it was stored OK, it'll be fine. Yes, nice ammo.

[MSW2]

I have some 1957 South African ammo still going bang every time. If its was stored properly like yours appears to have been it should be fine.
Nice rifle.

[cipherk98]

I did take the time to shoot it Monday. I checked the gun with a borrowed borescope given it is not viable to tear it down to check before shooting, and the fact it was rust free is the only reason I shot it as ordinarily I do prefer a look under the handguards/wood line. Finally was able to make out the import mark - Springfield Sporters brought it in, must have been quite some time ago. Bore was a bit greasy but cleaned up without too much effort. I didn't want to open the ammo until I knew this gun shot okay. I scrounged up some S&B 150gr SPs to test it with, not my choice but all I could find locally on short notice.

It did shoot about 1.5-2" low which is about to be expected given that ammo is loaded on the conservative side. It was shooting about 4.5" to the right, so the front sight will need drifted. Only real complaint is the mag seemed to come loose and drop low after every shot, preventing feeding. I may not have been getting it locked in well enough, but I was getting a solid click when I slapped it in. Any thoughts on that? Groups I got were acceptable, 4" or so given I had to fiddle with the mag after every shot and use a lot of hold over. I suspect 174grs or a handload will do better, I like the Sierra Pro Hunter 180gr SP flat base for .311ish bolt guns. Bolt runs real nice when the mag stays in place, pretty easy shooting with the fairly mild S&B load.

[browningautorifle]

the mag seemed to come loose and drop low after every shot

Is it possible the mag isn't the right one? If it's truly locking in it should be good. Unless someone just swapped another...not fitted quite right...

[Daan Kemp]

The ammo box doesn't look South African, I have shot many thousands of military 303 in the last 40 years [machine guns and rifles] and this is the first time I've seen it packed that way. Always been packed in cardboard 50 round boxes with greasepaper, sealed on one tin of about 1200 rounds, inside a similar wooden box with no strapping. Going back to 1945 ammo.

Might have been specially packed for export.

[cipherk98]

The mag is renumbered, with the old number struck, so poor fitting is possible. I did verify it was a No1. MkIII* mag. I plan to take the rifle back out sometime this week and try again after drifting the front sight... it kind of went on the back burner to make sure another gun was good for a shoot this weekend, with a little help from a freak snow storm.

[Peter Laidler]

I like seeing these old girls in collections and personally feel that the EY's and DP's, especially the formalised No4 L59's to be an important part of the old Lee Enfield lineage. When one of our very old Base workshops closed several years ago I found a large roll of the wire used to bind these rifles and also in the box was a specially modified bolt that looked as though it was used to rotate the rifle in the specially reduced speed lathe - that was also there! I think I mentioned it before, as was a bayonet 'bend box' and two Enfield rests (one in parts)