Personally, I wouldn't fire a modern high pressure round like the 7.62 NATO in a rechambered WWI vintage Smellie if you gave me a truckload of them, and believe it or not there are some of those out there. I value my eyes and fingers too much for that. I had an old model '95 Mauser blow a primer on me a few years ago at the range with new commercial 6.5x55 ammo, and the cocking piece blew back and whacked my right thumb like a jackhammer. It almost broke the bone, and my entire thumb turned black and was swollen to the diameter of a lemon for a week or so afterward. After that somewhat less than pleasurable experience I'm now very careful about what I load into any old gun that has had a rough life in the military.
That's them. They've got the Ishapore Arsenal markings on them, all the serial numbers match, and the ones I got weren't dinged up all that badly.
I had my gunsmith take a look at them, check the headspacing and such, and he said they were fine. He said he'd be suprised if any of them had 100 rounds put through them and was pretty sure at least one of them had probably never been fired.
He bought one for himself to play with after he saw mine.
Never heard about those reworks, but it doesn't suprise me. That Enfield action has been reworked for literally dozens of chamberings. It's probably one of the slickest bolts I've ever fired.
After that somewhat less than pleasurable experience I'm now very careful about what I load into any old gun that has had a rough life in the military.
That's a very wise policy. While the Ishapore will most likely eat just about every commercial offering without complaint, I stick to the 168 gr Sierra bullet and move it at fairly sedate velocities; no more than about 2,600 fps or so. That keeps the pressure well within SAAMI tolerances.
Even were something untoward to happen, the SMLE has that little gas pressure relief thingy which should keep the damned thing from blowing up in my face.
But I figure why take the chance...
L