FR Gun Club - House guns

8/25/08

[AFreeBird]

And here I thought my $1800 Browning Ultra XS O/U was expensive.

The most expensive firearm I think I ever held was an original Henry. Looked like crap when the owner handed it to me, and told me NOT to drop it. (I had already handled a pristine looking one and no such warning was given.) I sorta gave him a funny look; he stated that it was used at the battle of the Little Big Horn - by the winning side! Which explained why it looked like crap. I mean the crap part was all the decorations on it, most of which appeared to be upholstery tacks.

[Lurker]

who favoured the British L42A1, essentially a WWII #4 Lee-Enfield rebarrelled to 7,62 and topped with a 4x scope.

I did something very similar to an Ishapore Enfield I bought a few years back. Put a synthetic 'sporter' stock on it, had a gunsmith drill and tap it, smooth up the trigger a bit, and then topped it with a decent 4 power glass.

While I haven't had the chance to work it out at 1K meters, at 400 yards I've had no trouble ringing an old 10 inch cast iron skillet like a church bell.

I wish I'd bought half a dozen of those Ishies...

L

[Lurker]

and it looks like you've got enough glass on top to be able to see what you're doing out that far.

The glass is an original Springfield Armory rangefinding scope. I know they had a rep for 'poor quality', but I haven't had any issues with mine.

Maybe I got lucky.

L

[archy]

I did something very similar to an Ishapore Enfield I bought a few years back. Put a synthetic 'sporter' stock on it, had a gunsmith drill and tap it, smooth up the trigger a bit, and then topped it with a decent 4 power glass.

The Brits beworked their #4s a bit differently than the Indians did, using a stamped sheet-metal ejector spotwelded to the magazine body rather than the original Enfield screw-in ejector. The rimless 7,62 Nato cartridge was not what the Enfield was designed for....

I wish I'd bought half a dozen of those Ishies...

There are still some around to be had, though not at the remarkably low prices for which they once could be obtained. And now I can pick up Youg M48 Mausers for what an Ishapore 2A runs.

I've always preferred the #4, mostly for personal reasons, though the headspace adjustment via different sized bolt heads is a nice touch, and the #4 is a bit easier to fit with a scope mount.