Ishapore Enfield
 

Dear 18Bs (and others),

I went into a local pawn today and amongst all the typical hocked mess of rifles and shotguns, they had an Enfield MKIII on the wall. Under closer inspection and some google-fu, I have learned it is in Ishapore made in India. These seem to be good rifles with some people saying the steel is nicer than that of the original Brit built ones.

My main question is about the chambering. The store has it marked .303, but looking online seems to show that these were all .308? Were there Ishapores made in both calibers or is the store simply uninformed?

Any ideas from anyone on value? They have it marked $300 but their first offer was $250. I figure I might shoot for $200. Sound fair?

Ishapore are in both calibers, early ones are .303.

Thanks Hollis. This one is marked 1940.

Most likely a .303 with that date unless it was re-chambered postwar. $200-250 is an okay price if it's in decent condition. I'd buy it.
But I have a thing for Enfields. :D

Yeah, I don't think Ishapore manufactured them in .308 until the 50's or 60's. I tried to buy a .308 with a C&R license but it wasn't 50 years old, yet...

Thanks Mark. I still have yet to go buy the rifle. They said it has sat for a couple months already. I figured I would risk a couple weeks and see if I can get more bargaining power...

Maybe when I get back from AAS next week I'll go throw down some of my gov't pay check. Its nice picking up the active pay every now and then. :D