Bored the other day, I was browsing through my collection of military surplus firearm bookmarks and saw that AIM Surplus was offering up a batch of Ishapore Short Magazine Lee-Enfield 2A rifles, which I knew haven’t been on the market as ‘new’ imports since before I started collecting. Now, I have a No.4 Mark I Enfield, which I love to shoot, but I’m pretty well limited to commercial ammo because .303 British surplus ammo is mostly dried up. That means I don’t shoot it often. I try to keep my ammo purchases in the 20 cents per round or less range. .303 British usually costs me around 35-40 cents per round. Seeing the Ishy got me thinking because it is chambered in the widely available 7.62 NATO. An Enfield that I can shoot without worrying too much about the cost of ammo turned out to be an itch I couldn’t resist scratching.
The rifle was a very reasonable buy, and I also ordered a single 140 round battle pack of South African 147 grain FMJ from AIM as well.
The story of India’s 2A Enfield begins in the early 1960s when they were involved in border wars against China and Pakistan. The standard British designed No.1 Mark III SMLE Lee-Enfield, which India had been using and manufacturing since the early part of the 20th century, proved to be no match against the SKS and the PPSh (a submachine gun developed by the soviets during WWII which fired 7.62×25 Tokarev) so they adopted the 1A SLR (Self Loading Rifle), a licensed version of the FN FAL.
So India would provide their frontline troops with 1A SLRs, but they could not arm the large Indian Territorial Army (their reserve army) with them, so they would continue to use Enfields. Armorers anticipated the logistical and manufacturing problems supplying the troops with two different cartridges, the 7.62 NATO and the .303 British, so the idea was explored to upgrade the Enfield to use the new round. Due to higher chamber pressures, this was found to be impossible. The decision was then made to manufacture new rifles based on the proven Enfield design, but use high grade EN steel and advanced heat treatment processes for the receiver to withstand the higher pressures of the new round. The new Enfield would also have a new barrel, modified buttstock design with a higher comb, and a 12 round magazine. The cost of rearming with the new rifle would be significantly reduced, because it could be manufactured using the existing production equipment at Rifle Factory Ishapore that had been used to produce the No.1 Mark III. The new Enfield was never intended as a first line infantry weapon, but rather to be issued to police, paramilitary, and line of communication personnel. The 2A entered service in 1964 and was the last Enfield designed manufactured and issued to any nation’s general military.
It is important to note that the 2A is not a 7.62 NATO conversion, rather it was originally designed and manufactured to fire 7.62 NATO.
Here’s a bad photo of the 2A. I will get a picture of mine up soon.
Some great information on the Ishy can be found here.
I’ll let you know how it shoots once I can get my butt out to the range.