OH Did I Outdo Myself With This One

Greetings and Salutations!
Oh maaaaan
I done did good!!!
The RFI Ishapore 2A1 is finally completed and test fired.

I was having issues as I -think- I previously mentioned with the bolt seating/recocking and had ordered a bunch of NOS pieces/parts and fiddly bits to resolve it.

Late last night, me being the impatient bugger that I am, I went a tore the bolt down again, and closely re-examined said parts. I realized I had missed a huge amount of impacted carbon? cosmo? or whatever in the notches on the cocking piece, which were preventing smooth operation.

So I broke out the donated “Coelacanth Dental Tools” (much appreciated good sir!) and started chiseling out the crap. I also for good measure hit the running rail with a brass brush to remove any possible fouling.

And man… around 1 a.m. I put it back together and realized I had me a functional piece. I had spoken to Cowboy earlier that day, and somewhat being a wee bit presumptuous that I’d figure it out, had asked him if I could come out to do a test fire. I do belong to a rifle club here now, however…

I personally think it’d be in poor taste to test a new rifle and have it ‘grenade’ while on line with all the other shooters there. Because of the need to avoid a social faux pas like that, I abuse Cowboy’s generosity at his place, and also… well he gets to be the second person to test fire the new toys if I’m successful in my endeavors, so at least I’m bribing him decently.

So off this a.m. to the ranch.
We set up the usual table/stand/sandbag and string test:

The chosen test rounds were ones donated a waaaays back by one of you deplorables… forgive me for forgetting which one of you who did, but it was a battlepack of 1981 manufactured South African R1M1 140 grain ball that showed up in the mail a few years back.

Since it didn’t blow up, we felt comfortable doing a cheek-weld shoot:

I used the one I took of Cowboy as I’m fat and unphotogenic AF.

Needless to say it works
Magnificently in my opinion. We did two ‘string test shots’ to make sure it wasn’t going to blow da fuq up, and then we both took one shot each. Felt recoil, as compared to the .303 Brit, was unremarkable. In fact almost gentle. Crisp, clean… I mean OMG it’s a nice weapon. I’d have no problem using it as an “End Of The World” rifle if I had to.

The main reason we stopped so soon was it was getting hot-hot out… like 90+ hot. Unpleasantly so…

The ten round mag takes ten rounds as described:

…with the only issue being is that mag needs to be seated perfectly in order to feed. It’s got very tight tolerances, and does NOT want to ‘grab’ the round unless it (the mag) is hard in the well. I found giving a hard hit on it once it’s loaded does just fine.

The shell casings had zero deformation on extraction:

and the firing pin made a good hard hit on the primer(s):

Slightly off center, but hey, at least they’re uniform.
I’ll take it as long as it goes ka-boom when I pull the trigger.

So yep. I’m pleased as punch.
Considering how it started:

To where it ended:

Yeah man…
I’m really happy on how it turned out
I might even go and ‘print’ it for accuracy at my formal range early tomorrow, as the rifling on this thing is sick (i.e. perfect). Then?

THIS one is raffle fodder IF y’all are interested.

Mainly as it’s a 7.62x51mm
Which means it’s not going to require the now-oddball .303 Brit. Less costly per round and means you don’t have to drop bank on the dies and such like I had to for mine.

And there’s also another MK3 on deck…
That’s the barrel above in the pictures.
I’m waiting on a receiver to match it up, and then again, off to the restoration races I guess.

This hobby is more addictive than drugs man…
So your thoughts?
More Later
Big Country

28 thoughts on “OH Did I Outdo Myself With This One”

  1. Damn fine looking finished product! Sure you don’t want to keep it an auction the wall hangers?

    1. NOOO!! Don’t listen to him!! Get rid of that Funky Frankefield!! Take my money and buy MOAR projects! Yeah…that’s the ticket!

  2. VERY nice rifle! I’m not a big fan of the Enfield tribe (not that there’s anything wrong with ’em!), but your Frankenfield 308 really grabs me for some mysterious but disturbing reason. If you do a raffle, I’m in. However. I’d bet you could get more for it, by out right sale, or maybe auction.
    Glad things are relatively mellow for a bit. Alone time is way underrated, enjoy it.

  3. What a nice rehabilitation of a fine weapon. Congratulations on a great job – I’m intrigued to see how she performs. Glad those instruments are working out well for you.

  4. Very nice. If/when you raffle it at least have a reserve price considering the cost and effort that went into it.

  5. Damn fine looking rifle. No damage to the brass? Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the .303 brits tended to chew up brass?

    1. the .303 brit brass? nominally -yes- it’s the ‘slop’ in the chamber which causes issues (brass tends to fire-form-fit the chamber from which it was fired)
      In this case (pardon the pun) the .308/7.62 RFI (Rifle Factory Ishapore) 2A and 2A1s are a bit more ‘flexible’
      BTW: Fun Fact: The difference between a 2A and a 2A1 is the 2A has the original SMLE rear sight gauged for 2000m whereas the 2A1 (like this) is only marked for 800m

  6. Great job!
    You inspired me to restore the 1862 Springfield (marked 1862 – model 1861) that’s been in our family for over 130 years… I’d like to shoot it with an extremely light load – just to make a little crack and smoke. I’ll use the rig you sent pics of. Here’s a pic of it between my two Enfields – thanks for showing us your work!!
    https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uzmllwn8pduy8y74yq1yf/KIMG2584-2.jpg?rlkey=aa1hddu1a55d317fvx9t6aovj&st=wtydlilh&dl=0

  7. A beautiful – and functional – finished product, excellently done there BC. I think you found your “thing”, in doing these restorations. It’s obvious from your posting that you glean great enjoyment from it.

  8. VERY nicely done sir! If you decide to do restorations for other folks, LMK the price point you’d be wanting…

  9. Fantastic job on the rifle. As I kept looking at it I wondered if you showed it to British people how many of them would even know what it is besides GUN?
    If I had a sling I would donate but I have no sling to slung.

  11. Good Job, Sir! So, the A1 version has the better metallurgy for full power 7.62 NATO?

    Interesting the rear sight is for 800 meters max compared to the 303 rear sight once used in WW1 for massed volley fire likened to light machine gun fire by the Germans.

    1. Ooooh! MAD BONUS! Appreciate that! That’s $50 less than what I paid for to do the 2A1
      And since I have ANOTHER SMLE on deck (Ishapore Receiver and Aussie Lithgow Barrel), I’ll need another donor

  15. Yep. Take my money. I have a 1911, Remington’s version called R1. Took it to the range yesterday and it would not go bang. Slide is slow to come back and it is not going into battery.

    Going to try taking it down and cleaning it but might have a magazine issue as it is not going into battery with a loaded mag.

    Oh well. I’m in on the lottery for this one. I really need another 308.

  18. Hey man, congratulations!
    I am very impressed with the work you’ve been turning in and that one above takes the cake. You should be proud of works of art like that.

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