1916 No.1 MkIII* Ishapore with matching Bayo… sorta

[Shaun C Killeen]

Well, I am very excited to add this gem to my Historical Arsenal Collection. 

1916 No.1 Mk III* Ishapore

Getting any kind of information from the Indian government as far as the service life of this rifle is probably next to impossible. From what I can gather estimates put Great War production somewhere at around 60,000 units give or take. 

This example exhibits all of the pre-1916 LoC except for the magazine cut-off, not milled into the receiver. She is in her original stock with the volley sites still  somewhat present ,rear aperture site is filed off as necessary if the component is not available, Forward volley site removed, base still present.  She is mostly matching except for the magazine. These rifles were often reworked thoroughly so finding one in this condition is a delight.

This rifle somehow made its way from India to England before the early 30s as is evident by Enfield viewers marks. There is also a British proofing house mark, but I would love some help identifying it as I am not fluent in the different proofing house marks.  Then this rifle came to United States without an import stamp, of which I can find none.

A few days after acquiring this piece I happen to find a very rough p1907 but it was matching my date and a full length P 1907 Ishapore is not common at all. They were often cut down, but this one is missing the cross guard and muzzle ring, which is going to be the most difficult part of any restoration I may attempt. 


Gosh, I’d love to know where this ole girl has been and what she may have seen. I can’t wait to take her to the range and let her sing.
There are no safe queens 😉

Thanks for looking and reading this far and as always, be well and stay safe.
Cheers!

Si vis pacem, para bellum

 

[JMB1943]

Sounds like you have an interesting piece there.

If I were you, I would re-post this with some photos, full length of each side and close-ups to show ALL markings (receiver/bolt/nose-cap/back side of rear sight/etc.

The experts then will be able to give you some information.

Regards,

JMB

[Shaun C Killeen]

Not sure why the photos I originally posted are gone, but here are some new ones

[DisasterDog]

Shame about the bayonet!

 

Any of the early Indian stuff is uncommon, I have only seen one WW1-dated Ishapore for sale locally.  It was many years ago at my local gun store, an extremely crusty 1916, and they were asking a lot given the condition, so I passed.  In hindsight, I should have ponied up.

[4thGordons]

19 hours ago, DisasterDog said:

Shame about the bayonet!

 

Any of the early Indian stuff is uncommon, I have only seen one WW1-dated Ishapore for sale locally.  It was many years ago at my local gun store, an extremely crusty 1916, and they were asking a lot given the condition, so I passed.  In hindsight, I should have ponied up.

Yes particularly in original (or at least early) wood and without obvious mods etc - this is a nice example.

I have a couple of early Ishapores: an early rifle MkI** IP where the date is illegible, a 1915 rifle converted to a single loader and an India Pattern CLLE (which retains the original style sights)

 

 

I have a number dating from the 20s and 30s which are nice examples, and a couple of .410 conversions on relatively early bodies.  

The OP's example is very nice indeed, the bayonet....not so much! but as we have often discussed the numbers of surviving full-length Ishapore bayonets appears to be pretty small.

Chris

 

 

[Shaun C Killeen]

Here are a few more photos that I was able to upload
The bayonet in really rough shape and I’m hoping to do a compassionate restoration to get it back into at least somewhat functional order

[navydoc16]

The bayonet should not be too unreasonable to fix, I have replacement crossguards for the 07 should you need them- they are repro done by laser cutting a 3D scan

kind regards

g