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I have an enfield made in 1965 in India. It is chambered in 308. It is one of the ishapore 2A1 rifles. It has a red stripe painted around it right at the mag. Does the stripe mean "do not fire 303 ammo" or does it mean "not safe to fire at all". Any help would be appreciated.
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"In God We Trust" -
In commonwealth service (at least India, Australia,Britain) drill rifles found to be not safe to shoot were marked with a red stripe, emergency use yellow, serviceable green. I don’t remeber if Canada or New Zealand used this system, maybe Sunray can comment on that. The red stripe on 30-06 lend lease rifles during WW2 was a different animal.
I’d have the rifle checked by a gunsmith competent on the LE system before shooting. -
that is my understanding as well,
I cannot remember where they were marked tho,
re the different caliber, that was marked on the end of the stock, near the barrel, ,
BTW, go here
and put your data in, if you wouldComment
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Thank you both for the info.
Lyman, I will enter my rifles info to the web site you listed as soon as i can."In God We Trust"Comment
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It's about a 2A1 being a 7.62 and not .303 Brit. Easiest 'tell' is the square mag though.
No paint on CF rifles. Painting 'em with lines was primarily a W.W. II Brit thing with all the assorted Lend/Lease kit laying around. India did it's own thing. Never seen any Aussie kit with paint indicating a rifle was safe to use either.
Drill Purpose stuff was stamped 'DP' by the Brits. We just left the breech block out of our weapons. No. 4 rifles were just not loaded for parades.Spelling and grammar count!Comment
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Canadian Forces. The best trained civil servants on the planet. 8 to 4 Monday to Friday with a half day off per week for 'sports'. Sports being undefined.
It most likely is safe to shoot with any 7.62NATO or .308 Win ammo. Wouldn't hurt to check the head space just on principle, but 2A's aren't known to have the same issues as No. 1 Rifles. Not many have been assembled out of parts bins with no QC like No. 1's and 4's have been. They're not converted No. 1's either. Purpose built using good steel.Spelling and grammar count!Comment
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The stoplight system was only used by Australian cadets to the best of my knowledge.
Green = Proceed. Good for ball ammo
Yellow = Caution . Good for occasional use of ball ammo.
Red = Stop. Unapproved for firing live ammo.
The India DP marking is typically red bordered with white.
Canadian and British are often marked white. Red has been noted.
At one time rifles not chambered in 303 were marked with red to denote the caliber difference. I feel the 2A1 came a little late to the game for that, but I'm not certain.
Red is a warning indicator nonetheless. I would solicit opinions if it were mine. Unless there is DP stamped on it somewhere. Then it's a display only item.2016 Chicago Cubs. MLB Champions!
**Never quite as old as the other old farts**Comment
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Several years ago I saw a US Model 1917 rifle at a local gun show. It was marked in two places with the Canadian "broad arrow" property mark, and had a 1 1/2 inch red stripe painted around the forestock and handguard. The red stripe was to signify that it was 30-06 caliber and not .303.
The gun was issued to members of the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers during WW2. The vast majority of PCMR guys were issued Winchester Model 94s in 30WCF (30-30) caliber, but several hundred Model 1917s were bought by the Canadians for issue to the PCMR after they ran out of Winchesters.Tickets, Please!Comment
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The M1 and 1903 rifles Lend Leased to England were painted with a red strip to indicate non-British caliber.Comment
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As indicated red stripe was applied near the muzzle(about 4 inches or so back from the muzzle to denote a different caliber than in use in service. In the case of Commonwealth forces it was shown to denote 30/06 instead of .303.Comment
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Distinctive Marking of Non-Service Pattern Small Arms
British military procedure stipulated that non-standard arms of all types be marked in a readily visible, distinctive manner. The regulations that applied to the Garands were:
“Class I. Arms which do NOT fire .303-inch ... British Service ammunition will be marked with a 2-inch band of RED paint. On this band will be stencilled in BLACK the calibre of the weapon.” [capitals in the original]
“(I) Rifles, Class I 2-inch band round fore-end and front handguard between upper sling swivel and nosecap.”
The British Purchasing Commission purchased just about every handgun Colt had in stock, and the Colt Super .38 purchased by the British has also been noted with the red band on the end of the slide.Comment
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I clamed I had a rifle that was painted red around the stock, trigger guard, receiver and bolt. I also claimed the rifle had a white strip painted over the red stripe; it was about that time the ship mush have hit the sand because most reloaders jumped on their opportunity to be rude. One of the more polite people rude reloaders claimed the rifle did not exist. He did not say he never seen 'one'; something like if he has not seen one it does not exist.I don’t remeber if Canada or New Zealand used this system, maybe Sunray can comment on that. The red stripe on 30-06 lend lease rifles during WW2 was a different animal.
I’d have the rifle checked by a gunsmith competent on the LE system before shooting.
I posted a picture of 3 of them. by that time they were well on their way of becoming bench rest type rifles. The rifles were painted red around the receiver to indicate 303 British, and then? there were painted white around the receiver to indicate DP.
No one asked about the 30/06 chambered rifles. The 30/06 chambered rifles were painted red around the stock behind the front sight.
And then there was the volley sight. The rifle with the volley sight was chambered to 303 British. The 30/06 chambered rifles did not have volley sights.
F. GuffeyComment
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