The day will come when it will be considered unconscionable to hack up or destroy an original 1984 Plymouth Reliant.

Until that day comes though, it's just one more beater among a lot of beaters. Anything someone wants to do to make it more useful or interesting is fine.

I'm afraid that Indian Enfields are still in that same category. There are a lot of them out there, they're not all that special. That won't change until they're no longer common as dirt.

It seems tragic, but in order for anything to become a classic worth preserving most of the existing examples have to be sacrificed to other fates.

I need to find more magazines. Will the mk III magazines made for .303 work for 7.62?

I don't believe so; the .303 magazines have a different profile than the 7.62 NATO ones. The 7.62 mags are more "squared off"; 303 Brit is a rimmed round so that magazine has more curve to it. I have never loaded an Ishy with stripper clips, so this is second hand information, but standard NATO strippers should work.

I'm not seeing any clips for sale that do not include the loader (for FAL or M14), like this one:

https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=402&idcategory=75

Rob

If you don't like the chances of someone else doing what they like w their property you should have outbid him. 

Otherwise what's the point of having a functional gun w no direct personal history because its form follows an archaic function? 

At best, it was probably carried around by an Indian police officer.

...who would probably like your version better.  It's shorter and lighter. 

Yeah! So there! What he said and Harm too!

I think if I could find an original jungle carbine, I wouldn't do a thing to touch. Or any Enfield that fought in WW1,WW2 or Korea.

But, this rifle never participated in war unless it was a border skirmish with Pakistan and even the odds of that are slim. It was made in 1965 three years after the war with China. At best, it was probably carried around by an Indian police officer.

Exactly what history would be preserved from saving this rifle from being placed in a Ram Line after market stock and maybe cutting and crown the barrel to a shorter length?

This isn't it but it's what i envision:

And I would not throw an original jungle carbine under the seat in my truck.

I like this idea, damn I need to get to a town, so I can get me one of these.  I really like the idea of a truck gun being a bolt gun as they seem to not suffer so much from dust and muck and what not that seams to bred faster than mice in my truck.

I need to find more magazines.

If you find a source, please pass it along. My son and I both have an Ishy and would love a couple of extra mags.

Good pickup Bud.  You might check Old Western Scrounger or Numrichs for magazines.  Remember a spare mag is a spare part & a good thing.  But you aren't going to load a mag and swap it.  I'm sure you know that. 

That

Okay long time update needed.

I have another house in SW Missouri (McDonald County) and my son Jim lives about ten miles away in Bella Vista, AR. On September 28, Mary and i were packing up to head back to Missouri for a couple of months (where I would upgrade the Ishy). My DIL called about 1:15pm and said she had received a call from someone stating that Jim had been in a motorcycle accident, was alive but was being airlifted to the Regional Trauma Center in Fayesttesville, AR. We finished packing, jumped in the Wrangler with the JRTs and the (stupid) African Gray) and headed out. That's a 600 mile ride. Kristin (DIL) kept calling with updates and by 5pm we had learned that he was in surgery to repair a mid shaft femur fracture. He had lost control of his bike on a curve, hit a roadside and ended up doewn in a ditch. he was too far in for any passerbys to see him and he laid there for 23 minutes (his goPro was still running) until someone noticed the sign was down and stopped to look.
The surgery went well but he also broke both shoulders with surgery needed to repair the right one.

he was in the hospital for four days and then went home. He should have gone to a skilled nursing home but he he didn't want to so his Mom and I spent every day at his place taking care of him and Kristin was home at night. (She works for Walmart Corporate and Jim is a high security IT tech for Walmart Global)

He was able to walk right away because of the titanium rod which ran from his knee to his hip. The bone was actually shattered in pieces. Because of his broken shoulders he wasn't able to feed himself or take care of those personal hygiene matters that occur every day so that was up to me.

About two weeks later, he developed an abscess over the top of the fracture. He went in for emergency surgery again and they removed over a gallon of fluid from his leg. Because the epidermis layers had separated from the tissue and muscle surrounding the femur, they had to insert surgical sponges between the skin and the tissue and attach a vacuum pump to wound site to keep draining up the fluid buildup. Every other day, a nurse comes to the house and removes all the sponges and reattaches the vacuum. It is portable so he can walk around with it.

I can insert photos but they are pretty bad so I didn't want to offend any one..
A week ago Monday, he was able to make it back to work. He is in cubicle so he is able to sit all day. The first week was pretty bad but now he has started using the stairs (he's on a third floor) instead of an elevator and he has started walking two miles after getting home every night. The would is still huge but the leg is slowly reducing in size as the tissue re-adheres to the epidermis. Mary and I returned to Illinois last week because we have appointments up here.

Once again, my wife and I have been blessed by God because this could have been so much worse.

Anyways, back on topic. I took the Ishy apart yesterday being careful not to damage any of the wood. The entire rifle was really covered in cosmoline. It took me about two hours just to get it off using mineral oil and a tooth brush. It had got into everything. Once it was off, I started stripping the paint which is proably going to take me a couple of days because it is really slathered (I hate that word but it fits) on. I am using a chem stripping gel and steel wool and hopefully tomorrow I will get to the point where I can start using a toothbrush and cotton swabs.

I have a Ramline stock from Champion Industries. Once I get all the paint off, i will see how the finish looks and probably mount it in the Ramline. I am reluctant to have it re-finished.
Taking the paint off the magazine, i found that is has a matching serial number to the rifle which is further confirmation that the Indians only used one mag with each rifle. I have almost 100 7.62mm ten round clips and CMP has surplus 7.62mm available so I may be actually use it when we return to MIssouri after the holidays.

Man, sorry to hear about the accident.  That sounds rough.   

everything's good he's bouncing back and has promised me that his motorcyling days are over.

He wants to get an Ultralite now

Glad to hear your son is healing.

everything's good he's bouncing back and has promised me that his motorcyling days are over.

He wants to get an Ultralite now

At least it isn't hang gliding.