1966 Ishapore 2A1. To scope or not to scope tis the question!

[shaunpain]

Hello, all! Hope we're having a wonderful day. It's 68 degrees in Chicago and I'm lovin' it. Here's my query!

I have an old 1966 Ishapore 2A1 and for those of you out there that know what it is, I won't have to explain much. Everything is in pretty good shape, the bore is decent with some minor pitting that I can definitely see closer to the crown with the crown itself appearing to be good-to-go. My question is: is it worth it to scope this rifle?

I have found the mounts (on Numrich or some such site... $80 and they can't be had any lower) and I have the 6-24x scope with a 50mm objective. Big I know, but I really want to use this as a brush gun to take out a deer or varmints at some point in the future. I have not shot the rifle yet and plan on doing so with irons first so I can't comment on accuracy, but I do not have plans to bed or otherwise accurize this $250 rifle. I see a Savage 10 or Remy 700 in my future, but I cannot index anything with these crappy sights and my eyes are terrible (even with corrective lenses) and I want to use this gun for serious target shooting/hunting and have no plans on converting any of my other rifles which are all surplus and kept stock. I also don't have any real intention of permanently altering the rifle.

Perfect... something such as this is what I'm looking at for mounts. http://www.gunaccessories.com/militaryscopemounts/enfield/index.asp

My worry is that the recoil will destroy my zero and maybe even the scope itself. Anyone have experience with ANY Ishapore mounts?!?

 

[smoakingun]

I scoped one once, but I learned to shoot the rifle just as well with the irons. None of the "non-smithing" mounts are very effective, and all seem to require some smithing. The rifle is capable of around 3moa, with a little practice you can shoot it that well with irons

 

[wnycollector]

I think it's worth scoping your Enfield. My 1966 Ishy sported an S&K scope mount and a 1960's vintage Redfield 4X scope. I also installed a wooden cheek riser since even with low rings it was a chin weld at best in it's stock configuration. In a fit of stupidity, I sold my Ishy to finance another soulless black rifle. I kick myself to this day!

 

[madcratebuilder]

I recommend you do some reading at surplusrifle.com in the Lee Enfield section. You well find all the problems of scoping the No1 RFI's. You well probably want to use a S&K no drill mount. Another option is a scope base that attaches to the rear sight base and then use a scout scope (long eye relief).

The No1 is a large, long, heavy rifle for brush hunting.