I have a Ishapore 2A1 rifle I got like a decade ago.

It closes on a foster 308 1.638 field gauge.  

If I get a nato Field gauge 1.6455 and it if won't close, would it be safe to shoot?  

I want to sell it, but I won't sell an unsafe rifle.

with a long string and behind a blast shield.

Seriously, take it to a gunsmith and let them check it out and test fire it.

They are known for generous headspace. Probably nothing wrong with it. Like many old surplus rifles, you should reload to fit the chamber and requires resizing like you have a wildcat cartridge.

To bad you were not local or I would be interested. Ishapore 2A or 2A1 is high on my list.

well you checked a "7.62" rifle with a .308 gauge...what did you expect.


But in all seriousness you are probably fine and have excess headspace by a thou or two isn't going to harm one thing.

Each country sets its own headspace limits for a given rifle, so American commercial or military headspace gauges are not made for checking a 7.62 rifle made in India.

I had a Ishapore 2A1 rifle and it will not blow up if the headspace is longer than an American gauge. The only thing that will happen is a case head separation that is safely vented by the Enfield rifle. I test fired the rifle using Winchester white box .308/7.62 and got a little case stretching and thinning.

A British .303 Enfield rifle at maximum military headspace of .074 and a rim thickness of .058 would have .016 head clearance. And all this meant was short case life if you full length resized the cases. And the average American rifle has .010 between the minimum and maximum SAAMI head space for a commercial rifle.

Many old rifles have excess headspace and still can be shot by fire forming the cases and neck sizing the cases.

Below on a Enfield rifle you can check your head clearance with a case in the chamber and the bolt closed. Just push hard on the cocking piece and put feeler gauges between the right locking lug and the receiver and find the max thickness that fits.



With the bolt "CLOSED" the area marked below is what is measured with a case in the chamber. And this is the head clearance or air space between the rear of the case and the bolt face. I took this photo showing the bolt open because I could not push on the bolt and hold the camera for the photo. So again this measurement is taken with the bolt closed and pushing on the bolt to create the air space between the receiver and the rear of the right bolt lug.





So again, the max headspace is set by the country where the rifle is made and how much the case can safely stretch. And the problem is you will not find any Indian headspace limits for the Ishapore 2A1. And the second problem is you will not find any Ishapore 2A1 made bolt heads rated for .308/7.76 chamber pressures.

The Australians perfected the conversion of their No.1 Enfield rifles, but the cost was over half the price of a new L1A1 7.62 rifle so the project was dropped. And the Australians gave the conversion methods to India. The conversion rifles used more modern steel and heat treating and they worked fine. So don't let anyone tell you that you are dealing with a bomb waiting to go off.


And no one died below by reloading the .308 cases over and over until they had a case head separation.