Enfield number 2 Mark 1 snub nose revolver.

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gopguy

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In the 1960s a huge number of WWII era firearms were brought in by various importers in the golden age of mail order firearm sales. Among them were a large number of Webley and Enfield revolvers. At one point one importer, Seaport Traders decided to make the .38/200 Enfield more marketable by having the barrels shortened. In 1960 they sold them for the princely sum of $16.95. The dollar had some real value in those days.

In modifying these revolvers they actually ended up creating a interesting bit of trivia, a link to the Kennedy assassination three years later. The link, the gun smith a Mr. LM Johnson, who shortened the barrels was the same gun smith the importer used to shorten barrels on a number of Smith and Wesson Model 10 revolvers that were also in inventory. One of those guns was used by Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot a police officer in the wake of the shooting of Kennedy in Dealey Plaza.

The gun actually shoots fairly well. The barrel shortening was very professionally done as was the re-crowning of the barrel. The previous owner used this for home defense and even had some hollow point ammo made up for the gun, but at less than 700fps I am not sure how well these slugs would open up.

Anyways a fun shooter and neat piece of history.

http://www.nrvoutdoors.com/ENFIELD SNUB/ENFIELD SNUB.htm

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That's an interesting piece and an interesting bit of history!

The pragmatist in me says if you cut the grip down a bit it'd make a nice little carry piece, but I know that's missing the point!
 
I have one.
Would never take it seriously as a working gun, but a neat little curio. :)
Denis
 
About 30 years ago, I had a Webley Mark IV 380/200 that had been shortened the same way. It came with a British Army holster that had also been cut down to fit it. It worked fine, and it could be thumb-cocked, but it was much too bulky for its power, and 38 S&W ammo did not shoot to point of aim by a wide margin (in elevation; it was OK for windage, IIRC). Their only advantage that I can see, at least back when they were created, was that they were very inexpensive while still being good solid guns - better than many of elderly top-break 32's and 38's the pawnshops must have been full of back in the 1950's.

They don't seem to turn up much now. I wonder how many were altered this way?
 
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The U.S. importers shortening those .38/200 British top break revolvers made a small problem for WWII collectors. The British did issue snubnosed versions for vehicle crews, not many, but the genuine issue revolvers have some collectible value.

US importers also cut a lot of the .455 revolver to take .45 ACP in moonclips, but that's another story. Back in the day, though, these were old guns nobody wanted unless they were modernized.
 
IMO the grip frame is much too large for a short barrel revolver. That is uglier than my original Enfield No.2 lol
 
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gopguy

I remember seeing ads for those Enfield "Commando" revolvers in some old gun magazines that I have. I don't recall ever seeing one in person, like at a local gun shop or gun show. Thanks for the history and the photos!
 
According to the article I posted only a few hundred were converted. I had only ever seen one other one and it was at a OVMS show in Northern Kentucky about 25 years ago. I would have bought it but could not find an Ohio FFL to transfer it to at the show and did not want to pay to ship it... I figured I would find another. I did... but it took awhile. lol
 
Love these Webley/Enfield .38s.

A cool gun you have OP, but IMHO it's a shame it was cut. These are best left as full size service revolvers methinks. The importers butchered a lot of Webleys but I got one recently that is just like how it was made. My Webley Mk IV:

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Incredibly fun to shoot. I plan to buy some of these .38/200 rounds from Matt's Bullets to use the gun for home defense:

http://mattsbullets.com/ammunition/...roducts_id=4&zenid=aq9bt3gad3hvp4vsh5llbu7a83

With this 200 grain load, the .38 Webley and later Enfields were considered good stoppers. Some don't consider these serious defensive weapons these days but I think that's really stupid to say that. They can be reloaded extremely quickly with K-frame speedloaders like the Safariland Comp IIs I have, and like I said with the original heavy lead bullet service cartridges they were no slouch. Shot placement beats anything else when it comes to handguns (or any firearm really) and the old .38/200 will easily get the job done if the shooter can connect, which is easy since these guns have such low recoil.
 
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