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Royal Small Arms Factory(RSAF), Enfield Lock, Middlesex. Facilities on the river Lea, known as the Lock were leased by the British government to make gunpowder. A ‘smallarms manufactory was erected on the site during the Napoleonic wars(1804) to assemble muskets. The site was purchased by the crown in 1812. After the First World War, it was decided by the British Government that a smaller and lighter .38 caliber (9.65 mm) sidearm firing a long, heavy 200 grain (13 g) soft lead bullet would be preferable to the large Webley service revolvers using the .455 calibre (11.6 mm) round. While the .455 had proven to be an effective weapon for stopping enemy soldiers, the recoil of the .455 cartridge complicated marksmanship training. The authorities began a search for a double-action revolver with less weight and recoil that could be quickly mastered by a minimally-trained soldier, with a good probability of hitting an enemy with the first shot at extremely close ranges. By using such a long, heavy, round-nose lead bullet in a .38 calibre cartridge, it was found that the bullet, being minimally stabilised for its weight and calibre, tended to 'keyhole' or tumble longitudinally when striking an object, theoretically increasing wounding and stopping ability of human targets at short ranges. At the time, the .38 calibre Smith & Wesson cartridge with 200-grain (13 g) lead bullet, known as the .38/200, was also a popular cartridge in civilian and police use (in the USA, the .38/200 or 380/200 was known as the .38 Super Police load).Webley Mk IV .38/200 revolver. The similarities between the Webley and Enfield designs are rather obvious. Consequently, the British firm of Webley & Scott tendered their Webley Mk IV revolver in .38/200 calibre. Rather than adopting it, the British authorities took the design to the Government-run Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, and the Enfield factory came up with a revolver that was very similar to the Webley Mk IV .38, but internally slightly different. The Enfield-designed pistol was quickly accepted under the designation Revolver, No 2 Mk I, and was adopted in 1931, followed in 1938 by the Mk I* (spurless hammer, double action only), and finally the Mk I** (simplified for wartime production) in 1942. Webley sued the British Government for £2,250, being "costs involved in the research and design" of the revolver. Their action was contested by Enfield, who stated that the Enfield No 2 Mk I was actually designed by Captain Boys (the Assistant Superintendent of Design, famous for the Boys Rifle) with assistance from Webley & Scott, and not the other way around—accordingly, their claim was denied. By way of compensation, however, the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors awarded Webley & Scott £1,250. Enfield No.2 Mk I* revolver, used by the Tank Corps. The No. 2 Mk I* configuration was double-action only and is therefore missing the hammer spur that would enable it to be manually cocked by the firer. The official explanation of the change to the Mk I* version was that the Tank Corps had complained the spur on the hammer was catching on protrusions inside tanks, but most historians nowadays believe that the real reason was that the Mk I* version was cheaper and faster to manufacture. There were two main variants of the Enfield No 2 Mk I revolver. The first was the Mk I*, which had a spurless hammer and was double action only, meaning that the hammer could not be thumb-cocked by the shooter for each shot. Additionally, in keeping with the revolver's purpose as a close-range weapon, the handgrips, now made of plastic, were redesigned to improve grip when used in rapid double-action fire; the new handgrip design was given the designation Mk II. The majority of Enfields produced were either Mk I* or modified to that standard. The second variant was the Mk I**, which was a 1942 variant of the Mk I* simplified in order to increase production, but was discontinued shortly thereafter as a result of safety concerns over some of the introduced modifications. (Ref. ‘Pistols and revolvers’ p147 by JE Smith, ‘Pistols of the world’ by Hogg and Weeks p94, Dictionary of guns and gunmakers by John Walters p168)

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