need help with this old gun

heavyBullet

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I know very little about military firearms, so I told my buddy I would post some pic's of his old gun, and hopefully someone here could give me some info on it, and a value, and I can pass it on to him.

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Enfield No 2 Mk I** 38 S&W revolver

British military service revolver dated 1943.

Worth between $150 and $200

Still having the lanyard ring is a plus.
 
These things ate the British loading for the old .38S&W: originally a 200-grain slug at a little over 600 ft/sec, later load was a 178FMJRN,going a little quicker.

I am shooting a couple of these with regular 158 lead slugs, seated out to the OAL of a Mark IIz Ball round. I am using 2.1 grains (two-point-one) of Bullseye. I have had no troubles in 4 guns and they all make 5-shot groups in 2 inches or less at 15 yards measured with the sixth round always a flyer at about 3 inches from POA.

Really decent guns and terribly underpriced.

Some of these were in British service into the 1960s and many solider on all around the world.

They might be a bit old-fashioned, but don't ask me to stand in front of one!

The bobbed hammer was for tank crews, truck drivers and pilots, none of whom could afford the hammer spur of the older model catching on anything when they really needed to sue it. This model is often called the "Tanker" Enfield. Basic design was by Webley & Scott in the 1920s. The Gummint shafted them when it came time to build enough for the whole Army.
 
The original 200 grain bullet, was, hollow base, tapered nose, lead. It was meant to replace the .455 slug in use at the time. The Geneva Convetion, banned the use of solid lead projectiles, for military use. The UK, was already in the midst of change over, so they went to a full metal jacket instead. This of course was much lighter and supposedly, less effective.
It was found, that the 200 grain lead bullet had just as much penetration as the .455 loads it replaced.
 
And what a lot of that history adds up to is the fact that if you load for this thing to the levels for which it was designed, and you cast your bullets out of the softest lead you can get your hands on, you have a defense handgun that weighs as much as a .22, has a .38 bore and the knockdown of a fairly decent .45. Nothing to sneeze at.
 
Still having the lanyard ring is a plus.

He told me today he also has the lanyard.


Nothing to sneeze at.

I guess not, but I do know one thing, you need a strong finger to pull the trigger on this thing. History or not, I am guessing he is asking for the info so he can eventually put it up for sale at his club, so again thanks for all the info guys!
 
Yes, when they made these things double-action-only (first ones were SA/DA) they left the original heavy mainspring fitted to assure ignition with military ammo.

People say that these are 'impossible to shoot accurately' but that is not the case. When you pull the trigger through the cycle, there is a point, just before letoff, where it suddenly becomes almost deceptively smooth and light; this is when you correct your aim and then add just a TINY amount more pressure to the trigger....... and the thing fires and your bullet goes right where you aimed it. It is a bit of a trick to get onto but, once you have done that, you can shoot quite well with one of these.

If he's gonna sell it, you should grab it. Nice piece of history and a good shooter, too.

Have fun!
 
Actualy the bobbed hammer was a wartime economy measure. If you look at the holster for these, it SWALLOWS the revolver , the ONLY thing sticking out are the grips. I might also point out that Webleys with hammer spurs were ALSO issued to tank crews, so what we have here is simply a myth.

The marking on the outside of the cylinder is the steel batch number.
 
Tank holster was worn on a belt, but had a long extension between belt and holster proper. It anchored around the leg, just above the knee. If you had to bail out of a shot-up or burning Sherman, there wasnt enough room inside the tank to be wearing a proper hip holster and still get the gun out if you needed the thing.

Tank holster also had half a dozen cartridge loops on it. You see them sometimes t gun shows and surplus shops...... if youre really lucky.
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