The Truth

[CharnwoodOrdnance]

Hello every one. I have been in the shadows on this forum mostly enjoying reading about Enfields and there associated bits and pieces with the user name 6 pot. Every time Charnwood Ordnance is mentioned nine times out of ten the same person will slag us off. I believe he visited us one time only so knows next to nothing about what we did. If you have any questions about what we did and Charnwood Ordnance I will do my best to answer.
To start with debunking a few myths
1 we went bust. Ha no we did not. After the ban of pistols my dad decided the gun trade was to much aggro so we called it a day (he is still a partner in a very successful company selling antique fire arms)
2 7.62 mags. Many of you will have read here and on other forums that they were rubbish and did not work. I do not remember how many were returned as not working but in most cases it was mostly user error (303 extractor not milling out the mag well etc)
3 wonky engraving. Despite what you have been told this is total rubbish. I had the pick of anything that came through the door and the doors of most large firearms dealers I did not need to re-mark anything because I knew that sooner or later the real thing would come along any of you who saw my collection knew this.
If you believe this or not or my answers to any of your questions I do not care I was there you were not. I will not respond to PMs.
Looking forward to hearing form you
Cheers Rob

Information

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[Alan de Enfield]

Good to have you on-board.
It would be great if you could expand on the "wonky engraving" and the 'mystery' of the twin-ovoids on the Enforcers.

[CharnwoodOrdnance]

Good to have you on-board.
It would be great if you could expand on the "wonky engraving" and the 'mystery' of the twin-ovoids on the Enforcers.

I cannot expand on wonky engraving I did not do it. After handling many thousands of all types of military arms I have seen all types of markings some so neat and some you could barely read this on stuff that had not been refinished . Refinished arms have been seen with the old markings carefully removed so you could not tell anything had been done to the other extreme of being removed with an grinder this from the same factory. twin ovoids ? different day? different man? what the machine was set up for on a previous job? just because a expert says one thing does not mean it is true

[Peter Laidler]

I don't remember the copy magazines being rubbish as such. It's just that the ejectors broke off at a rapid rate. I repaired by tig welding about 15 in quick succession for shooters at my shooting club. In fact I even made up a small jig to hold them in place while they were being tigged. Then got the ejector tag yellow hot and case hardened them. By sheer coincidence, I was asked last week if I could re-tig another 5 including three with lost ejectors.

The fact that the ejectors shear at the weld has absolutely nothing to do with a) the magazine wells not being machined or b).303" extractors being fitted. Quite the contrary because the shallower .303" extractor doesn't exert as much leverage over to the left side as the deeper 7.62mm extractor

In fact, if you could make 500 more, you'd be doing everyone a service and make yourself a lot of money too. But make sure that the ejectors are firmy tigged.

I don't recall seeing anywhere on this site that CO went bust.......... Maybe you could point out where it was said

[Amatikulu]

Hello Charnwood Ordnance,

The Internet is a place where there is a lot of second hand knowledge and opinion exchanged, mixed in with proper research and personal experience/perspective. It is a great opportunity when we get members join in who have specific knowledge and experience who can share their experience and knowledge that can correct some of our perceptions and limited experience. I don't think anyone on this site is interested in "slagging" anyone or anything off but it would appear from your post that you have taken offense to something you have read. I doubt that any such statements were intended to insult you or your father.

We look forward to hearing about Charnwood Ordnance from you in the future and their part in the Lee Enfield's history.

[CharnwoodOrdnance]

The fact that the ejectors shear at the weld has absolutely nothing to do with a) the magazine wells not being machined or b).303" extractors being fitted. Quite the contrary because the shallower .303" extractor doesn't exert as much leverage over to the left side as the deeper 7.62mm extractor

I know but do you think it would have something to do with how they feed? or work? with the wrong extractor or the mag wells not being altered or were Enfield just wasting there time?

In fact, if you could make 500 more, you'd be doing everyone a service and make yourself a lot of money too. But make sure that the ejectors are firmy tigged.

Thanks for the tip but I do not need the aggro and I have enough for my own use

I don't recall seeing anywhere on this site that CO went bust.......... Maybe you could point out where it was said

Not on this site but I have read it and heard it lots

Sorry I do not know how to make answers stand out but you get the gist

[superbee]

Hi,
I have a question about your #4 enfield conversions to 7.62.I have #035.
I was wondering how many were converted in the early 1990,s???
I only seen one more with a 2xx serial #,so I am assuming less than 300???

Mine came with a stirling mag.Was this the original mag for conversion??
were the barrels new made or left over sterling kit barrels??

Shoots and ejects perfectly!

[Peter Laidler]

Re the magazine question from Ch-Ord. If they're not going to remanufacture them, then it's no point in commenting further except to say as a general point for all that the extractor plays absolutely no part whatsoever in the feed system of the No4 (and No1...). Look carefully and you'll see that during feed, the rim of the cartridge case actually slides UP the face of the bolt as it''s being chambered and as it does so, slides UNDER the extractor claw. Then the claw glides up the extractor way in the barrel.

Test it with a bit of engineers blue and if you are very careful, you'll see that it's very likely that the extractor doesn't even touch the cartridge rim. To emphasis the point you'll see that the bottom of the actual claw is rounded in order to clear the cartridge rim.

Primary extraction is where it really gets to grips - literally - with the cartridge case. As I said, nothing really to do with either type of magazine but just a point of interest

[Brian Dick]

Rob, I wound up with all the remnants of the Bonham's auction via mutual friends in Canada along with the Long Branch No.4's and remaining L42's that no one else wanted. You'd be happy to know that they've all been given a considerable amount of TLC and are now happily back on the ranges of the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The 7.62 magazines were well received and perfect except for the poor spot welding of the ejectors. I've had them repaired by silver soldering or TIG welding and they are every bit as good as the originals. I've got some in the repair shop now, "as we speak". All returns from customers with broken or detached ejectors that have been sitting here in my project pile for a number of years. You should consider making more as there's quite a demand and you must still have the tooling. Brian

[bigduke6]

twin ovoids ? different day? different man? what the machine was set up for on a previous job? just because a expert says one thing does not mean it is true

Charnwood,

Nice to have you on board, regarding my comments on the twin ovoids, I,ll be standing by them untill proven otherwise.

I,m no expert on Enfields, and certanly no expert on the Enforcer, but whatever the situation at Enfield at the time of production of the Enforcer, they still would of had QC (quality control) and In my opinion based on my engineering experiance the twin ovoid Enforcer never left the factory like that.

Manufacture process can change often, this entails lots of plans etc, trials and then production would commence again, If anyone can show me any production drawing showing the changes from the original spec then I,ll be more than happy to hold my hand up and say I,m wrong.