ENFORCER 298

[Enforcer 298]

I had the good fortune to come across no.298 3 years ago. I was actually looking for a No4 when a friend told me a guy he knew was considering selling his Enforcer. I had shot one a few times as there are quite a number of them in my club. I contacted the owner, went to see him and the rifle and initially thought, well it's just a nice old rifle. He wasn't in a hurry to sell so we just left it we would contact each other if we wanted to take it further.

A few days later I thought I would never find one closer (it was only 20 mins away), my 50th birthday was coming up and my wife said she would give me a chunk of money towards it and the rifle was being offered with a hard case, 40 rounds of ammunition, 100 bullets, .308 dies, a Lyman case trimmer, some powder, and a few hundred cartridge cases so it was a good package. A variation was put in and as soon as my new certificate was received I went to collect the rifle.

It was certainly the correct decision as it puts a smile on my face every time I see it, let alone shoot it. I initially used GGG 7.62x51 ammunition but have since started loading my own. Our club tends to shoot at 300 yards but I have shot it out to 650.

It is number 298 which was issued to Durham Constabulary on 3 Jan 1975 and it has always stayed in the north east. There are now 7 Enforcers in our club, we only have 94 members so that's quite a high percentage.

I am really keen to hear from current owners of these fine rifles as it would be nice to know how many actually still exist.







Attachment 112275

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[Alan de Enfield]

Durham Police purchased 19 Enforcers.

I started to write a book(let) on the history of the Enforcer and a 'where are they now' record.

I did 'Freedom Of Information Requests' to most of the Police Forces and got some very surprising answers.
One force (no, I won't name them) shall we say told some 'fabrications' saying that all of their rifles were guillotined as they could not be sold to the 'public'. I know of the location of 5 of their rifles, still 'live' and in use.

Another force said they never had any Enforcers despite me having copies of the Enfield sales Ledgers giving the serial numbers and dates of shipment.

Yet another force said they could neither confirm or deny the issue of Enforcer rifles as I could clone them, shoot someone and the rifle would be shown to belong to the Police.

I eventually unearthed some (potentially) very damaging (to the UK Government) information so had to stop work.

Great rifles, I've had a few, of the last two, I sold one to the USA and the other to Canada.

Do not use 308 - they were not designed for it (it has higher pressures that 7.62)
Ensure you use the original NATO 144-150grain bullets.

If you are using the higher pressure rounds, you will need to have it re-proofed to 20 tonnes (the original proof was 19 tonnes)

SAAMI spec 308 cases are also thinner than 7.62 military and as the headspace is 13 thou longer on 7.62 the SAAMI (308) cases can split if you do not load 'low powered' loads.

[Enforcer 298]

[QUOTE=Alan de Enfield;486948]Durham Police purchased 19 Enforcers.

I started to write a book(let) on the history of the Enforcer and a 'where are they now' record.

So what happened with the book Alan??? How far did you get???

I have 2 booklets - one written by Mark Stevens detailing how an Enforcer works, his research project, history, specifications etc and then I have a copy of a Home Office document entitled Firearms for Police Use in peacetime which details how they decided on the Enforcer

[Alan de Enfield]

So what happened with the book Alan??? How far did you get???

I found out 'stuff' that shouldn't be in the public domain which meant the book would have had big 'holes' in the narrative making it worthless.

[Gil Boyd]

Yes proud owner of my old issue Enforcer for many years, and as I have said many times on here, they are only going up in price, like the L42A1.

Still swear by GGG 7.62x51 ammo rather than reloads, but thats a personal cost saving issue, and driven primarily by accuracy as well in my book, agree totally about .308. I have always found GGG to be better as well as cost effective, unless of course you have plenty of time on your hands to finite the loads.

Alan,
I'm afraid denials is commonplace with many Forces. I was one of the founders of the Cambs Police Firearms Unit when I came out of the Parachute Regiment, and the 9 rifles I bought for Cambridge Police and 3 for Mid Anglia, and then we merged into Cambridgeshire Constabulary from Mid Anglia were crazy times and a lot in those heady days was one of, "Thats mine you can't have that" bearing in mind some of these old Forces like Ely City/Peterborough City/Soke Of Peterborough Police/Huntingdonshire Constabulary all came under one umbrella. I understand in the "old" days some of the smaller Forces used to borrow weapons if they needed them to bolster their fire power!!!
Remember, these were the days when even in the early seventies, if you had a murder outside of London in ANY Force, a Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent was sent to head up the case....FACT! So you can see how archaic everything was then.
Every Force was "commanded" to buy the Enforcer by the Home Office, many didn't listen!!!

The records were abismal, and I was shocked to see the state of S&W .38's and Lee Enfields in stock at the time, never cleaned, no inspection regime....nothing. Caused primarily in my view, to the weapons not being "personal" issue and inspected on a rota whilst held in Divisional Armouries. My role was to bring everything into the centre and thank God for that.......and I can assure you that was a nightmare, as many times I heard "Who do you think you are" uttered in corridors. Noone said it to my face, as they knew I had a history, of having a word behind the cycle sheds, so they could FULLY understand my point of view!!!

That was the honest state of Forces who hated to, and were very reluctant to, merge as a result of Home Office guidelines.

So coming back to your point, many Forces hadn't got a clue what they had then. Thank God recording has become more precise in terms of history and a Freedom of Information request today, should yield an honest current declaration, but don't go any further back then the AI L96 or you will be surprised that memory fade has once again appeared, and you would have to rely on those like me who were about in the day for a true reflection of what each Force possessed!!!

To give you a realistic statement.............MUTUAL AID which is where Forces joined together to help and support each other when needed, didn't fully come in unitl 1993 and commanded by the Home Office and specifically Kenneth Clarke MP, who I always rated as a great Home Secretary, and he got a lot done under Margaret Thatchers Government of the time to reform the Polcie who were "kicking and screaming" as they hated any change.

[Roy W]

99.99999% of Police officers and staff wouldn't know what an Enforcer was, let alone if they ever had them. Since the Freedom of Information Act came into play, most forces destroy all records after 7 years, one year after they have to keep them, unless they relate to serious crime etc. That way they don't get bogged down dealing with old requests for information.

So, trying to get old records will be a fruitless task, even if they had them.

[Strangely Brown]

I was told by an RFD in Devon that when Devon & Cornwall police force destroyed any Enforcers they saved the wood furniture for him in case it was needed for later repairs to their remaining rifles.
My memory is a little dodgy these days but I seem to remember the Pecar glass was also saved, albeit at a price!

[Alan de Enfield]

I was told by an RFD in Devon that when Devon & Cornwall police force destroyed any Enforcers they saved the wood furniture for him in case it was needed for later repairs to their remaining rifles.
My memory is a little dodgy these days but I seem to remember the Pecar glass was also saved, albeit at a price!

My Freedom of Information request to D&C Police was answered as

4) By what method where any Enfield Enforcer rifles disposed of ? (i.e. destroyed, sold to the civilian market etc.)

Apart from the one remaining Enforcer** mentioned in response to question 2, all were destroyed by Force guillotine as surplus stock.

(**Rifle no214 is still held in the armoury as a training aid)


I know where 5 of their Enforcers are, still live, and in "the general public's" hands, but not in the UK

[Surpmil]

Allow me to respectfully suggest that manuscripts can always be written with utter frankness and left sealed with a suitable archive or three with instructions that they are not to be opened until a certain date, or the demise of the donor etc.

Many will modestly declaim that their particular story is not worth telling etc. etc. but the reality is that what we know of history is built from just such fragments as have survived.

[Gil Boyd]

A lot of the information recovered from Police Forces, especially surrounding it happened on "Someone Elses Watch" time, will spill out stuff like this, totally inaccurate as you have uncovered, because it is simply word of mouth from the longest serving person in a position, who can remember to the best of his or her ability.

Not good enough really. Lets just say that one of those rifles was used in a mass killing regardless of the location, there would be a massive enquiry to establish how these rifles became unaccounted for!!!
I have always favoured a National Firearms Register, which is in effect what should happen now as they are all, finally, on the same software.

However....................... things that went on in the past, seem to have missed a total beat somewhere, and not sure when it occurred either!

Certainly today, all Police weapons are guillotined after service.