Enfield No2 Mk1* Pistol

[Dave_n]

Hi Jim:

They are the smooth walnut, no escutcheon, no disc, just about a 3/16" diameter inletted hole on the nut (RHS) side. No Thumb space. Will check my Skennerton Book on the No 2 when I get back home in a few hours. Of course, APEX in the US has just about everything except the grip screw/nut.

The LH and RH sight blades you sent me a year or so ago certainly made a difference with its "younger sister" a No2 Mk 1**.

Will contact you later.

Cheers,

Dave_n

[Peter Laidler]

Ah, yes! I presumed that they'd be Mk1 grips with a screw and cup nut. I think the bolt is the same throughout though.... yes? We've still got a load of Enfields if he emails me Mk7

I can't remember there being a smooth walnut style though. Are you sure that they're original? I ask because the screw cup and cup nut are pulled in during manufacture and while there was a part number, the cup and cup nut weren't available as spares

[Dave_n]

Hi Peter and Jim:

The grips appear to be original (though the pistol appears to have gone through Egypt from the Arabic inscription on the top right of the butt) and are effectively identical to the ones shown in schematic form on Page 20 of Skennerton's book on the 0.380 and on the schematic on P27. Walnut with the checkering going all the way to the top, rather than as in the MK1 version shown on p53 where the checkering stops just about a half inch below the top. The Grip Screw is just under 1.2 inches in length which matches the schematic shown on P 20 in Skennerton and the "Screw stock" shown in the Appendix on P 35 indicates a BA number 4 with a diameter of 0.1417 and a TPI of 38.5.

My easiest e-mail is (using the Nato phonetic and spelt out numbers and dots) is DeltaNovemberTwoTwo@NovemberIndiaHoteldotGolfOscar Victor

One of those three letter agencies but we are the ones people like to give money to when you translate into the initials.

Any source of what appears to be a 4BA would be appreciated. Or even better a screw and nut combo. I can easily arrange payment in Pounds (as I did for the front sights) as my sister lives in the Liverpool area.

Many thanks, Dave_n

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

[QUOTE=Peter Laidler;44941]That's a GREAT saying John and I am going to use it next time I'm trying to put something over to the designers who seem to congregate at Warminster with crap ideas. Some of them have absolutely no idea whatsoever that sand WILL penetrate anything, even a fxxeskin (that's if you happen to have one....). And they don't believe that sand is as fine as talcum powder as as errosive as a sand blasting machine............ Don't get me going.

Peter I can't take credit for that saying, It's probably as oled as I am!

While I am at it, even a 178 gr bullet at only 600fps is not going to generate high pressures.
Oh the powder charge was either 4gr of cordite, size 1/05 or 3 gr of nitrocellulose.

Now about that "you can only kill someone so dead" thing. The primary reason for shooting someone is to STOP them from doing what they want to do. If they drop dead AFTER they shoot or stick you, that's not much comfort.
There was a very good reason for the .455. If you shot someone with it, they generaly fell down.

[Dave_n]

Thanks Peter for your very generous help with my grip screw problem.

The pistol is effectively identical to the second one from the top of the five shown on P124 of Skennerton's book on the pistol No 2 revolver. Interpolating from the data in the book and the photographs, it looks as though the completely checkered grips might only have been used from roughly 1935ish to 1939 (say prefix D/E through F). This pistol's serial is F9**** and it does have a steel number on the cylinder.

Shoots to POA at 7 metres using my version of the 380/200 load (180 grain lead bullets sized to 0.360 and moving at just under 700 fps).

Again, many thanks to Peter and MkVII for their help. Dave_n

[Dave_n]

Well, Peter turned up trumps again. Coming to the aid of an expatriate Brit. the screw and nut arrived today, I came home for the weekend and lo and behold, after a little bit of scraper work, and a removal of a few mm from the threaded end (Peter even ran a 4BA die further down the screw), I now have a No2 Mk1 whose grips are tight. Many thanks again Peter. Dave_n

[Mk VII]

I wondered where this thread had gone .... couldn't find it.
Since the problem has been solved, it isn't really needed anymore but here is a sketch I made from measuring two grip screws for the thin and slab-sided grips, in case anyone else needs the solution.



The thread is 4BA, of course, and it's easy to make the nut/escutcheon on the lathe, though it's best to have the grips present to fit it properly.

I had a 1939 one in the G-prefix range with those same 'reeded' grips.

[Dave_n]

Many thanks Jim. Has been added to my "stash of info". I note the "past tense" referring to the 1939 model. If you ever make it across the herring pond, let me know and you can "exercize (exorcize?)" some elderly Webleys and Enfields to the limit of my ammo (and I reload for 38/200 and 0.455). dave_n

[Mk VII]

Well, I've still got it, actually, in a foreign country. Can't get the ammo there, though.

[Dave_n]

That is a pity. Cannot you arrange for 38 S&W cases and lead bullets to the "FC"? Dave_n