Royal Small Arms Factory

Enfield

RSAF Enfield was established in 1804 at Enfield Lock, near London. It was originally established for manufacturing and assembling the "Brown Bess" muskets which were the main firearm of the British Empire for many years. By the 1890’s, more than 60,000 rifles were being produced annually at Enfield. They were able to turn out 2,000 magazine rifles a week to arm the British soldiers, This figure included the bayonets, scabbards, and accessories for the rifles. They produced 188,930 MLM MKI and MkI* rifles. The Rifle, Short MLE MkI was produced between the years of 1903 and 1907. There were roughly 133,000 of the MkI rifle and about 60,000 of the MkI* produced there during this time. In 1907, modifications to the No 1 rifle were adopted , including the addition of a charger bridge on the reciever. The MkIII production at Enfield started in 1907 and ended with the introduction of the MkIII* model in 1916. In 1916 production of the MkIII* rifle was underway to feed the growing number of arms needed for WWI. Production figures, according to Stratton, for 1916 was around 418,283 and by the end of 1918, more than 1.6 million MkIII* rifles were produced. Production of the No1 Mk V rifle went from 1922 to 1924 and totaled about 20,000 rifles. Durng the interwar years, development of the No 4 rifle was underway at Enfield. The No4 was never to be mass produced at Enfield Lock. The manufacture of the No4 rifle happened in the BSA Shirley Plant, Royal Ordinance Fazakerly, Maltby and in two plants in North America including Savage and Longbranch.

During WWII, RSAF Enfield was involved in the production of machine guns, pistols and receivers, barrels and furniture for the No1 MkIII* rifle. Many older firearms were refitted and rearsenalled there through these years.