This is my 1943 made example of one of the standard British and Commonwealth hand guns of WW2. The pistol was intended to replace the old .455 cal revolvers of chiefly Webley design with something smaller, lighter and easier to handle, made by RSAF Enfield-the design was essentially a copy of the Webley Mk IV in .38 cal (a fact that resulted in a successful copyright suit by Webley!) and entered service at the end of the 1920s. By mid WW2 a number of changes had been made to the basic design including removing the hammer spur to stop it catching inside vehicles, simplifications to the lockwork, Bakelite grips instead of chequered wood, a plain ‘war finish’ instead of blueing and even changing the unit marking stock disc on the grips to steel to economise on brass-this then was a product for total modern war, something that resulted in the minimum necessary weapon at the least industrial cost. The holster is the Pattern 44 type in OD Green.

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