At the end of WW II analysis revealed several noteworthy trends. Unlike in WW I where cartridges were required to be reliably accurate and lethal to 1200 metres and beyond, in the 1939 to 1945 conflict, the ranges at which effective small arms fire was delivered were usually under 350 metres. Also the rapid tactical movement on the battlefield due to the deployment of mechanical fighting vehicles placed a greater emphasis on massed firepower as opposed to accurate single shots. The situation was exasperated by the multitude of calibres and arms with which the Allied Armies were issued, which destroyed any ability to exchange munitions to compensate for supply short falls.
Bearing these and other lessons in mind, a "Small Arms Ideal Calibre Panel" was constituted to seek out a rifle with greater firepower and lighter weight than those currently in use. Agreement between the Atlantic Allies; United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada protracted the search, but eventually an experimental 7.62 x 51 mm cartridge received approval. Consequently in the 1950's the British undertook an extensive ammunition and rifle development program, which resulted in the British military being issued with a modified FN FAL light automatic rifle and designated it the LIAI.
The replacement of the bolt action single shot rifle with which the British forces had been issued for 63 years since 1888, left a shortfall in the category of a sniping rifle. During that period the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock had taken advantage of the huge numbers of surplus Mark 4 Lee Enfield .303 rifles and had developed a conversion kit to enable them to use the 7.62 mm NATO cartridge. This conversion using a heavy free floating barrel and a special handguard and fore end cut back in sporting style had been developed to provide a rifle for competitive shooting. Early versions were known as the No.4 Conv. later Civilian Target Rifles were designated the name Enfield Envoy match rifle. The Military target Rifle version was given a military designation L39Al.
Above is an Enfield No.4 Conversion from .303 to 7.62. - below is an L39A1 Military Target Rifle. The L39A1 'Target Rifles' were converted from the later Mark 1/2 and mark 2 Weapons and were specially selected from the stocks held at the REME depot at Donnongton.
Pictures Courtesy of Brian Dick
When the need for a military sniping rifle became apparent the Enfield factory converted No. 4 Mark 1(T) and No. 4 Mark 1*(T) rifles - with the trigger pinned to the guard rather than the trigger. (These rifles were re-worked from limited quantities of wartime production) with magazine capacity of 10 x 7.62 mm rounds and fitting a bracket for the mounting of telescopic sights and the military designated this the L42A1 sniping rifle.
Above is a picture of an L42a1 Courtesy of MkVII - Note the L1A1 Scope which was a conversion of the wartime No.32 Mk3.
"London's Armed Police" by Robert W.Gould and Michael J.Waldren (Arms and Armour Press 1986) gives some insight into the use of Sniper Rifles by the Met. and how improvements were made to produce the Enforcer.
The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in the late 1960's was a rifleman himself. Although there was the possibility that planes at London Airport might be hijacked - in 1969 the british Airports Authority Constabulary were refused permission to hold firearms, because of this the Metropolitan Police specialist Firearms unit D.11 had to provide 24 hour cover. This duty was later taken over by the 'T' and 'X' Divisions of the Met. Initially specialist Rifle teams were trained and issued with 7.62mm L42A1 rifles - fitted with the No.32 telescope. These rifles were initially hired from the Ministry of Defence at a cost of £310.00 per year.
In 1970 A working party on firearms for police use in peacetime was convened, which included representatives from the Home Office, Ministry of Defence and several Police Forces. An interim report was produced on 20th September 1971, this resulted in Home Office circular 176/72 dated 29th September 1972. (IF ANYONE HAS ACCESS TO A COPY OF THIS PLEASE LET ME KNOW!) The circular recommended that the police should be equipped with the L39A1 7.62mm rifle to be fitted with a commercially available 'Pecar' 4 - 10 x 'Scope'.
In the meantime, the 'borrowed' L42A1 Rifles had not impressed the Met. Twenty of the first batch to be 'hired' were returned straight away after being inspected by the force armourer. Another five were sent to the Royal Small Arms factory during the first year. Following an inspection by the Weapons Branch, Technical Group, Woolwich on 2nd August 1972 it was found that 17 out of the 30 rifles needed workshop adjustment and of those 9 were unsafe to use! The defected rifles were sent to the REME workshops at Donnington.
The Met. did trials of the Parker Hale 'Safari' rifle - which had a heavy barrel and the mauser bolt action which had a triple locking bolt rather than the Enfield's double locking bolt action. The Met went so far as to put a request in to purchase 40 Safari rifles at a cost of £3,000.00.
There was a meeting of interested parties which resulted in the Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office writing to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police asking for the L39A1 to be accepted in place of the Parker Hale Safari rifle. It was pointed out that the L42A1 rifles 'loaned' to the police had been 'early conversions from .303 to 7.62 and that all had been of 'war-time manufacture' with all that term implied in the way of quality control!
It is at this point that I am under the impression that the Police Scientifice Development Branch had some input into changes made to the specification of the the rifle to improve it for police use (More here later...)
Later on, in the early 1970's, minor modifications were made to the L39A1 by the RSAF, Enfield to produce a sniper version of the No.4 rifle for police use, which they finally called the Enfield 'Enforcer'. The most visible differences between the L39A1 and Enforcer are the one piece (Monte-Carlo) Buttstock - a modified commercially produced buttstock - with an integral cheek piece and the Parker Hale 'Target' sights in addition to the Commercially produced 'Scope'. The modifications to the buttstock and the production of the fore-end wood were done by Colin Moon of Brighton. Colin Moon remembers being impressed with the quality control imposed when making Enforcers, with more parts being sent to the 'scrap bin' than being passed on to the next stage of producton at the factory. Although on 23rd January 1973 a name for the Police Sniper Rifle had yet to be decided - by April 1973 an internal Home Office Memo mentioned that the rifle had become known as the 'Enforcer'! (This followed the usual pattern of RSAF nomenclature by including the letters "EN" at the beginning or end of a name.
Politics took preference over the wishes of the Met.'s D11 section and on 28th March 1974 Metropolitan Police riflemen signed for their Enfield 'Enforcer' rifles.
Write to me ... Mark@amstevens.fsnet.co.uk
What is an Enforcer?
How An Enforcer Works
My Research project
The Home Office Choice (NEW - Recently declassified information!) The final Specification for the Enforcer (NEW - Recently declassified information!)