The .476 Enfield, also known as the .476 Eley, .476 Revolver, and occasionally .455/476,Barnes, p.175, ".476 Ely/.476 Enfield Mk-3". is a British

centrefire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A center-fire (or centerfire) is a type of metallic cartridge used in firearms, where the primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i ...

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

cartridge. The Enfield name derives from the location of the

Royal Small Arms Factory The Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), also known by the metonym ''Enfield'', was a UK government-owned rifle factory in Enfield, adjoining the Lee Navigation in the Lea Valley. Some parts were in Waltham Abbey. The factory produced British m ...

Enfield Lock Enfield Lock is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is approximately located east of the Hertford Road between Turkey Street and the Holmesdale Tunnel overpass, and extends to the River Lee Navigation, including the En ...

, the

armoury An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

where British military small arms were produced, while Eley was a British commercial brand. Used in the Enfield Mk II revolver, the Mk III variant was introduced by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in 1881, supplanting the earlier .476 Enfield Mark I and II cartridges, which in turn had replaced the .450 Adams cartridges, all of which also used black powder propellant.

History

British service use

The .476 Enfield cartridge was only in British service for a comparatively short period before it was replaced by the black powder-loaded .455 Webley Mark I in 1887 and then by the

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

-loaded .455 Webley Mark II in September 1897. Just over 1,000Maze, p.32. Enfield Mark IIs were issued to the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

, and these remained in service until 1911, when the last Enfields were phased out in favour of more modern (and reliable) .45 Colt New Service revolvers.

Interchangeability

Using the same

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

as the .455 (11.6mm) Webley Mark I, the .476 casing is 0.05 mm (0.002 in) longer and carries a charge of 18 gr (1.17 g) of black powder, compared to 6.5 gr (0.42 g) of

cordite Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...

in the .455 Mark I. While the .476 Enfield cartridge could be used in any British-manufactured .455 Webley calibre service revolver, there were issues with the later-production Colt or

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American Firearms manufacturer, firearm manufacturer headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith (inventor), Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the ...

.455 Revolver models, which were liable to have slightly smaller bore diameters. Despite the difference in designation, the .476 readily interchanged with the earlier .450 Adams and .455 Webley rounds (the latter in black powder Mark I and smokeless Marks II through VI), as well as the .455 Colt (a U.S. commercial brand for the same .455 Webley round, with slightly different ballistics),Barnes, p.174, ".455 Revolver MK-1/.455 Colt". which all use the same .455 in (11.6mm) bullet, the distinction being which diameter was measured. Officially, .450 Adams, .476 Enfield, and .455 Webley cartridges can all be fired in the Webley Mark III British Government Model revolver;

Geoffrey Boothroyd Geoffrey Boothroyd (1925 – 20 October 2001) was a British expert on firearms who wrote several standard reference works on the subject. He provided weapons advice to author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novels and their film adaptions. Caree ...

, ''The Handgun'' (Crown Publishers, 1970). although case length, bullet weight and shape, and powder charge differ, all three cartridges feature a case diameter of .476 inch with a bullet diameter of .455 inch, which can be fired in a barrel of .450 inch bore.

Notes

References

*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".476 Ely/.476 Enfield Mk-3", in ''Cartridges of the World'', pp. 175 & 178. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. . *Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".455 Revolver MK-1/.455 Colt", in ''Cartridges of the World'', p. 174. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. . *Maze, Robert J. ''Howdah to High Power''. Tucson, AZ: Excalibur Publications, 2002. . {{DEFAULTSORT:476 Enfield Pistol and rifle cartridges Rimmed cartridges Military cartridges British firearm cartridges

History

British service use

Interchangeability

See also

Notes

References