The venerable Lee-Enfield rifle served the Crown well through the final death throes of colonialism and the two world wars. But with the invention of semi-automatics and the inclusion of the UK in NATO, the Enfield rifle was no more. Now, a new company here in the colonies – Clayton, Georgia, to be specific – is looking to capitalize on the Enfield name and get in on the gold rush that is AR-15 rifle production . . .
From the press release:
The Officers and Members of the modern Enfield Rifle Company, LLC are pleased to formally announce the establishment of the company in Clayton, Georgia.
The business actually opened in December of 2012. “However, with all of the recent hysteria in the market we felt we felt like there was a lot of distraction”, said Nigel Boothe, one of the founding Members and Chairman of the company. “Now that things have settled down a bit we decided it would be a good time to make the announcement.”
Enfield is proud to bring an Old World name combined with New World technology to the American commercial market for the first time. The company goal is to take its experience in manufacturing arms for military and security forces to a broader market. We want to bring that experience of making high quality, dependable firearms to law enforcement, shooting enthusiasts and responsible gun owners.
The original Lee-Enfield was actually never produced by a company named in part or in whole “Enfield.” Instead, the name comes from the town in which the royal armory that designed it is located. The rifles themselves were made in the royal armories, which were officially part of the government, not private companies. So I’m not sure how the “Enfield” name helps this new company much. Anyway, their website is here and we’ve already asked for a gun to test out, so stay tuned.