Esfied

As readers of this blog know, the Enfield Cycle Co. acquired that name in 1893 to celebrate a contract they had received to supply parts for small arms for the Royal Arms Factory at Enfield, north of London. Some of the most famous Enfield rifles that came out from that factory at the beginning of the 1900's are still being manufactured as bootleg copies in the Kyber Pass border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. One can usually spot copies by shoddy construction and egregious typos like the one in the picture. That one has several problems, including V.R. for Victoria Regina even though the rifle claims to be from 1919. In spite of all this, however, it now appears that the 900 metre range of the Enfield rifle in the hands of the Taliban seems to be a problem for the US troops, armed with M16 rifles designed for the close-quartered combat of Vietnam and with a range of 300 metres.