It didn't start that way. Those were made up by importers in the late 50's and early 60's to sell on the "belly gun" market. Any idea that the bullet will hit where the sights point is wishful thinking.
A British Sergeant Major commented on the hammer-spurless DAO "Tanker" Enfield revolvers (which suffered from a trigger pull measured in Tonnes) thusly:
"Too inaccurate to serve as a pistol, and too light to make a good club".
An old DA shooter, I can do pretty well with an Enfield Mk 1*. Not necessarily my first choice, but I would probably make someone uncomfortable at 75 yards or less.
(This does not go for that abortion Oleg pictured!)
My Aunt had one of these as her cashbox gun. Don't know if she ever pulled it in anger (or despiration), but while lots of Southern
ladies packed, most of them got by on pure attitude.
My take on this weapon is that it's sufficiently intimidating looking to not need to be accurate.
I got to handle one of these guns at the local gunshop. It had the stock 4" barrel and I was surprised at how well the grip fit in my hand.
The Enfield revolver is ugly but it points extremely well.
I like having the hammer spur for SA fire and those seem to be harder to find than the ones with the hammer spur removed.
A good CCW kit is to have the Enfield revolver (w/ hammerspur) and an H&R M925 revolver for a backup snubby.
The H&R M925 is a top break .38 S&W revolver that actually looks good and is of very good quality. An excellent choice for a backup piece to the Enfield revolver. I hope that H&R will produce them again sometime in the near future.
The .38 S&W cartridge is very controllable and a joy to shoot. The .38 S&W Special does have the edge in stopping power though and is much more available for sale. But the old .38 S&W will get the job done and reloading components are easy to get for rolling your own ammunition.
That Enfield IS an ugly handgun! However, the Webley revolver that the Enfield design was taken from is quite attractive, especially in civi finish. And the orig cartridge used a 200 grain led bullet making it much more effective than the 148 gr S&W. I had a snub nose Webley police revolver a few years back that was a good shooter when handloaded for.
My favorite of the British revolvers though, is the Webley Mk VI converted to .45 acp and loaded w/sized lead bullets. Not only is it a very fun handgun, but also quite accurate.