The modern Enfield Rifle Company officially launched the MERC415 Type I carbine.  Although the company opened in December 2012, the official announcement was held until now due to recent market volatility.

Based in Clayton, Georgia (USA), the company sees itself as “an Old World name combined with New World technology to the American commercial market for the first time.”  The first rifle the company has brought to the market is the MERC415.  MERC stands for “modern Enfield Rifle Company.”

The MERC415 is and M4-style AR-15 with a 16″ 1:7 barrel.  The bore and chamber are both chrome lined.

The MERC415 uses a variety of off-the-shelf finishing items, including a Magpul MOE stock, a Magpul flip up rear sight, a MOE pistol grip and the YHM Aggressive Phantom flash suppressor.  The rifle comes with a single Magpul 30 round magazine and a hard plastic case.  The total weight of the gun is 6.3 pounds.

Enfield Rifle Company developed a new term:  Mil-GRADE.  Mil-GRADE is an effort to describe the features and build quality of the rifle without invoking the frequently mis-used Mil-Spec term.  According to Enfield:

Mil-GRADE stands for Military-Government Requirements And Data Equivalent. It is akin to “Mil-Spec” but without the implications that it is built to the US Government Technical Data Package and that all the associated red tape of lot certifications, testing and Government inspections are taking place. “We don’t think most of what is being called ‘Mil-Spec’ is truly military specification when taking into account what that literally means, so we needed a name to convey what we are doing,” said Nigel Boothe, one of the founding Members and Chairman of the company.