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Thread: .455 Webley "manstopper"

  1. #1
    Boolit Master



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    .455 Webley "manstopper"

    Has anyone ever made a mold that duplicates the .455 Webley "manstopper"? Being sort of a double ended wadcutter hollowpoint, I'm really curious as to how complicated the mold might have been. I'd really like to see an original to see how they accomplished that bullet shape!

    I have a Webley in nice shape but cut for .45 acp/auto rim and thought it might be a fun project to duplicate the load (which was fairly moderate according to what I can find out).

    O.K.....laughter can begin at this point.....................................

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    IIRC they were a hollow base, hollow point boolit. I THINK they were swaged. It would be a bit of a project to replicate. Maybe cast the hollow base, and run it into a press to swage a HP into it?

  3. #3
    Boolit Master



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    Well, after my post I went looking on Lee's site. They have a very, uhhh, "respectable" boolit mold for the .45 long Colt that's basically a huge wadcutter. Their boolit for the Casull is even bigger. Talk about smack!

    Now, if a guy were to cast and size, but not lube.....then place each boolit in a simple drillpress alignment jig, an ordinary hemispherical cutter run at slow speed with a set depth would form the classic hollow of the Webley slug. Lube after the operation is finished. I think the cavity at the rear might not be necessary really, especially if the boolit is somewhat soft anyway. I'm not sure how much weight would be removed, but it might be an interesting experiment.

    Even if not a true duplicate, it would give an opponent reason to ponder his future in this earthly existance when faced with six torpedo sized holes staring at him.

  4. #4
    Banned 45 2.1's Avatar
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    Has anyone ever made a mold that duplicates the .455 Webley "manstopper"? Being sort of a double ended wadcutter hollowpoint, I'm really curious as to how complicated the mold might have been. I'd really like to see an original to see how they accomplished that bullet shape! They were swaged. The BritishMilitaria forum has the original spec. dimensions which I sent to Buckshot so he could make me a swage some years ago. They work, shoot and expand quite well.

    I have a Webley in nice shape but cut for .45 acp/auto rim and thought it might be a fun project to duplicate the load (which was fairly moderate according to what I can find out). Mk III loading I believe.

    O.K.....laughter can begin at this point..................................... Its a good project, give it a try.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master



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    Ah......swaged, of course. Makes sense and must have been "cutting edge" technology at the time.

  6. #6
    Boolit Bub
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    I may be mistaken, but seems to me this was recently addressed in Handloader Magazine. Scovill mentioned RCBS made a hollow base mold for the .455. He added how impressive it would be to load the boolits, hollow base forward in a .45.

  7. #7
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    Here's a link to some good reading: http://cartridgecollectors.org/455/introto455.htm

    RRR
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  8. #8
    Boolit Master

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    RRR,
    Thanksf or that link. I had read that somewhere else and it matches with the info I have read in other places.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master
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    A few years ago, there was a Colt New Service in 455 getting sold by a dealer at the range Buckshot conducted the Burrito Shoot at. I came very close to buying that critter, until die pricing focused my attention onto reality. I selected a boat as a more reasonable outlay of cash for entertainment, which says volumes about semi-custom weird caliber tooling costs. Yeah, I know--kinda subversive and un-American, but at some point reason needs to enter the equation.

    Boring, huh?
    I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.

  10. #10
    Banned 45 2.1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 9.3X62AL View Post
    A few years ago, there was a Colt New Service in 455 getting sold by a dealer at the range Buckshot conducted the Burrito Shoot at. I came very close to buying that critter, until die pricing focused my attention onto reality. I selected a boat as a more reasonable outlay of cash for entertainment, which says volumes about semi-custom weird caliber tooling costs. Yeah, I know--kinda subversive and un-American, but at some point reason needs to enter the equation.

    Boring, huh?
    You need 45 Colt dies to load the 455................ Shorten the seater (Lee makes them now also) and find a mold that casts a minimum of 0.455" and you have all you need. For brass, thin the inside of the 45 Colt case rim and trim it to the proper cylinder chamber length. Pretty simple considering there are other calibers out there that are a lot harder to feed.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    I had one of the 455 webley revolvers a long time ago (to show how long it cost me $25) It had been converted to take the ACP round in half moon clips or the auto rim round. I loved that revolver. At the same time I had a 1917 S&W and Colt revolvers and the Webley out shot both of them. Today that revolver is owned by my Brother in law.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Throwback's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wildcat View Post
    I may be mistaken, but seems to me this was recently addressed in Handloader Magazine. Scovill mentioned RCBS made a hollow base mold for the .455. He added how impressive it would be to load the boolits, hollow base forward in a .45.
    Wildcat is right - very interesting wadcutter with a dome point - RCBS special offering listed by Huntington's especially for the .455and ilk.

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy The Virginian's Avatar
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    Does NEI make a mold like this?

  14. #14
    Boolit Mold
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    Hey Guys, I have also been fascinated about the old Webley MK III and Mk IV Manstoppers since my days as a Gunny at TSJC where out Instructor Leonard Bull used to tell tales about that old cartridge. I took it a step further and had Dave Corbin make me up dies and punches to make the old bullet in .452. This works great in .45 Colt, AutoRim and about any revolver you would every want to shoot it in. The hollow base upsets enough to fill any bore including the old Webley’s as I had Bob Shell test some for me in his. It is a low velocity round with it being made of pure lead for the MK III and I make the MK IV a little harder like the original. I know there is a custom mold from RCBS to make ones similar to the original MK IV which is nicked name the Flying Trash Can Lid. If you have an interest and want to try, I am happy to send a few samples or sell you some if you truly want to shoot the grand old round. It is a lot of fun and is about the only low velocity bullet I have tested that will not clog on clothing and expands no matter what you shoot it through.
    john@cma

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy cloakndagger's Avatar
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    Pm inbound john@cma
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  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy cloakndagger's Avatar
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    No response from john, anyone else interested in selling a few of these?
    Any man who seeks to live free should keep a Bible on his desk and a .45 in the drawer.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Buffalo Arms had/has the Webley style and diameter bullets in stock.

    I bought a Webely MkVI that's been cut for .45acp last summer..then discovered the normal .45acp ball ammo is on the ragged edge of what these are proofed for.

    Not wanting to batter my old 1916 vintage revolver beyond it's designed limits...I've decided to load some lead bulleted lighter loads for it myself. However too many irons in the fire..and I really have not got the '.45acp for Webely revolver' project beyond the thinking about it stage

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I have a hollow pint jig for my millinmg machine with a collet and thats how I make all my expirimental hollow points. IIRR the manstopper was a 265 gr bullet at about 600 fps. I shot some back in the 70's and they were so slow you could folow the bullet if the sun was right, like a looping laser to the target.

  19. #19
    Boolit Mold
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    I know this is an old thread and I've been reloading for a while and casting for about a year but I'm considering buying a Webley .455 Mk III Manstopper bullet mold and was wondering what I should do for a seating die. I have 45 Colt dies from Hornady that would likely work for the wadcutter flat profile of the bullet nose but my Webley Mk II dies from Lee aren't going to cut it and I have 45ACP dies from Hornady as well and was wondering if anyone has tried using a flat nose seater from one of those to seat Mk III hollow point wadcutter bullets without causing deformation during seating. Anyone have a fix for this that doesn't require machining my own special bullet seater?

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Operator119 View Post
    I know this is an old thread and I've been reloading for a while and casting for about a year but I'm considering buying a Webley .455 Mk III Manstopper bullet mold and was wondering what I should do for a seating die. I have 45 Colt dies from Hornady that would likely work for the wadcutter flat profile of the bullet nose but my Webley Mk II dies from Lee aren't going to cut it and I have 45ACP dies from Hornady as well and was wondering if anyone has tried using a flat nose seater from one of those to seat Mk III hollow point wadcutter bullets without causing deformation during seating. Anyone have a fix for this that doesn't require machining my own special bullet seater?
    I use an old RCBS .45 Auto Rim roll crimp seater which has a wadcutter seating plug. I also use the longer 0.87" Mk1 cases from Reed's Custom Ammo, because they reduce bullet jump in the Webley chamber, compared to the shorter Starline, Hornady or Fiocchi Mk2 cases.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check