Looking for info on Webley revolvers

[Jtarm]

What is a goid reference for Webley revolvers?

"Peaky Blinders" has gotten me interested in them.

Although by season 3, I did notice S&W HEs in the hands of some of the "good guys", and season 4 the lead character has dumped his Webley and SXS shotgun in favor of a 1911 and Mauser carbine.

I guess loyalty to king and country has its limits.

[Bigslug]

Ye Olde Wikipedia has been my primary source through the aquisition of a .455 MKVI from 1917 and a .38 MKIV from 1944. Basic searches for things like "Webley revolver serial number dates" will net you a fair amount of usable intel, and hanging out here is probably your best source for data on dimensional issues because you pretty much NEED to roll your own ammo, and this crowd is better at measuring than most. Unfortunately, I don't know of a definitive work on them.

Like most things British, the nomenclature can be a bit mind-bending. I've often said that it's a good thing England never had a kind named Marcus, because then we'd have the Mark 8 cartridge made for the Mark 3 version of the Number 2 rifle manufactured during the reign of Mark 5's Number 1 son, Mark 6. Nope, not confusing at all! [smilie=b:

Perhaps it's a U.S.-based perspective, but I have the impression that being revolvers (more hand-fitting & more difficult disassembly than autos), that were never chambered in rounds that caught on for sport shooting (less wear) they're probably easier to collect unaltered specimens of (.45 ACP shaved cylinders notwithstanding) than something like a 1911 where most WWI guns will be Frankensteined together with parts from all conceivable eras.

[smkummer]

I would have to believe in any war conflict, one uses what they have and if given a choice, what they like. Just yesterday I was shooting my colt 1917 and my fiends S&W 1917. I also have 1 of the approximately 60,000 colt new service 455 revolvers made for England during WW1. The Smith definitely fits my hand best, the Colt appears to be designed for someone with huge hands. But in single action, I couldnt miss any reasonable target I was aiming at, even doing a OK in double action with the Colt. It’s been 25 years since I fired a shaved webley and it felt slightly awkward compared to the US revolvers.
I like the sights better on a SMLE than a Mauser. I like the sights better on a 1917 rifle better than the 1903 Springfield, even though the Springfield is lighter.

[KCSO]

Go to the British Militaria forum all the info you could want.

[Outpost75]

Some references you can find on Amazon:

The Webley Service Revolver (Weapon) Paperback – by Robert Maze (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

The Webley Story: A History of Webley Pistols and Revolvers, and the Development of the Pistol Cartridge Reprint Edition by William Chipchase Dowell (Author)

[rintinglen]

Although Colt 22 Woodsman pistols are my all time favorites, among the many others that intrigue me are the Webley revolvers.

IIRC, the Webley concern started making revolvers in the 1850's, percussion cap and ball repeaters, originally, but later including pin-fire and rimfire guns. During the American Civil war, they made copies of the Smith and Wesson tip-up revolvers, allegedly under license but I have never seen that stated as a confirmed fact. In the late 1860's, they made their first large caliber center-fire revolvers, initially single action, but soon followed by double-action. These were adopted by the Royal Irish Constabulary and became famous as the RIC Bulldog, .442 caliber "snubbies" that combined compact size with reasonable stopping power. I have the acquisition of one of these on my bucket list.

Their next endeavor was the Webley Army Express, which was sort of a double action version of an 1873 Colt in appearance chambered for the low powered 450 British cartridge. They were very popular with British Officers, who had to purchase their own side arms, being sturdier than the Enfield revolvers the British were buying for the Army at that time. By the early 1880's, the Army was fed up with the problems with the Enfield and Starting with the .455 Mark I in 1884 they went through a series of several (Mk I, I*, II, II**, III, III*, III**) black powder framed guns. These for the most part had 4 inch barrels and Bird's head grips, though you will sometimes find examples with 6 inch barrels. But in 1897, the Army was having problems with the earlier Models. The smokeless cordite cartridges were wearing out and breaking them prematurely. Something had to be done, and so the Webley concern produced the MK IV design with upgraded steel to better withstand the higher pressures , but otherwise it appears identical to the MK III. This was the standard for the next 15 years until 1913, when the Mk V was adopted. It shared the birdshead grip and 4 inch barrel of it's predecessors but had a larger cylinder, again to better with stand the pressures of smokeless powder. The Mk V had a short service life, as the demands of Trench war-fare made a longer barrel and a square butt desirable. In 1915, the Mk VI was adopted. This is the most common one.

Usually Found with a 6 inch barrel and a squared-off grip, black plastic or bake-lite grips, over three hundred thousand were made by war's end. However, there is more to this. Some were fitted with Mk V barrels, and more commonly, older models were fitted with Mk V cylinders and Mk V or Mk VI barrels to meet the vastly increased demand generated by the war. If you come across a Mk I**, (or a II**, or III** for that matter) They were modified as a war-time expedient. I would only shoot them sparingly, with very light loads of smokeless powder, and I would prefer to use black powder. For while the Cylinders and Barrels were upgraded, the rest of the gun remains 19th century steel. In the 1950's and 1960's, many of these guns were modified to shoot 45 ACP/Auto rim cartridges. DON'T DO IT. Use only reloads approximating the pressures that they were originally designed for.

My own Webley is a post-WWI commercial Mk VI that has been cut for 45 Auto rim. It has a 4 inch barrel and dates to the early 1920's.

[Outpost75]

Best affordable reference you can find on Amazon is:

The Webley Service Revolver (Weapon) Paperback – by Robert Maze (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

A condensation of my Fouling Shot article:


“A Little Powder, a Lot of Lead, Shoot ’Em Once, They’ll Be Dead . ”

The first self-extracting revolver adopted by the British was the 1880 .442 Enfield rim-fire. A comedy of errors, its unlocked cylinder enabled loaded chambers to rotate of their own weight to the bottom of the frame, leaving the user with an empty gun! Experience in the Zulu and Afghan campaigns revealed that the .442 was too heavy, inaccurate, awkward-loading, too complicated to deploy quickly, and worse, underpowered and not drop-safe. “Improvements” of the Mk2 version, which included changing to a .450 centerfire cartridge, did not address the plethora of issues. Withdrawn after only ten years, it was replaced by the Webley Mk1 with 4-inch barrel, firing the .450/476 cartridge. The Webley served for many years being produced in successive “Marks” I through VI. The Mark IV (Boer War Model) and later marks are safe for Cordite or smokeless loads, whereas the marks I through III were proved for black powder only.

The .455 Mk VI cartridge, introduced in 1939, was used during WW2. Its 265-grain FMJ bullet attained 625 +/-25 fps from a 5” barrel. It was considered obsolete by the end of WW2. Ammunition was made by Kynoch until 1969. CIL of Canada loaded lead-bullet .455 Colt ammunition into the mid-1970s. Hornady produced a run of Mk2 ammo in 2008.Starline now produces 0.76” .455 Mk II brass. Fiocchi MkII ammunition is excellent if you can find any!

Prior to WW1 service pistol practice in the British Army was one-handed, single-action slow fire. Shooting was conducted at 30 paces on 8-inch bullseye targets. Two-handed or double-action shooting were not taught. Rapid, continuous fire was expected only in an extreme emergency. Revolver drills in the Musketry Regulations 1909-1914 emphasized deliberate single-action fire “executed with alacrity.”

From 1890 on Royal Navy issued .455 Webleys for shore and boarding parties. Ship’s equipment provided ample stocks of revolvers for such purposes. WW1 British Army practice was to arm officers and NCOs, as well as cooks, trumpeters, farriers, gunners, transport drivers, pilots, observers, engineers, and sappers with “pistols.” (Brits call all handguns “pistols,” and the term “revolver” was also commonly used to describe any handgun.)

In 1916 revolvers became secondary arms for the newly formed Machine Gun Corps, as well as for the Royal Flying Corps and the Tank Corps. Trench warfare spurred the development of “practical pistol shooting” as we know it today. Revolvers, Mill’s bombs, cutlasses, hatchets, and clubs were the preferred armament carried on trench raids. In 1916 Capt. C.D. Tracy and Capt. J.B.L. Noel produced the “Instructional Course for the Webley Pistol,” which emphasized instinctive point shooting.

Its objective was for every soldier armed with a revolver to be able to accomplish “The War Shot” — hitting a 16” high x 12” wide steel plate at ten yards in one second.

Pistols were universally thought of as close-range weapons for fast encounters:

“The revolver is . . . a weapon for quick use at close quarters . . . looked upon more as a defensive weapon than an arm of precision . . . for delivering a knock-down blow within the limits of its normal short fighting range . . . used instinctively . . . aligned and discharged as a shotgun is used on moving game, rather than being consciously sighted . . . .”

Pistols would only be held with two hands for engaging the enemy at distances beyond 20 yards, such as when firing at the charging Hun over a trench parapet, or when in “No Man’s Land” from the shelter of a shell crater, firing from a prone position. Otherwise soldiers were taught a one-handed, stiff-armed position, intended to absorb recoil, pivoting the body as if a gun turret, and to thumb-cock the revolver as it is raised in a smooth motion after the draw, discharging the gun instinctively at the top of its vertical rise at the precise instant the sights came into alignment with the target, without dwelling upon sight picture. When firing single-action in this fashion, the expectation was for a soldier to produce six hits on a human silhouette at 15 yards in 12 seconds. An expert shot, firing double-action, was expected to engage three targets in 3 seconds, at distances from contact to 10 yards, firing instinctively from the hip.

Training emphasized proper stance, grip, and draw, and coordinating the rise and alignment of the pistol. A full hand squeeze was taught to discharge the revolver without jerking the trigger, being reinforced through dry firing to build smooth, coordinated motion, executed rapidly to “shoot first, and make a solid hit!”

Training conditions were made as realistic as possible. Elaborate trench systems with canvas houses featured moving targets which fleetingly appeared, advanced, and retreated, crossing quickly in front of the shooter or just popping up momentarily before vanishing. Instruction included ambidextrous firing around corners when moving through a trench, clearing a dugout or house room-by-room. Training emphasis stressed use of cover vs. mere concealment, to protect raiding parties from shells or enemy fire, exploiting wall corner beams, rubble piles, or shell craters. Two-handed shooting was taught to 50 yards or more. Common-sense instructions included advice such as:

• Keep track of the number of rounds fired.
• Top off the revolver as frequently as possible.
• Never advance with fewer than 3 chambers loaded.
• When loading single rounds, load the chamber at 10:00 first, with the others to follow anti-clockwise, because the Webley (and Colt) cylinder rotates clockwise, the cartridge will be rotated into position straightaway.
• When unloading, to avoid a spent case being trapped under the extractor, always hold the pistol muzzle up or on its side when breaking it open.
• If in the heat of battle should a revolver run empty or become unserviceable, attempt to bluff the enemy,
• If the above fails, use the pistol as a bludgeon. Use the barrel to jab at the eyes or throat or use the front sight in a backhanded slash across the neck.
• The grip on the gun must never be relinquished, nor should the gun ever be held by the barrel to use it as a club!

(Indeed, there had been accounts of officers being shot after having experienced a misfire when they grasped the barrel for bludgeoning purposes, only to have the enemy grab the butt, and pull the trigger repeatedly until the weapon discharged).

Tracey’s Revolver Shooting in War (1916) describes these methods in detail.

While pistol lanyards were uniform items of the era, Tracy considered them a liability in the trenches. “If used, it should only be employed at night or if mounted and NEVER attached around the neck, but around the arm, either under the epaulettes or centrally on the Sam Browne belt, allowing for the pistol to be employed with either hand.” Otherwise the lanyard had the potential to be snagged on equipment or debris. Indeed, an acquaintance of Tracy was strangled with a pistol lanyard, and another lost his life when the lanyard was caught by the revolver hammer, causing a misfire, so that he was bayonetted.

[Jtarm]

Best affordable reference you can find on Amazon is:

The Webley Service Revolver (Weapon) Paperback – by Robert Maze (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

A condensation of my Fouling Shot article:


“A Little Powder, a Lot of Lead, Shoot ’Em Once, They’ll Be Dead . ”

The first self-extracting revolver adopted by the British was the 1880 .442 Enfield rim-fire. A comedy of errors, its unlocked cylinder enabled loaded chambers to rotate of their own weight to the bottom of the frame, leaving the user with an empty gun! Experience in the Zulu and Afghan campaigns revealed that the .442 was too heavy, inaccurate, awkward-loading, too complicated to deploy quickly, and worse, underpowered and not drop-safe. “Improvements” of the Mk2 version, which included changing to a .450 centerfire cartridge, did not address the plethora of issues. Withdrawn after only ten years, it was replaced by the Webley Mk1 with 4-inch barrel, firing the .450/476 cartridge. The Webley served for many years being produced in successive “Marks” I through VI. The Mark IV (Boer War Model) and later marks are safe for Cordite or smokeless loads, whereas the marks I through III were proved for black powder only.

The .455 Mk VI cartridge, introduced in 1939, was used during WW2. Its 265-grain FMJ bullet attained 625 +/-25 fps from a 5” barrel. It was considered obsolete by the end of WW2. Ammunition was made by Kynoch until 1969. CIL of Canada loaded lead-bullet .455 Colt ammunition into the mid-1970s. Hornady produced a run of Mk2 ammo in 2008.Starline now produces 0.76” .455 Mk II brass. Fiocchi MkII ammunition is excellent if you can find any!

Prior to WW1 service pistol practice in the British Army was one-handed, single-action slow fire. Shooting was conducted at 30 paces on 8-inch bullseye targets. Two-handed or double-action shooting were not taught. Rapid, continuous fire was expected only in an extreme emergency. Revolver drills in the Musketry Regulations 1909-1914 emphasized deliberate single-action fire “executed with alacrity.”

From 1890 on Royal Navy issued .455 Webleys for shore and boarding parties. Ship’s equipment provided ample stocks of revolvers for such purposes. WW1 British Army practice was to arm officers and NCOs, as well as cooks, trumpeters, farriers, gunners, transport drivers, pilots, observers, engineers, and sappers with “pistols.” (Brits call all handguns “pistols,” and the term “revolver” was also commonly used to describe any handgun.)

In 1916 revolvers became secondary arms for the newly formed Machine Gun Corps, as well as for the Royal Flying Corps and the Tank Corps. Trench warfare spurred the development of “practical pistol shooting” as we know it today. Revolvers, Mill’s bombs, cutlasses, hatchets, and clubs were the preferred armament carried on trench raids. In 1916 Capt. C.D. Tracy and Capt. J.B.L. Noel produced the “Instructional Course for the Webley Pistol,” which emphasized instinctive point shooting.

Its objective was for every soldier armed with a revolver to be able to accomplish “The War Shot” — hitting a 16” high x 12” wide steel plate at ten yards in one second.

Pistols were universally thought of as close-range weapons for fast encounters:

“The revolver is . . . a weapon for quick use at close quarters . . . looked upon more as a defensive weapon than an arm of precision . . . for delivering a knock-down blow within the limits of its normal short fighting range . . . used instinctively . . . aligned and discharged as a shotgun is used on moving game, rather than being consciously sighted . . . .”

Pistols would only be held with two hands for engaging the enemy at distances beyond 20 yards, such as when firing at the charging Hun over a trench parapet, or when in “No Man’s Land” from the shelter of a shell crater, firing from a prone position. Otherwise soldiers were taught a one-handed, stiff-armed position, intended to absorb recoil, pivoting the body as if a gun turret, and to thumb-cock the revolver as it is raised in a smooth motion after the draw, discharging the gun instinctively at the top of its vertical rise at the precise instant the sights came into alignment with the target, without dwelling upon sight picture. When firing single-action in this fashion, the expectation was for a soldier to produce six hits on a human silhouette at 15 yards in 12 seconds. An expert shot, firing double-action, was expected to engage three targets in 3 seconds, at distances from contact to 10 yards, firing instinctively from the hip.

Training emphasized proper stance, grip, and draw, and coordinating the rise and alignment of the pistol. A full hand squeeze was taught to discharge the revolver without jerking the trigger, being reinforced through dry firing to build smooth, coordinated motion, executed rapidly to “shoot first, and make a solid hit!”

Training conditions were made as realistic as possible. Elaborate trench systems with canvas houses featured moving targets which fleetingly appeared, advanced, and retreated, crossing quickly in front of the shooter or just popping up momentarily before vanishing. Instruction included ambidextrous firing around corners when moving through a trench, clearing a dugout or house room-by-room. Training emphasis stressed use of cover vs. mere concealment, to protect raiding parties from shells or enemy fire, exploiting wall corner beams, rubble piles, or shell craters. Two-handed shooting was taught to 50 yards or more. Common-sense instructions included advice such as:

•Keep track of the number of rounds fired.
•Top off the revolver as frequently as possible.
•Never advance with fewer than 3 chambers loaded.
•When loading single rounds, load the chamber at 10:00 first, with the others to follow anti-clockwise, because the Webley (and Colt) cylinder rotates clockwise, the cartridge will be rotated into position straightaway.
•When unloading, to avoid a spent case being trapped under the extractor, always hold the pistol muzzle up or on its side when breaking it open.
•If in the heat of battle should a revolver run empty or become unserviceable, attempt to bluff the enemy,
•If the above fails, use the pistol as a bludgeon. Use the barrel to jab at the eyes or throat or use the front sight in a backhanded slash across the neck.
•The grip on the gun must never be relinquished, nor should the gun ever be held by the barrel to use it as a club!

(Indeed, there had been accounts of officers being shot after having experienced a misfire when they grasped the barrel for bludgeoning purposes, only to have the enemy grab the butt, and pull the trigger repeatedly until the weapon discharged).

Tracey’s Revolver Shooting in War (1916) describes these methods in detail.

While pistol lanyards were uniform items of the era, Tracy considered them a liability in the trenches. “If used, it should only be employed at night or if mounted and NEVER attached around the neck, but around the arm, either under the epaulettes or centrally on the Sam Browne belt, allowing for the pistol to be employed with either hand.” Otherwise the lanyard had the potential to be snagged on equipment or debris. Indeed, an acquaintance of Tracy was strangled with a pistol lanyard, and another lost his life when the lanyard was caught by the revolver hammer, causing a misfire, so that he was bayonetted.

Great material.

I wish to hell someone from IDPA would read it.

[Outpost75]

Great material.

I wish to hell someone from IDPA would read it.

IDPA are gamers. It is not training.

More useful references:

Bullseyes Don't Shoot Back: The Complete Textbook of Point Shooting for Close Quarters Combat by Michael Dwayne Janich (Author), and Col. Rex Applegate (Author)

The Close-Combat Files of Colonel Rex Applegate by Rex Applegate (Author), Chuck Melson (Author)

Kill Or Get Killed: Riot Control, Manhandling, and Close Combat for Police and the Military by Rex Applegate (Author)

Street Survival: Tactics For Armed Encounters by Ronald J. Adams , Thomas A. McTernan, et al.

The Tactical Edge: Surviving High-Risk Patrol by Charles Remsberg (Author)

Police Pistol Craft: The Reality-Based New Paradigm of Police Firearms Training
by Michael E. Conti , Jim Cirillo, et al.

There are better references today, geared specifically to the autopistol, but before 1985 when most cops trained with and carried revolvers, the above were the most common training references, and they are still very good.

[Jtarm]

Some references you can find on Amazon:

The Webley Service Revolver (Weapon) Paperback – by Robert Maze (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

The Webley Story: A History of Webley Pistols and Revolvers, and the Development of the Pistol Cartridge Reprint Edition by William Chipchase Dowell (Author)

As always, you're a treasure trove of revolver info.

I ordered the Maze book.

[Outpost75]

Jtarm, if you would like to PM me with an email address which can accept LARGE (20MB) attachments, I can share a copy of:

The Service Revolver and How to Use It
BY CAPTAIN C. D. TRACY
The King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regt.
The School of Musketry, Bisley
Author of “Revolver Shooting in War”

LONDON

HARRISON AND SONS
Printers in Ordinary to His Majesty
Military Printers, Publishers and Stationers
ST. MARTINS’S LANE, W.C. 2

[Outpost75]

Sorry, network lag time duplicate deleted.

[Jtarm]

I'm about halfway through The Webley Service Revolver.

Interesting book. It covers much of the development of British Service Revolvers.

The Brits loved the Colt Navy, but, like me, regarded the .36 (or 84 bore) as woefully inadequate.

The Mk III round looks absolutely devastating: a concave-nosed wadcutter. The Mk IV & V were full wadcutters, until the Brits got shamed in to giving up their "inhumane" ammo.

[FergusonTO35]

Hopefully a sign of things to come!

https://www.guns.com/news/2020/02/25/gunmaker-webley-scott-reboots-in-india-as-u-s-strengthens-trade-ties

[PB234]

Outpost75, thank you for another informative post well worth sitting back and reading slowly. There is also a group buy going on now for a hollow base (.455? SWC? NOE? memory fails me) bullet that looks workable for these old revolvers.

[Tokarev]

Joel Black, in Canada, if he is still alive, is one of the most knowledgeable connoisseurs of Webley guns.

[PB234]

Wasn't Joel in Wisconsin? Bought a Webley from him on an auction site a years ago. Later I found him bidding against me for an old clean Brno rimfire and I thought if he is the bidder below me I must be getting a good deal so I left him $5 or $10 below me and won the auction. If I were him I would not use my name on an online auction. From time to time Joel would sell off very decent items from roughly that period of time on the same auction site. Hope hs is fine. I like the Webley even if it just sits in the safe these days.

[PB234]

Hopefully a sign of things to come!

https://www.guns.com/news/2020/02/25/gunmaker-webley-scott-reboots-in-india-as-u-s-strengthens-trade-ties

Yes, I hope so and isn't there some firm in the area also trying to manufacture the Webley Automatic Revolver? That might get me to buy another thing I have no real use for.

[Outpost75]

Outpost75, thank you for another informative post well worth sitting back and reading slowly. There is also a group buy going on now for a hollow base (.455? SWC? NOE? memory fails me) bullet that looks workable for these old revolvers.

The HB bullet works well, but my experience has been that cylinder throats in original Webleys vary from chamber to chamber and are often smaller than barrel groove diameter. I had DougGuy uniform the cylinder throats of my MkVI and hone them up from their tight .448-.451 diameters to a uniform .4555" all around and had Tom at Accurate Molds cut a 264-grain ogival wadcutter to fit and cut my group sizes in HALF! I use the same bullet sized. 455" ina die Doug did to match the new chambers, also in my 1914 Colt New Service .455 and my M1917 New Service .45 ACP, which all came from the factory with .456" cylinder throats.

I see no benefit to waiting for a group by to purchase a mold to somebody else's design which may not even fit your gun, when you can get a pure custom mold which casts to size in your alloy, which fits your gun exactly, and have it made to order and delivered in three weeks.


I've had custom made molds done for all my using guns and sold all my H&G, Cramer, Saeco, Magma, Hoch, RCBS and other iron molds and have been money ahead. All of my molds now are either LBT, NOE or Accurate and I don't regret the change one bit.

[PB234]

The HB bullet works well, but my experience has been that cylinder throats in original Webleys vary from chamber to chamber and are often smaller than barrel groove diameter. I had DougGuy uniform the cylinder throats of my MkVI and hone them up from their tight .448-.451 diameters to a uniform .4555" all around and had Tom at Accurate Molds cut a 264-grain ogival wadcutter to fit and cut my group sizes in HALF! I use the same bullet sized. 455" ina die Doug did to match the new chambers, also in my 1914 Colt New Service .455 and my M1917 New Service .45 ACP, which all came from the factory with .456" cylinder throats.

I see no benefit to waiting for a group by to purchase a mold to somebody else's design which may not even fit your gun, when you can get a pure custom mold which casts to size in your alloy, which fits your gun exactly, and have it made to order and delivered in three weeks.


I've had custom made molds done for all my using guns and sold all my H&G, Cramer, Saeco, Magma, Hoch, RCBS and other iron molds and have been money ahead. All of my molds now are either LBT, NOE or Accurate and I don't regret the change one bit.

100% right and appreciate the information. My shooting Webley is a historical curosity for me to be left alone rather than altered to make it preform better. A Webley in a world offering modern pistols is an enjoyable range toy. I understand the enjoyment of making the old work better, appreciating the effort and expertise.

Your sharing of knowledge is most appreciated.

[Outpost75]

100% right and appreciate the information. My shooting Webley is a historical curosity for me to be left alone rather than altered to make it preform better. A Webley in a world offering modern pistols is an enjoyable range toy. I understand the enjoyment of making the old work better, appreciating the effort and expertise.

Your sharing of knowledge is most appreciated.

I absolutely appreciate keeping the old guns original.

But I was also concerned that after I'm gone someone shooting the revolver with oversized, hard bullets in tight throats would burst the cylinder, as I've seen this happen often. I decided that uniforming the throats was not apparent to casual inspection, did not impair cosmetics, but improved shooting and safety for future shooters. I feel that sin will be forgiven.

[PB234]

I think anyone who gets your old timers will be very lucky especially if the custom mold and some advice goes with it. It is no sin at all to fulfill a harmless hobby as desired. If I were the eventual owner of your modified equipment and the molds I would cherish them as I do some other pieces I have that were clearly owned by someone who knew what they were doing before I acquired them. Mostly I have stopped buying saving my wife the problem of getting rid of more if I die. She will probably sell my "treasures" for 20 cents on the dollar anyway. I'll be rolling in my grave : ) .

[Outpost75]

I think anyone who gets your old timers will be very lucky especially if the custom mold and some advice goes with it. It is no sin at all to fulfill a harmless hobby as desired. If I were the eventual owner of your modified equipment and the molds I would cherish them as I do some other pieces I have that were clearly owned by someone who knew what they were doing before I acquired them. Mostly I have stopped buying saving my wife the problem of getting rid of more if I die. She will probably sell my "treasures" for 20 cents on the dollar anyway. I'll be rolling in my grave : ) .

I'm glad that you understand. There is also a .455 rook rifle in the package.

259234

[PB234]

To say I am envious of that rook rifle is putting it mildly.

[Onty]

If you are looking for excellent 455 molds, here are few (left and center) intended for Webley https://www.mp-molds.com/shop/?query_type_caliber=or&filter_caliber=455 . RCBS also makes 455 mold, but from MP molds you can get for close the same money 4 cavity one, versus single cavity made by RCBS. Might be some other manufacturers but I am not aware. Hope that other members could step in.

As for MP 45-270 Ohaus Hollow on right side on website above, I cannot comment that one, except I do not see reason why it couldn't be tried in Webley.

As for cylinder bores, here things are getting strange. First, 455 Webley round started as black powder one. Now, in order to get the pressure up to wanted level (12600 PSI), Brits made cylinder mouth .448-.451 to squeeze boolit. Well that is fine, but barrel dia is .450-.452. (All measurements on 4 different Mk VI, made 1915-1918)

Since we all know that smaller cylinder bore and larger barrel don't mix well (many shooting Ruger BH 45 Colt know that first hand), that is the reason why 455 Webley revolvers have hollow base, and why lead for them must be soft. Once boolit is out from cylinder and entering barrel, it will expand and fill the barrel.

NOTE: Do not count on solid base boolit obturation in Webley. Max. pressure is too low for that.