Why no new .455s?

[ddixie884]

I wonder why no one has chambered any of the compact revolvers for .455 Eley?

[Winger Ed.]

It got obsoleted out like the .38S&W and others.
Now days, there isn't a demand or market for them.

If you're running a gun making factory- you have to produce what sells.

[smkummer]

I wonder why no one has chambered any of the compact revolvers for .455 Eley?
I have about heard it all now. 455 is so old that it would now be considered a proprietary cartridge now. Anyway, a Charter 44 special bulldog is your best bet.

[Nueces]

Or a Charter Pit Bull in 45 ACP. Neat gun that also makes a nice platform for shot rounds.

[Bigslug]

Webley fan that I am. . . Honestly? Not exciting or versatile enough. Practical as all get out for the original purpose, but 625 FPS doesn't generate much OOOH-AAAH in our era of post-Weatherby brainwashing.

[Texas by God]

The same reason that there are no new .41 Long Colt revolvers or .30 Luger auto pistols. Obsolescence.

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[TNsailorman]

Most folks going in harms way these days are wearing kevelar and that will stop the .455 dead in its tracks. In its day it was not a bad cartridge against the Zulu's and other natives around the world but they were for the most part bare chested or simple cloth clothing. The .45 Schofield or .44 Russian would have been effective also. The .45 Colt would have been a holy terror. I am not sure what the future holds on the battlefields but with night vision and lasers, it ain't going to be good for the mud soldier. RPG's are better than handguns and they will become obsolete in a few years. my take anyway, james

[Walks]

Why ?

[Outpost75]

Back in the day if you offered Ruger a million dollars for a special order he would make them for you but WBR wanted cash up front.

[FergusonTO35]

Biggest problem I see is, ordinary serfs cannot own handguns or it is legally difficult to do so in the places where the .455 is a part of the historical memory.

[rintinglen]

Underpowered, inaccurate, never was all that popular outside the UK. Gee, I wonder why they don't make them anymore?

[Nueces]

Well, I'm doing my part, into a FrankenSmith project. I've long had a mechanically nice Smith 1917 that some yahoo had ground off the US markings and took off the lanyard ring. Rest of the finish is really nice, but the Dremel work on the bottom of the barrel is rough. As was common with Smiths, the chamber throats are generous. These go only 0.454, though, fairly reasonable. A trip to DougGuy's operation would smooth them out and match them up to the Smith 455 barrel I got on the bay. This barrel is as nicely finished as the revolver, 6 1/2" long.

I'll load large diameter slugs in 45 AR cases and have a modern 455. The Lyman four banger mould for the 452488 I bought from here (that casts up to 0.457) will be a good source of plumbous fodder.

Now that I'm older and more accepting of originality, I will leave the plain sights alone and enjoy shooting it. I bought this 1917, as roughly handled as it had been, to make a snake load sidearm for use when quail hunting in south Texas. The plan was to cut the barrel in front of the ejector rod latch, which would get rid of the scars. However, I went another direction for a shot revolver when I bought the Charter Pit Bull 45 ACP I mentioned above, which is perfect.

Here is a good example of how well things can turn out when project ground is allowed to "recover" for a time. It's not procrastination, I tell you!

[Drm50]

I shot a Coyote with a 455 Eley a few years ago. Shot at 20-25ft and hit him in ribs. For about a nano second I swear he was 12ft long before he snapped back to normal. 272gr cast/ 4.5gr Unique is around 600fps. Good thing about 455s, they leave a clean wound on humans. They suck ones clothing through the bullet hole.

[ddixie884]

What got me to thinking about this is the Charter Pit Bull in .45acp I just wish they would offer it in .45AR or with moon clips or in .45 Cowboy spl. The ejector rod is short for .45Colt and speed loading is not possible with the trick extractor. Maybe a .45Colt extractor star could be installed for shooting the Cowboy spl in the .45acp Pit Bull. Meanwhile the .455 is low recoil and low pressure in a factory round. Yes, I am over thinking this as usual..........

[ddixie884]

[QUOTE=Outpost75;5106753]Back in the day if you offered Ruger a million dollars for a special order he would make them for you but WBR wanted cash up front.

Good point. WBR was a businessman...........

[Prairie Cowboy]

Underpowered, inaccurate, never was all that popular outside the UK. Gee, I wonder why they don't make them anymore?

Actually, .455 revolvers were very popular in the U.K. and all of the other Commonwealth nations. Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand to name some. They were military issue from the late 19th century all the way up to WW2 with Webley producing the Mark I through to the Mark VI in WW1. Both Colt and S&W produced their New Service and New Century DA revolvers in it to supply the demand by Commonwealth nations in WW1.

Inaccurate? Nope. In fact it was a popular target cartridge in these nations. Also, I owned both a Webley Mark IV and a Canadian-issued Colt New Service, as well as Colt New Service in .45 Colt. (The Colt New Service in .45 Colt was the service sidearm carried by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police up until the early 1950s and was well-liked by officers.) In my experience all of these revolvers possessed the same degree of accuracy, regardless of whether they were .455 or .45 Colt.

Under-powered? Depends on the ammo. The short Mark II cordite rounds used in the 20th century had a velocity of 700 FPS or less with a 265 grain bullet. However, the .455 Colt smokeless rounds produced by Dominion in Canada until the late 1970s had a velocity of 770 FPS with the same 265 soft lead bullet. These used the longer Mark I case which had more air space inside. Comparing that to the typical .45 Colt round which has a velocity of 850 FPS with a 250 grain bullet, I can't see that 80 FPS would make much of a difference to the person getting shot.

So, a new compact revolver using the .455 Colt cartridge (which chambered in all .455 revolvers) would be a perfectly viable choice if the ammunition were still being produced in quantity. I believe that Fiocchi is about the only maker of .455 ammo, and it was the lower velocity type loaded into the short Mark 2 case. (and expensive)

[ddixie884]

In the Thompson-LaGarde tests for a service Pistol caliber they gave it the edge over the .45Colt for effectiveness in stopping power. 265 at 650 to 750fps would hit like a brick.......

[smkummer]

In the Thompson-LaGarde tests for a service Pistol caliber they gave it the edge over the .45Colt for effectiveness in stopping power. 265 at 650 to 750fps would hit like a brick.......
The 45 colt smokeless powder 250 grain load was downloaded at about 730 FPS. Probably for use in some still issued SAAs.

[contender1]

The OP's question could be about any number of items we gun nuts "WISH" manufacturers would make.

The simple answer is you HAVE to understand business.
It must sell & make a profit, or any business can't afford to make a product.

Take the emotion out of the equation.

A post mentioned Bill Ruger,, and yes,, Bill would build something,, IF,, he go money up front & a guaranteed sale AND,, most importantly,, he could do it at a profit.
In Bill office was a picture,, it was of wooden barrels,, overflowing with money. Bill's attitude was; "Build a good gun, shoot the snot out of,, wear it out & buy another one!"

It's about sales,, and guns are just the product.

Desires like the OP has mentioned,, are WHY custom gunsmiths are in business. AND why they charge the prices they charge.

[smkummer]

The OP's question could be about any number of items we gun nuts "WISH" manufacturers would make.

The simple answer is you HAVE to understand business.
It must sell & make a profit, or any business can't afford to make a product.

Take the emotion out of the equation.

A post mentioned Bill Ruger,, and yes,, Bill would build something,, IF,, he go money up front & a guaranteed sale AND,, most importantly,, he could do it at a profit.
In Bill office was a picture,, it was of wooden barrels,, overflowing with money. Bill's attitude was; "Build a good gun, shoot the snot out of,, wear it out & buy another one!"

It's about sales,, and guns are just the product.

Desires like the OP has mentioned,, are WHY custom gunsmiths are in business. AND why they charge the prices they charge.

In the book Mac Man, an autobiography of Gordon Ingram and his products ( Mac 10-45 in this instance). There is a few pages of his going to Bill Ruger and presenting his Mac for production. Bill closed the window shades, Gordon presented his product.....Bill gave him the look like he just crapped all over his fine big wood office table.

[1hole]

I wonder why no one has chambered any of the compact revolvers for .455 Eley?

You'll have to ask the gun makers, not us. But, counting you, there's probably a market of one.

[1hole]

Biggest problem I see is, ordinary serfs cannot own handguns ...

Sad but true.

Englishmen are once again serfs, i.e., "subjects of the crown" (government) and subjects have no rights, as such. Subjects of a king or any other government only have priviliges that are granted or withheld according to the current whim of the ruling eletists. And, rulers are loath to return personal freedoms to pee-ons once they have been taken away; after all, the pee-ons might start thinking they are citizens with the rights of free men!

And, under the current rule of USA government, we too are viewed as unruly pee-ons desperately needing the rule by our political "betters", i.e., Democrats. They hope to blot out our silly thoughts of freedom from government tyranny.

Our rulers seek to wipe out any obsolete ideas of rights such as arms; religion (well, Christianity anyway); free speech in opposition to current Big Brother controlled speech; when tens of millions of babies from conception to some weeks after birth may be killed at the whim of the mother but deadly criminals may not; when private property can be confiscated and given to government family or friends; when years of rioting, murders and destruction are overlooked but when a few dozen patriots lose their temper and "frighten" politicians in their own hive produces a hammer in government's hands; when whole industries and their employees are shut down with a stroke of the current king's pen; when the major "news" industry has become nothing more than an American Pravda to control information for entrenched political reasons; when a king who can't see any difference between males and females (nor may we,) rules etc.

We are already a long way down the crumbling road of unrestricted kings and ruling courts set against (mostly) flaccid serfs who (thanks to 50 years of our "liberal" professional education and brainwashing system) don't even know what the "rights of a free people" ever meant.

Murderous "liberals/progressives" who have long been determined to save the world at all costs to its serfs are firmly entrenched inside the gates of our swampy castle on the Potomac. God help us.

[Outpost75]

My Cimarron New Sheriff single-action in .45 Colt fires Fiocchi .455s OK as "shorts" with slight loss in velocity and accuracy due to the long bullet jump in the .45 Colt chamber. It wouldn't be difficult to fit a .45 ACP-chambered cylinder having sufficient head clearance for the .455 rim, leaving .45 ACP rounds to headspace on the case mouth with the rimless case head standing "proud" only to the thickness of the .455 rim, instead of dropping in flush with the rear face of the cylinder.

Fiocchi .455s shoot normally in my Ruger Old Army with Kirst .45 ACP conversion cylinder with good accuracy.

[Wayne Smith]

The same reason that there are no new .41 Long Colt revolvers or .30 Luger auto pistols. Obsolescence.

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Except I have a Uberti Lightening 41 Long Colt new made, and a S&W Model 3 in 45 S&W (made in 2000).