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Thread: ***WARNING for shaved or cut Webleys in .45 ACP/Auto Rim*****

  1. #41
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    My 1914 date of manufacture WebleyMkVI had cylinder throats which varied from .449-.452. After DougGuy uniformed them to .4555", using soft cast .455" bullets with 3.5 grains of Bullseye, accuracy is stellar! I use Accurate 45-262H cast 1:40 tin-lead.
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  2. #42
    Boolit Man
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    Interesting thread. A buddy has a Webley that is cut for 45 acp. He has not shot it a lot but does shoot factory 45 acp loads. I need to get in touch with him after reading this.

    to add fuel to the fire here... I have owned several 1917 Smiths in 45 acp. They of course are not top break guns which are not as strong all else being equal. But... One of my 1917's was sent to england. it has brit proof marks all over it. One of the proof marks is "6 tons" which is the same as a Webley.. Not sure that really means anything.

    lazs

  3. #43
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lazs View Post
    ...One of my 1917's was sent to england. it has brit proof marks all over it. One of the proof marks is "6 tons" which is the same as a Webley.. Not sure that really means anything.
    Ballistics In Scotland can give the authoritative answer, but if my understanding is correct, the British use a different measuring system in which the set-back of the base of an oiled case in the chamber is used to compress the crusher, rather than the Rodman-type radial copper system formerly used in this country before the adoption of piezoelectric gages in the 1980s or so. I believe the "6 tons" is expressed in "Imperial" or "Long Tons", which are 2240 pounds, versus 2000 pounds for US tons. So six long tons is 13,440 lbs., which sounds about right.
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  4. #44
    Boolit Man
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    I actually shoot my 1917's with lower pressure handloads anyway just because..well.. they are old.

    lazs

  5. #45
    Boolit Buddy Prairie Cowboy's Avatar
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    While I have no experience with shooting .45 ACP in old shaved Webleys or other .455 handguns, I did own two .455 revolvers that I reloaded for.

    One was a Mark IV birds-head grip Webley and the other was a Colt New service used in British or Canadian service.

    Back in 1973 I was able to buy new production Dominion .455 Colt ammo off the shelf at an ancient downtown local gun shop that had been in business since around 1920.
    This was simply .455 ammo using the standard 265 grain lead bullet loaded in to the longer black powder length Mark I balloon head case.

    Being young and inexperienced, I figured that I could reload these cases with my .45 Colt Lee Loader using .45 ACP data, since the cases were about the same length. I used a 225 grain cast Lyman 452374 bullet over the 5.9 grains of unique that my .45 ACP Lee Loader dipper dropped. Fortunately, I was using a 50/50 mixture of salvaged wheel weights and .22 rim-fire lead, so the bullets were pretty soft.

    I never had any problems in either revolver, but that was probably just dumb luck on my part. I checked my Lyman reloading manual just now, and 5.5 grains of unique in .45 ACP develops 10,100 CUP, and 7.3 grains develops 16,500 CUP (with this bullet).
    So, in .45 ACP 5.9 grains would have developed maybe 12,000 CUP.
    I suspect that those balloon head .455 cases had a slightly greater case volume, so pressure would probably have been a bit less.

    It was probably a safe load in the Webley, and no problem at all in the 1920-ish New Service. But if I had it to do over I would have used no more than that 5.5 grains of Unique at a mild 690 FPS.

    I think that this load would be safe in the Mark IV, V,and VI Webleys in .45 ACP at 10,100 CUP.
    Last edited by Prairie Cowboy; 12-09-2020 at 06:05 PM.

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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