[Doug Bowser]

I have a Webley Mark I .45 ACP revolver. It uses 3 shot half moon clips. The revolver was made in 1889 and it was designed for Black Powder. I checked the groove diameter of the barrel by driving a lead slug down the bore. It measures .4515". The cylinder throats also measure .4515". I am going to use 200 gr cast lead bullets and 3.5 gr Bullseye. This should give me 660 fps and be of low enough pressure to be safe in the 131 year old revolver.

I fired the load mentioned above and the accuracy level seems to be between 2.5" and 3" at 25 yards. That is not too bad with this type of revolver. I may try a heavier bullet to see if that increases accuracy. I have a 255 gr bullet mold and I would try 4 gr of Unique with that bullet.

It is a lot of fun, working up loads for older firearms.





Doug

 

[captain-03]

Doug -- were those old Webleys chambered for something other than 45ACP?

 

[bubbat]

Is that a Webley & Scott Mk I? For some reason that is only pistol my "Small Arms of the World" book doesn't have a picture of. The description sounds close your pistol. First made in 1887, cartridge called .455 but really a .441 caliber. Full moon or half moon clips.

 

[Guest]

You may want to try some Trailboss powder for low pressure loads.

 

[Doug Bowser]

The Webley Mark I was chambered for the .455 cartridge.

When I was 16, I wished I had one of these. Winfield Arms in California sold them by mail order for $12.95 in the original .455 caliber or you could buy one converted to .45 ACP for $16.95. The conversion is accomplished by milling off the back of the cylinder to accept the thicker headspace of the .45 ACP ctg with the half moon clips or .45 Auto Rim ammunition. The conversion revolvers are not worth as much as the revolvers in the original .455. The importers sold many rounds of .45 ACP Ball ammo to be fired in these revolvers. The mark I, II, II, IV and VI Webleys are not safe to shoot .45 ACP USGI Ball ammo. The pressure levels are 4000 PSI higher in the .45 ACP round than the .455 Webley round. Just because it fits, does not mean it is safe.

This is the revolver adopted by the British in 1887. It was superceeded by the Mark II model in 1894. Most of the MarkI revolvers were used by the British Navy and Army Artillery Corps.

Doug

 

[Doug Bowser]

Is that a Webley & Scott Mk I? For some reason that is only pistol my "Small Arms of the World" book doesn't have a picture of. The description sounds close your pistol. First made in 1887, cartridge called .455 but really a .441 caliber. Full moon or half moon clips.

My groove diameter is .4515" the land diameter is .447. The chamber throats measure .4515". There are a lot of variations in bore diameters in the Webley Mark I revolvers. One Webley, I have measured is .457" in the bore and .450" in the chamber throats. This makes for really BAD accuracy. The thing that made this problem of small chamber throats and large barrel diameter was the British ammo. It was made in soft lead with hollow base bullets. After the Geneva convention outlawed lead bullets the FMJ Webley ammo was still loaded with hollow based bullets.

Doug