Webley Bulldog Repo?

This is the closest I can think of. The link is nearly two years old, I wonder if any have actually been produced?

https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/a-new-british-made-handgun-the-return-of-the-webley-shot-show-2016/

I would love a reproduction Bulldog or RIC, but no one has done one to my knowledge.

natman said:

This is the closest I can think of. The link is nearly two years old, I wonder if any have actually been produced?

https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/a-new-british-made-handgun-the-return-of-the-webley-shot-show-2016/

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That is a full size Mark VI chambered with a 7-shot 357 Magnum not a Bulldog. Its also has a five figure price tag. Supposedly Webley and Sons had committed t making more Mark VI is 455 Webley after the 2014 shotshow. They had even created a website you could sign up that you were interested. They were going to take $100 down payments from a 1000 people and use that to start up production of the Webley Mark VI. It still has not happened yet.

I would think a Bulldog made with modern materials in 45 ACP would be a pretty sweet little gun. Have to do one in 40S&W and maybe a 6-shot in 9mm also.

I would buy one right now in .45 ACP.

vba said:

I would buy one right now in .45 ACP.

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The weapon is not designed for such pressures. .455 Webley is quite a bit lower pressure.

Modern steels would probably make it possible.

Speedo66 said:

Modern steels would probably make it possible.

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Modern steels having nothing to do with it.

There have been a number of threads in this forum about the possibility of modern top-break revolvers, Speedo66. The experts have generally made two pronouncements: First, top breaks require hand fitting that is not economically feasible today, and second, they were made for relatively low pressure ammunition like 38 S&W or 455 Eley (I think, technically, 455 Webley was the ammunition for the Webley's semi-automatic pistol). Therefore, making them for cartridges like 38 Special or 45 ACP is impractical because of frame stretching, which I guess modern steels cannot prevent - I'm not going to argue with Cooldill, because I don't know anything about steel, really.

Anyway, the consensus of the heavyweights is that top-breaks cannot come back, except at prices like that of the Schofield replicas (well over $1,000).

Swing said:

Hey pals. With all the 19th century west repos made over the decades, I thought I would have seen at least one, but I'm finding a whole lot of 'nothing.

Does anyone know if a modern reproduction of the Webley Bulldog has ever been offered? I say modern, because there were a bunch of knock-offs made in Belgium and Spain, but they are just as old as the originals.

Thanks all!

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I haven't seen anything of that sort either. More practical designs appeared and the Bulldog pattern went by the wayside. The type's high bore line, (usually) stumpy grip and quaint loading and extraction aren't optimal for much of anything. Not a lot of nostalgia there either; main US association is with President Garfield.

Charter Arms makes a .45 caliber snubby- making one that looked like a classic British Bulldog would not be difficult. Finding a big enough market to justify the expense of tooling up would be the hard part.

Monac said:

There have been a number of threads in this forum about the possibility of modern top-break revolvers, Speedo66. The experts have generally made two pronouncements: First, top breaks require hand fitting that is not economically feasible today, and second, they were made for relatively low pressure ammunition like 38 S&W or 455 Eley (I think, technically, 455 Webley was the ammunition for the Webley's semi-automatic pistol). Therefore, making them for cartridges like 38 Special or 45 ACP is impractical because of frame stretching, which I guess modern steels cannot prevent - I'm not going to argue with Cooldill, because I don't know anything about steel, really.

Anyway, the consensus of the heavyweights is that top-breaks cannot come back, except at prices like that of the Schofield replicas (well over $1,000).

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The Webley Bulldog is not a top break revolver. It's a solid frame double-action side-gate loading revolver.

I see. It is a little beaut. With a solid frame, I bet one could be done in .45 ACP no problem. Would be a good little pocket thumpster. Alas, this has about as much a chance as being made a repro as the Reichsrevolver, which I would love to have a repro of myself.

PS: Are you sure it's double action? The hammer is fully forward yet the trigger is in the position one would expect of a single action piece...

Yeah its double-action/single-action. I suspect that particular example had a broken trigger return spring or similar damage.

Another example



Would make ask excellent big bore pocket pistol in 45acp or even better 45 Cowboy Special.

The modern day equivalent of such a gun is the Charter Arms 44 Special Bulldog. Smith & Wesson, Taurus, and Rossi have all offered similar guns. You would think that going to a solid-frame gate-loaded rod ejector design would allow such a gun to be a little smaller than those, but probably not enough to matter. Perhaps the ideal chambering for such a gun would be 40 S&W, because being rimless would not be a disadvantage with a rod-ejector gun, but people don't like 40 S&W now - there is a thread somewhere to that effect.

The revolver that mcb has a picture of is a good looking gun, even in that worn state. At least IMO.

Monac said:

The revolver that mcb has a picture of is a good looking gun, even in that worn state. At least IMO.

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You are certainly welcome to your o. I look at the little grip, the cramped space behind the trigger guard, the line of recoil way up there over the grip, and a reloading system slower even than the SAA, and think 'handsome is as handsome does.' The gun has, though, a nice aesthetic balance of proportions. That tells us that at the least, Mr. Webley was a good visual artist.

I think the Webley solid frame double actions are an interesting piece of history. I would be interested in replica, but I understand that the market will not support it.

While Kendal Black has accurately stated some disadvantages of these revolvers, I believe that they also had a strong point which was not mentioned. That strong point is a relatively robust and well regarded double action mechanism, at least compared to some of its contemporaries.

Also, the disadvantages of the small grip and cramped space could be alleviated by making a replica of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) guns, which were a more service sized gun with a similar action.

Here is a link to an article by Garry James in which he argues that there is historical evidence that General Custer owned an RIC revolver, and there is some possibility that he was carrying it at the Little Bighorn.

Custer’s Last Gun: Webley RIC Revolver

Kendal Black said:

You are certainly welcome to your o. I look at the little grip, the cramped space behind the trigger guard, the line of recoil way up there over the grip, and a reloading system slower even than the SAA, and think 'handsome is as handsome does.' The gun has, though, a nice aesthetic balance of proportions. That tells us that at the least, Mr. Webley was a good visual artist.

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Wow, Kendal Black, you have an eye for mechanical design that many, myself among them, can only envy.

Monac said:

Wow, Kendal Black, you have an eye for mechanical design that many, myself among them, can only envy.

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Nah, it ain't that. It's just that I have relied on small revolvers for last ditch defense for more than thirty years and have acquired some definite ideas about them. But thanks.

mcb said:

Yeah its double-action/single-action. I suspect that particular example had a broken trigger return spring or similar damage.

Another example

View attachment 772650

Would make ask excellent big bore pocket pistol in 45acp or even better 45 Cowboy Special.

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not a webley. belgian copy. hump (prawl) on grip gives it away!

lewwallace said:

not a webley. belgian copy. hump (prawl) on grip gives it away!

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True, as I understand it the Webley British Bulldog was a very copied design in its time. Bulldog became a generic name for all similar revolvers Webley or otherwise.

The original "British Bulldog" (the animal) was used as a symbol of the British nation for centuries, most notably by one Winston Churchill during WWII. The name was a natural for a large bore, tough and rugged pocket revolver. Some later imports with long enough cylinders were rechambered for .45 Colt.

Many were imported into the US in the 19th century, along with the ammunition, which was also made here. Most of those in the US, though, were brought in after WWII, when US importers bought tens of thousands of British guns which had been "voluntarily" turned in by their owners after the first stage of the British handgun ban. The British were supposedly horrified to learn that the guns were actually sold on the US market, claiming that millions of people were killed by those awful weapons of war; later turn-ins and seizures were destroyed, thus assuring peace and love in the world.

Jim
.

For those that say a Top Break is too weak for high pressure rounds. The Russians made one in .357 Magnum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP-412_REX

At one time there was a prototype .44 Magnum exhibited by Detonics .