Tell me about webleys....

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Antihero

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I got to handle one recently, i like top breaks and I'd love to get one one day.....but not this one. Way sloppy timing, literally a third of a chamber off back and forth and more than I thought it was worth at $699.

It was a mark iv 455 according to the tag , funny that I can find ammo for it fairly easy at the moment too
 
Looooonnnnggg DA pull. Memph single action. But fun and hey its a top break! I never been able to shoot one with out developing an Ear Worm of Men of Harlock.

Rear sight is huge and so not easy for accurate target shooting but perfect for a quick flash sight picture as that guy with the sword leaps over the barracade glaring at you with homicidal intent.

Big honking gun as well.

Might make you want to start wearing Red or Khaki.....

Some guys make reloadable brass by cutting back .45 Colt and just living with the small rims, but the ejector star can over ride them going or coming, If you can find actual .455, good on ya.

I would not feel under armed with one in the bedside touch lock box in the least.

-kBob
 
Be leery of any out there. It was a common practice for the rear of the cylinder to be shaved down to accept .45 ACP using moon clips. during the days of surplus. The old girls aren't strong enough for a steady diet from the colonies.
 
Be leery of any out there. It was a common practice for the rear of the cylinder to be shaved down to accept .45 ACP using moon clips. during the days of surplus. The old girls aren't strong enough for a steady diet from the colonies.
Correct. I had one and shot it loose with .45 ACP FMJ's. I sold it it to a collector who didn't want to shoot it. I have a .38 Webley that shoot's fine and remains tight with standard .38 S&W cartridges. IMG_1489.JPG
 
Be leery of any out there. It was a common practice for the rear of the cylinder to be shaved down to accept .45 ACP using moon clips. during the days of surplus. The old girls aren't strong enough for a steady diet from the colonies.

That makes sense for how loose this thing was.

I've literally never held a revolver with worse lockup
 
I have a MK VI from 1916 that has a cylinder that was shaved as were most of the Webley revolvers imported in the 50's and 60's. What I do to prevent the gun loosening up is to shoot only reloads, mostly using 45 Auto Rim cases. While these revolvers have lots of history they are not equal to a Smith and Wesson due primarily to their heavy trigger pulls, especially DA.
 
I have a MK VI from 1916 that has a cylinder that was shaved as were most of the Webley revolvers imported in the 50's and 60's. What I do to prevent the gun loosening up is to shoot only reloads, mostly using 45 Auto Rim cases. While these revolvers have lots of history they are not equal to a Smith and Wesson due primarily to their heavy trigger pulls, especially DA.

Have you done any shooting with a Colt New Service, RON in PA? If so, how does its trigger compare to the Webley's? I used to have a Colt Model 1917, and while it had an excellent SA pull (it may have been tuned), the DA pull was pretty stout.
 
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Anything before Mark V is black powder only.

I have a Webley IV that was cut for either .45 ACP in moon clips or .45 AutoRim for a US importer in the 1950s or 1960s.

The cylinder is proofmarked crown over VR and crown over VR over crossed lances over 2P. VR = Victoria Regina. The revolver was proofed and reproofed during the reign of Queen Vickie. For black powder.

The Mark V cylinder was slightly thicker and proofed for smokeless powder.

Supposedly a Mark V cylinder will work in my Mark IV, but I want to research that.
 
The Webley has a loose bolt stop to keep the cylinder from turning when the gun is not cocked.
When the gun is cocked and the trigger is pulled, the cylinder should be held tightly in alignment with the barrel by the hand engaging the star ratchet and the [top of the] trigger engaging the cylinder. If the parts are not excessively worn.
 
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The Webley has a loose bolt stop to keep the cylinder from turning when the gun is not cocked.
When the gun is cocked and the trigger is pulled, the cylinder should be held tightly in alignment with the barrel by the hand engaging the star ratchet and the trigger engaging the cylinder. If the parts are not excessively worn.

Yup- All of my Webley (and clone) revolvers lock tight when the trigger is in FIRING POSITION. At rest, they simply keep the cylinder correctly indexed.
 
Big surprise- I am a huge fan of the product line!

I got my first Webley clone Enfield DAO .38 at age 13 in 1989, and have expanded ever since- a Boer War Mk III (caliber marking is my avatar), 1916 Mk VI, 1918 Mk VI, 1936 RAF Enfield .38 DA/SA, 1939 Enfield .38 DAO and a 1943 Webley Mk IV .38 "War Finish".

The .455 and .38 S&W are great rounds for soft target use, and have the rather unique quality of one the few centerfire cartridges that can be fired with limited auditory impact.

I had a Mk V 6" for awhile, but the birds head combined with the long barrel was not ideal- easy to see why the square butt was introduced in the Mk VI.

I have avoided the .45 Auto Rim conversions like the plague, but they can be workable if you handload properly.
 
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Years back I had a desire to own one in .38/200, which is basically .38 S&W just loaded with a very long 200gr bullet. Never did I have any interest in the .45 Webley's as the .455's come at a high price thanks to how many got the cylinders shaved for moon clips and those that were shaved could only safely shoot lead .45 ACP that was loaded down. Most people who own guns don't reload, so you can guess how much .45 hardball got put through those Webleys and killed them.

If you do want a Webley, I cannot advocate enough to get one in .38 because their condition will be a lot better and the price lower given .38 S&W isn't common anymore, yet is easy enough to reload.

If you really want a .45 topbreak get a Uberti Schofield repro and enjoy. I believe the Uberti Schofield's are able to shoot jacketed bullets, which with the popularity of .45/.410 handguns there has been a response by the industry to make good .45 Colt defensive ammo. Besides, the double action on any topbreak revolvers is nothing that can be praised.
 
Just FYI for folks who don't reload, Reed's Ammunition and Research in OK offers loaded ammunition for a wide variety of what are obscure cartridges today, as well as some of the more popular stuff. Included are offerings in 38/200, 38 S&W, & 455.

Reed's Handgun Ammunition Page Link

https://shop.reedsammo.com/Pistol-Ammunition_c2.htm

I had a Webley MK IV with the safety lock I got in lieu of cash a friend owed me in the 1980's but traded it off as semiautomatic milsurps were what I was accumulating at the time. The Webley and Enfield revolvers didn't fit my particular hands well.
 
I would not mind to see .45 AutoRim loaded specifically for "cut" .455 Webley revolvers. I doubt there's much commercial demand.
I handload .45 AutoRim cases using light smokeless loads and .454" 255 gr lead bullets within published .455 Webley specs like 600 fps velocity very low pressure.\
I reload once fired .45 ACP cases with BP or BP subs with .454" 255 gr lead bullets and keep at least 4 moonclips loaded in case I get the itch to shoot my Webley Mark IV in black powder cartridge.
 
I have a Webley MK VI, and as has been mentioned it only locks up tight when the trigger is pulled to the rear. This is similar to my old Colt 3 5 7 with the V-Spring type lockwork. I started loading very light for the Webley, using ACP and Auto Rim cases with 230 grain cast bullets. More recently I switched to the 230 grain plated bullets to make cleaning easier. I wondered if the old gun would even stay on the paper at 15 yards, but have been pleasantly surprised with the results at 15 yards.

I bought one of those conversion rings so I could shoot .455 ammo if I wanted in my gun that had been cut for .45 ACP. I have shot factory Fiocchi .455. Operation with the ring and factory .455 was unremarkable, except for the low chronographed velocity of the Fiocchi ammo.

BTW, I slugged a cylinder throat, and it was exactly .450". Not anywhere near the generally accepted .455". I couldn't accurately measure the bore due to the 7 groove rifling, but the largest dimension I could measure on the slug was .450". Perhaps why the .451" plated bullets seem to shoot well in the old gun...
Webley (1).jpg Webley MKVI at 15yds..JPG
 
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