After a long time searching and waiting, Unshaved Webley Mark VI!

So I have always had a thing for double-action top-break revolvers and the Webley revolvers have always been my favorite of the lot. My first top break was an old Iver Johnson Safety-Automatic (second model). A bit later I got my first Webley one of the 100th anniversary Webley Mark IV in 38-200 but the 455 Webley was always a revolver that escaped my search. Proper revolver cartridges should be short and fat!

About a week ago a local gun shop shared a nice S&W 1917 on their Facebook page and I went into have a look. It was a post WWII commercial revolver but was very tempting given the price. But sitting next to it in the display case was a S&W triple lock in 455 Webley and it was in spectacular shape. It was even more tempting but it also sparked a conversation on 455 Webley with the salesman and after some conversation he told me he had a Webley Mark VI in the back waiting for the time to expire so they could sell it (used guns have to be held by pawn and gun shops in Alabama for some specified time IIRC). He kindly let me look at it early and even more kindly after examining it allowed me to have first dibs on it. I picked it up this morning!



The finish has taking on the brown patina of an old gun, there is some spots of rust but given the age the condition is pretty good.

If I have read the marking right this gun the '16 on the top strap means it was put into service in 1916 making it 104 years old. All the serial numbers match on upper and lower frame and cylinder.

Most importantly the cylinder has not been shaved for 45 ACP. You can still see the stampings on the face of the cylinder. So it has not been abused and the hinge and latch are tight!

The bore is not perfect but for 104 years old in excellent condition.

I have four boxes of ammo ordered for it. Grafs and Sons has contracted On Target to load a 455 Webley using a proper .455 diameter polymer coated bullet in Star-Line brass. This will hold me until I can find a set of dies and give me a good starting batch of good brass. Once I get some dies I will order some Mk II bullets from Matt's bullets. He is making a faithful copy of the Mk II hollow based bullet.

I think I can tweak some Safariland Comp I 44-Mag speed-loaders to work with the Webley or maybe 3D print a clone of a Speed Beez type loader sized for 455 Webley.

What I need now is a good sturdy belt holster. My intention is to start carrying this revolver as my woods/UTV/tractor revolver. So if you know anyone that is making a good belt holster for Webley Mark VI I would love to hear about them. Thanks!

Forgot to add this photo to the OP.

Top: 1916 Webley Mark VI chambered in 455 Webley
Bottom: 1986 Webley Mark IV chambered in 38-200

I am still not having much luck finding a holster that is not a replica of the old WWI or WWII flap holsters. Does anyone know of a current holster manufacture making belt holsters for a Webley?

So I dug through the box of old holsters I don't use much anymore and found this:



It's and old Tagua holster for a S&W N-frame with a 6.5 inch barrel. The Webley fits pretty well in it. The big reason I quite using this holster was it was a pain to re-holster the revolver one handed due to the top edges of the holster catching the flat face of the cylinder making insertion difficult. But they though of this way back when the Webley was designed and there are flanges on either side of the frame just ahead of the cylinder specifically put there to aid one handed re-holstering of the revolver without snagging. They work perfectly with this holster. I will keep looking for something better but for now this will work.

My current woods revolver is a S&w Model 10 heavy barrel. Much to my surprise this Mark VI is only 2.9 oz heavier than the Model 10.

DR505 said:

Did you also buy the two S&W revolvers?

Click to expand...

No, I didn't want shot by one of them if the wife found out I had bought and brought three new revolvers home.

One more picture.



I still have not got to shoot it yet, hopefully that will be rectified this coming weekend. I did get some ammo for it and some Tuff brand speed strips (QuickStrips) that appear to work well with the 455 Webley ammo. I am sort of disappointed with the pouch that came with the pair though. It does not work very well with the short ammo and takes some finagling to get both strips in the pouch in such a way that the second one does not fall out when you pull the first one out. But for the time being this will be the new woods/tractor carry rig. I am sure it will evolve as I find better pouches/speed-loaders or holster but for the moment, assuming that it shoots well and reliably I will likely be replacing my old tried and true Model 10 Heavy Barrel with this rig.

I give you the Safariland Comp I speedloader for the 455 Webley!


Started with a Comp I for the S&W model 29/629 in 44 Mag. I carefully disassembled it and 3D printed a new body with the same geometry for the release mechanism but with the charge holes increased from .525 to .540. Installed all the parts into the new body and voila! 455 Webley speedloader.

The 455 Webley cartridges are just long enough to ensure that the bullet noses are into the chambers before the center post of the cylinder can contacts the release post in the center of the speedloader. I believe it will work even better with the longer pointier bullets like the traditional MkII bullets but even with these rather blunt bullets the speedloader works very nicely. I loaded the revolver nearly two dozen times with it and so far it has held up. It will be interesting to see how the 3D printed part holds up to harder use.



It ain't pretty but a fair bit cheaper than an Prideaux loader if you ignore the price of the 3D printer.

I manage to put some rounds through the Webley this weekend


I put 100 rds through it. It ran flawlessly without any major issue other than the filthy propellent the ammo was using.

First 6 rounds at 15 yards, double action.

Shoots a little high and left, but so does my S&W Model 10 so no big deal you simple learn the hold.


After about half a box I stepped back to 27 yards and shot this group, double action. It ain't going to out shoot any of my S&W revolvers but for a 105 year old revolver I was pleased with it.

I was chronographing some 9mm for my brother so I ran the the 455 Webley over the Chrono t00. This 455 Webley ammo was loaded by On Target for Graf and Sons. It used a flat based 262 gr round nose bullet, polymer coated, and properly sized for 455 Webley (.455 diameter). I got a 6 round average at a blistering 606 fps. I was slightly of disappointed in the ammo, it shot as well as hoped and at the proper velocity, but whatever propellent they had chosen was leaving a lot of partial burnt powder grains in the barrel and chambers. So much so that subsequent rounds sometime took a deliberate push to fully seat them in the chambers.

I did shoot it once without hearing protection and it was louder than I expected on the unprotected ears despite the low velocity. Nothing like a 357 Mag but definitely on par with 38 Special +P.

After the paper targets and the chrono we just blasted at some hanging steel targets. Those slow moving Webley bullets make a satisfying thwack on the steel. They have so little energy for how heavy the bullets are the bullets do not completely shatter on the steel the way bullets from higher velocity/energy modern handgun cartridges do. When we went down range to clean things up I found bunches of these flattened bullets laying on the ground below the steel.


Top Left: 38/200 reloads 200 gr bullet @ 600 fps. Top Right: Remington 38S&W 146gr bullet @ ~700 fps.
Bottom: On-Target 455 Webley 262 gr bullet @ 600 fps.
The un-flattened bullets were dug out of the chert rock and clay back stop. The rocks are hard on bullets.

Definitely pleased with my find. The next step will be handloading some proper hollow base bullets to create a proper MkII replica load for it. And maybe thwack some varmints with it.