.577 Webley

[planetmobius]

I want a reproduction of the .577 Webley. Does anyone make such a thing?

 

[GCBurner]

Not so far. The .577 revolver cartridges are really rare too.

 

[Acorn Mush]

I want a reproduction of the .577 Webley. Does anyone make such a thing?

Are you speaking of one of the old British cartridge howdah pistols? I haven't ever seen any reproductions offered other than the Pedersoli muzzle loaders. Would be very interesting if some company did, though. Personally, I think it would be tremendous fun shooting a .577, a 16-bore, or even a 12-bore rifled double-barrel pistol.

 

[Jim Watson]

Hamilton Bowen built a .577 Ruger but is variously reported as saying it was too much trouble to license or even that he could not get it licensed to sell and was only allowed to keep it as a black powder prototype.

Even if you jumped through all the hoops, the market is too small for anybody to bother with an all new construction to the Webley plan.

 

[driver243]

In the 1870s Webley made a .51 revolver called the RIC (Royal Iriish Constabulary) there are no replicas made bit originals can still be bought for around £500GBP in the UK

 

[driver243]

In the 1870s Webley made a .51 revolver called the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) no replicas have been made but originals are still around and can be bought for around £500GBP in the UK

 

[Pete D.]

.577?

I just checked through William Dowell's definitive history "The Webley Story". Info about the .577 pistol appears at the beginning of chapter six.
The photos are in the public domain so...here is one of the .577 introduced in 1866. It is a lot of gun.


Sorry about the distortion of the barrel in the pic.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I remember reading an article nearly 20 years ago in a gun rag about an English 58 cal cap and ball gun. It had to be a monster, but I often think how much I would like to have one, even a repro.

 

[Big Al Mass]

This one was not cap and ball. It used a shortened version of the .577 Snider cartridge called the .577 Boxer. Also, it was designed by William Tranter, and licensed to Webley for a time. Here are some better pictures of the beast: http://www.firearmsmuseum.org.au/Survey/images-577.htm Click "Return to Details" on the linked page to get to the information.

 

[kBob]

Well I am glad to find out what the heck it is as there is a picture of one on the dust cover of a british book on firearms history I have that is not identified. Now I know.

-kBob

 

[Jim Watson]

driver243, I never heard of a .51 RIC.
Early ones I have seen illustrated were .44 Webley, later ones in .450 or .455.
Can you direct me towards an article, picture, or advertisement?

 

[driver243]

The Webley R.I.C. was made mostly in .45 but a few were made for the .50 Tranter cartridge. It was first introduced in 1868. George Armstrong Custer had a pair with him at Little Bighorn see wikipedia/webley-ric

 

[BHP FAN]

I have the ''British Bull Dog'', in .38, an exact 3/4 scale copy of that revolver. though marked ''British Bull Dog'', I have always thought mine was Belgian, as it has basicly the same action [less the gas seal feature] of the Nagant revolver.....

 

[Pete D.]

Off topic

Somewhat off topic but....

The Webley R.I.C. was made mostly in .45 but a few were made for the .50 Tranter cartridge. It was first introduced in 1868. George Armstrong Custer had a pair with him at Little Bighorn see wikipedia/webley-ric

Historical note...
There is more than a little disagreement about that idea. This is another take on it:

In summer 1869, Custer was 'tenting on the plains' with wife Libbie and brother Tom at Big Creek near Fort Hays, Kansas. From there they hosted buffalo hunts for the travelling English Lords Berkeley Paget and, according to which source you read, either Lord Henry Cavendish or Lord Waterford. In a grand gesture of appreciation, Berkeley Paget presented Custer and brother Tom with a cased Webley .44 Galand & Sommerville revolver each. Tom's was sold at auction on behalf of the Charles A. Custer Family Collection by Butterfield & Butterfield of San Francisco on April 4, 1995. It made $77,000.

Read more: http://lbha.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=basics&action=display&thread=854#ixzz2EYb27Kfs

Those two guns are the pair often referred to. Gen. Custer received one of them, not both. If the source can be believed.

 

[Hoof Hearted]

I want a reproduction of the .577 Webley. Does anyone make such a thing?

Any cartridge firing MODERN firearm with a bore larger than 1/2 inch is considered a "Destructive Device". Special permits can be obtained from the ATF (proper forms have to be filed) to build ONE. But not muliples AFAIK............

HH

 

[Molasses]

IIRC, Guns & Ammo did both an article in the regular magazine and a piece in one of their Annuals back in the '70s that featured such oversized (.577) pieces. I've got a couple of days off and if I can figure out where to find the time and interest to dig, I'll see if I can't find the relevant issues.
There was a percussion model that wouldn't be covered under the BATFEds' DD restrictions. That would be fun...if only somebody would make a repro. In the meantime, I guess the 20 ga percussion Howdah pistol will have to make do.

 

[planetmobius]

I read that article about 20 years ago also. It showed a cap and ball and a cartridge version. That thing has been stuck in my head ever since and have never seen one listed anywhere. I wish Pedersolli or somebody would jump on this one. I would buy a couple in either version just to shoot the daylights out of it.

 

[Acorn Mush]

Guys, the article to which you refer is a reprint. Guns & Ammo printed that article originally in the May, 1965 issue. I've got that issue right next to me as I type this. The catch line under the banner is "Firing the World's Most Powerful Pistols!". Pictured on the cover is a broken-open Alex Henry 12-bore double with one cartridge partially extracted from the right-hand barrel, and a second cartridge lying horizontally below the pistol. For some reason, that was my favorite article which is why I saved the magazine.

I remember seeing on a local magazine rack the issue with the reprinted article. My interest being piqued, I paged through it and sure enough, there were pictures from the original article. This is in no way a slam at G&A, far from it. I just thought it was a great way to acquaint newer shooters with the old "REAL hand cannons", and wish I had purchased the issue just for the fun of it.

Here is a couple pictures of the old issue. Note the price in the second photo.

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