Webleys

[Ron Smith]

David,

It's because I have dedicated my life to being a "Gun Bum". One of these days I'll be one of those old Geezers with two pounds of greasy dirt ground into their jeans, cigar stained teeth and reeking of stale urine, but "By Gar" I'll have some neat guns to trade for food.

Gotta go. My wife wants me to take a shower and change my underwear..... Now where'd I put them cigars??

[pipeman45]

You sir are one of a kind. Please don't ever change!
BTW I hope to meetup with you when you need some lunch money.

[Rod WMG]

Stu wrote: "You sir are one of a kind. Please don't ever change!"

I agree and disagree. Your wife is correct...please change your undies!
You need at least twelve pair, January, February, March....

I think, judging from my 6 inchers, that that 3" barrel would be very good for packing. If the Mark I is like mine, most of the weight would seem to be in the frame and butt, yet the shorter barrel length would seem to make carrying distinctly easier.

Give us a shooting report when you can.

[Ron Smith]

Hey Rod,

Just brought it home. I'll be taking it out this weekend hopefully. Joe just walked up this afternoon and said $250. It's all mine now.

BTW, It has what I think may be a unit mark on it. The top of the grip strap, on the hump it has N with 47 below it. They are about 2.5mm in heigth.

Is this a unit mark of some kind? Hard to tell with the propencity they have for proofs on these things.

Ron

[Ron Smith]

Can anyone tell me if this is a unit mark? If so, a translation?

Thanks! Ron

[Stu]

You lucky dog Ron ! The more I look at it the more I want one ! $250 is pretty darn fair and I want to hear how it shoots.

As to the marking; I have a Webley IV with an RN 43 number, (Royal Navy ?) and the recently purchased VI has FA with three dates, (two crossed out), maybe indicating 'F'ield 'A'moury repair / inspection ?

I've never seen much discussion about the plethora of markings on these English revolvers, I hope someone may shed some light.

Stu

[Rod WMG]

Ron, Can't help with the "unit marks" That sure seems like a valid assumption.

Back to your earlier post about barrel length...it seems the barrels on these are shorter than they actually are to me. Sort of an optical illusion due to the contours of the barrels and the way they extend behind the hinge toward the cylinder.

[Ron Smith]

Rod,

After my original discription, I measured the barrel. It is actually 4" from the cylinder face. It looks shorter.

Ron

[Roadkill]

Go light on the loads. Lots of little parts in those old guns. I'd use a 180g cast with about 5g unique.

rk

[Rod WMG]

rk, is that really a light load? I wouldn't think so as 5.0 gr. of Unique with a 158 gr. bullet in a .38 Spl. case was stated to be a plus P load a couple of decades ago by some name writers. For example, I've used 4.3 gr. of Unique with a 158 gr. lead bullet in .38 Spl. for about 30 years with fine results.

Since the .38 S&W case is so much shorter and the reduced volume will presumably cause a pressure rise, that is an additional concern, isn't it?

It's generally asserted that the 200 gr. S&W load was going about 600 or so fps. I think. I'd assume that your 180/5.0 load is somewhat hotter. Have you chronographed it?

I'm not trying to be cantankerous, just cautious.

[Ron Smith]

rk and Rod,
I am loading 250gr RN FP with 4gr of Bullseye. Pretty close to duplicating the original .455 load. About 725 FPS. Should work out okay...

Ron

[Rod WMG]

Ron, rk, I fixated on the Mark IV designation in Ron's posts and missed that he said it was .455 faced off for .45 ACP/AR. If that is the case and what you were speaking of, rk, I apologize. I thought we were taking about the ".380" British round, what we call the .38 S&W, especially since rk mentioned the 180 gr. bullet.

If we are speaking of the .455, then your 5.0 gr. Unique with the 180 gr. bullet is a light load. I will back off extracting my foot from my mouf.

[Roadkill]

I was specifically referring to the .45 ACP in a MKVI.


The standard .45 loads are generally too strong for it. Anyway, its better to have your foot in mouth than your head up posterior like I generally have.

rk

[Ron Smith]

Geez rk, It must be really hard to shoot like that.

[Ron Smith]

Took it out and shot it today.

It shoots as good as any .45 cal revolver I have ever shot.(which is quite a few) Unfortunately the already repaired bakelite grips didn't fair well. So out to the work bench for some custom made replacements.

Ron

[Stu]

It looked as though it should. Got some Hornby and Fiocchi 455 fro the MK VI. Detail stripping it now, plenty of brown gunk in it, so hopefully off to the range in the next week or so.

Let's see those grips when your finished; mine have warped over time so it's eyes open for a set of MK VI grips on the auctions.

[Rod WMG]

Hey, Ron, glad to hear the good range report!

If you get great at making replacement Webley grips, let me know, you might have a customer!