I hope I can get some mk1 case instead.
I feed a couple of World War revolvers chambered in 455 Webley
Way back when, circa the 1970's, a decade or so before Al Gore invented the Internet (that was before he invented extinct polar bears) I started reloading 455 Webley. Back then it was Handloader Magazine and advice on adapting for 45 Auto Rim, etc and so forth. I got cases as I found them, it was scrounge brass or stay home back then.
Fast forward and Starline started making 45 Schofield brass. Some poking around and I figured out that if you thinned down down the Schofield round's rim thickness from the front, you would have yourself Webley brass for your revolver. Having a lathe, time, and some patience, that's what I did. It was very, very basic stuff to do that, and it didn't take very long.
Not having TOO much patience, however, I figured that I there was no law saying I had to fully shorten the converted Schofield brass to the specified case length for 455 Webley. Being lazy, by trial and error I found out the maximum case length that would still easily drop into every chamber on both revolvers. After that, I trimmed the cases back just as far as I had to. The results make the rounds look like something else rather than a 455 Webley, but I haven't lost a case yet.
Starline makes 455 Webley cases now, but with a couple of hundred converted Schofield cases still on the go, I'm almost certainly set for whatever time I have left on this mortal coil before I shuffle off to take the long dirt nap. Anyways, Schofield brass will convert extremely nicely if you're in a brass hunting/scavenging scenario.
Just a generic pic of assorted stuff I took for my amusement. It does offer a pretty close look at RCBS's replica hollow based ball round that the .455 was loaded for. Kind of a revolver Minie ball...
A better look at a WWII round and one of my reloads that shows the differences in case length. WWII round on the left, the cast ball round replica, obviously, in the middle. Cast bullet versus government WWII ammunition seated bullet.
I suspect, but cannot prove, that the hollow base on that cast bullet really helps with the Webley at least. I slugged the cylinder mouths and the forcing cone area leading into the barrel. The Webley case mouths are much, much smaller than the barrel, leaving you imagining the bullets richocheting down the bore of the barrel, banging from side to side. My guess and belief is that the thin skirt in that bullet really helps the bullets that have been swaged down by the cylinder mouths get a kick at the entry to the barrel that flares out that skirt to completely obdurate to seal the barrel almost instantaneously
I cast the bullets out of pure lead (because the price is right: free), but they would probably be easier to do if you cast with one of the lead/tin mixtures the black powder cartridge guys prefer.
And when powder coating arrived on the scene, I instantly dumped the tumble lubing and other means of lubing the bullets that I had been using. Powder Clear Coat is great and fast, and I'd rather work with powder coat than liquid lubes any day of any year.
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