a new guy with a webley questions

[pointandshoot]

hey all, yesterday i finally joined the "antique status club" and needless to say i am pumped about givin 'er a rip. so needless to say i have a few questions about how to proceed with reloading for this 1889ish webley MKI modified to shoot 45acp/45AR. i already know that factory 45 rounds are a no-go and i think i have a good starting point (4-5 grains of unique behind a 200-250 grain lubed led bullet...no fmj's aloud). my question has to do about "slugging" the barrel. do i just need to slug from the muzzle, or should i check from both ends? the previous owner said he measured it at .452 (let say he's right for conversation sake) does that mean i should buy .452 bullets? or should i go larger with a soft lead bullet...the factory .455 webley round that the gun is chambered for is .454 in dia after all...

i also have a question about what dies should i use? i will most likely stick with 45acp brass for cost and availability, but what dies should i buy? does it depend on what my barrel measures out at and what bullets i plan on using? or should i go with the .455 webley dies, because after my cases are fire formed they will fit the gun's cylinder better...or is it a moot point and both sets of dies will function fine for what i need them for?

anyway, thank you in advance and here's to more spent pay cheques cause i think i have the bug now....i bought this gun from a guy in the states. it took 8 days and customs did open the package. i thought i would mention it because it seems to be a common question.

 

[dingus]

Being as no one else is replying i will pipe in just buy a set of lee carbide dies and your load ideas are fine id go 5 grs of unique with a lead .451 or
.452 bullet i like SWC but any 45 acp bullets that are lead will work good 200 to 240 gr weight.
I would just hammer the slug in from the front then drive it back out almost all webley MKIs and MKIIs are .452 chamber throats and bores unless there marked .476 caliber then they will be .460 or so.
Good luck its alot of fun shooting them.

 

[apu]

What Dingus said, plus don't forget to crimp your bullets, the 45acp Lee factory crimp die works fine for this purpose. If you don't crimp your revolver ammo the unfired bullets in the cylinder will start backing out after the first couple of fired rounds.

 

[jethunter]

You need to slug the bore and the chambers to know for sure. There is a lot of variation. I've slugged bores from .452" to .455". I've slugged cylinder chambers from .449" to .454". Most of them are in the .452" - .453 range but there are a good number outside that range as well.

if you use soft lead bullets the diameter won't matter a lot - you can usually get good results from .455", .454", or .452" flat base bullets - MOST of the time. But be aware that SOME of these MKIs have severely restricted throating in the chambers - i have measured one example that had .449" cylinder throats and .454" bore - it wouldn't shoot flat based bullets at all - they were keyholing at 15 yards. It shot hollow based bullets reasonably well.

Hollow based bullets will "obturate" (expand) to fit the bore from the pressure inside the hollow base pushing it out against the bore. The key here is to have fairly soft hollow base bullets and a heavy enough charge to "bump" up the base of the bullet to fit the bore.

I have loaded for more than a dozen MKI & MKII .455 and .45acp conversions over the years. Most of them were not too picky but three of them would only shoot properly with hollow based bullets, and all of those had chamber throats several thousandths of an inch smaller than the bore.

Slug the chambers and the barrel, and you'll be able to tell what bullets you'll probably need to get. Being able to shoot the flat based bullets is an advantage because they are less than half the cost of hollow based bullets.

I hope that makes some sense.

 

[cyclone]

Hollow based bullets will "obturate" (expand) to fit the bore from the pressure inside the hollow base pushing it out against the bore. The key here is to have fairly soft hollow base bullets and a heavy enough charge to "bump" up the base of the bullet to fit the bore.

I love that word !....