1911 British Contract in .455 - Value?

pl_2ic

pl_2ic

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Ottawa, Ontario
All,

I have a 1911 in .455 in Good condition, all original with original mag. It is the 'W' series.
I am considering selling it, but I'm not sure what the value is here in Canada.

Any ideas?
 
I have a buddy that bought a mag stamped on the bottom 455(for the 1911) for 10.00..He sold it on E-bay for 298.00US...So I am going to guess the gun has to be worth quite a bit!!
 
oops said:
I have a buddy that bought a mag stamped on the bottom 455(for the 1911) for 10.00..He sold it on E-bay for 298.00US...So I am going to guess the gun has to be worth quite a bit!!
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Someone needed that particular mag likely to complete an original .455 and was willing to pay the freight and it looks like you are talking USA. The gun won't go there without expensive headaches and there is not that much demand here that I have seen for a pistol of that calibre.

Condition will be the most important factor here. "Good condition" can mean a lot of things to different people. Many .455's made it through the Brit military up to around the mid-50's and end up bearing a lot of extra undesirable markings. If you have detailed pics it would be helpful. If you give me the serial # or year I can tell you a bit.

Mike
 
Has anyone wondered WHY the British had them chambered in .455? The .45ACP had been around for years, and if they could make the oddball .455 round, they certainly could have made the .45ACP round.
 
John Sukey said:
Has anyone wondered WHY the British had them chambered in .455? The .45ACP had been around for years, and if they could make the oddball .455 round, they certainly could have made the .45ACP round.
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I believe the Webley .455 was introduced about 1894, so likiely a combination of wanting compatibility as well as their idea that the .455 was a better round as follows:

From Wikipedia;
The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed cartridge firing a .45 bullet at the relatively low velocity of 650 ft/s (190 m/s). The result was a cartridge and handgun combination with relatively mild recoil, but with good penetration and excellent stopping power. It was rated superior to the .45 Colt in stopping power in the disputed United States Thompson-LaGarde Tests of 1904 that resulted in the adoption by the U.S. of the .45 ACP cartridge.
 
Probably less than an original .45, I'd guess maybe $600.

Also, the .455 Webley Auto came out in 1904, which was actually a year before .45 ACP.
 
dan belisle said:
The 455 Rimmed (Webly) is not the same cartridge as that used in the 455 1911. That used the 455 Automatic. So there was no advantage at all to the 455 round, except the "we are British, sah" one, lol. - dan
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Thanks for the correction Dan, it proves the adage that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, lol. By the way, my baby is making an appearance now on coltautos.com at this link

http://www.coltautos.com/1911gm_C31280.htm

Mike
 
Winchester-1897 said:
I've got one with the W Prefix that was converted to .45 Cal. Is it worth anything?
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Condition, when it was converted, by whom etc are all factors. If the barrel & mag are original old parts from the pistol's era and the finish is great I'd say it would be worth more tha $600. Got pics?

Mike
 
BC Mike said:
Condition, when it was converted, by whom etc are all factors. If the barrel & mag are original old parts from the pistol's era and the finish is great I'd say it would be worth more tha $600. Got pics?

Mike
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As you will see I do have the original grips and what looks like two period Mags. From what I can tell the gun was made in 1916 and I think it still has original Blue. I have the original barrel that came with it but it was pretty shot out so I put another .45 barrel in her and a new bushing and it shoots not bad.

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Winchester-1897 said:
One more pic as I deleted one by mistake.

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According to Goddard's Government models page 266 your serial #W100865 was one of a 200 lot shipment that was sent to the British Ministry of Shipping on April 28th, 1919. If it had been made earlier I think the rampant Colt would be at the back of the slide, left side above the thumb safety. I think the grips are from a later period and if they are plastic, not wood then they definitley are much later. The 1919 grips should still be double diamond I'm pretty sure. I'd say the mag with the loop is more correct for the pistol's age. The slide stop, trigger and thumb safety are correct and that's good.

Mike
 
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BC Mike said:
According to Goddard's Government models page 266 your serial #W100865 was one of a 200 lot shipment that was sent to the British Ministry of Shipping on April 28th, 1919. If it had been made earlier I think the rampant Colt would be at the back of the slide, left side above the thumb safety. I think the grips are from a later period and if they are plastic, not wood then they definitley are much later. The 1919 grips should still be double diamond I'm pretty sure. I'd say the mag with the loop is more correct for the pistol's age. The slide stop, trigger and thumb safety are correct and that's good.

Mike
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I forgot to say the mag without the loop is likely the same period. The loop has been cut off unfortunately as you can still see the marks or holes left by its removal.
 
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