44 Webley

[Fox]

I have a 44 Webley pistol, it is a first model Iver Johnson and is cannot be newer than 1878. I had some 0.429in bullets cast for it, dead soft lead with BP lube and 200gr in weight. I took some 44 special brass and shortened it with a custom trim die built around the Lee system.

I wanted to ask, does anyone here load for this? The American version with the inside lubricated bullet specifically?

I have never reloaded pistol rounds, I understand that you generally flare the case with a die but since my dies are 44 special the cases are way too tall. Has anyone just put spacers inside the internals of a die to push the flare die down? I guess the same needs to be asked about the bullet seating die.

Along the same lines, for those who reload for a 44 BP gun, do you prefer FFg or FFFg? Regular or Magnum primers? I plan to start with 10gr of BP as this is a tiny gun but I am not sure of mow much compression is needed to make sure I do not create a bomb in my hand.

Thanks a lot, still learning but getting closer.

 

[bobdbldr]

Did you slug the barrel to see what the actual bore diameter is?

 

[tokguy]

Generally one trims the die from the bottom to fit IIRC.
And slug the bbl! I had an F & W that fit 44 Russian like a dream...except that the bbl tapered from .429 to .405 in 2.5 "!
Train wreck just waiting to happen right there.

 

[Fox]

The throat takes half of the .429 200gr bullet before touching anything. The cylinder itself is longer than needed but is the same length as the 38 rimfire, which is another round that was chambered in this gun, my assumption is that they just used the same frame. The chamber is stepped and the .429 bullet passed through the narrow part just leaving a little lube on it. I had measured the bore with a caliper before getting any bullets made and the bore was not the .442 as the heeled bullet RIC round but rather about .427-0.428, which is why I got these bullets made up. I tapped one of them through the bore from the muzzle end as the solid frame makes it impossible to do this from the throat. The slugged bullet measures out at 0.430 turning inside a caliper, this is a 5 groove barrel so I cannot get precise measurements on the land to land and groove to groove. I have been told this is almost perfect for 0.429 bullets and the fact that they are dead soft is even better for the old steel.

So the thing I should do with the dies is trim them down 0.5in, which is the difference between the 44 SPL and 44 Webley.