.455 Colt

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NorthCoastBigBore

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(I had the .455/.45 Colt rim thickness matter BACKWARDS when I posted this but the info might still be interesting for someone. Likely a headspace issue (0.020" difference between the .455 & .45 Colt). My understanding had always been, that the .455 Eley, Webley etc are not interchangeable with .45 Colt. I still believe that to be true, at least for the standard military loads/cases.

I have had here for a while collecting dust, a box of .455 Colts which are marked on the box as being for the "British Service Revolver, No. 1", so I had attributed these as being .455 Webley series (except I had it in my head these were marked "Short Colts" so I must have looked at these when I got them and thought they looked different). And really, they are.

(I'm missing my Cartridges of the World right now, which may have taken all the mystery out of this for me.)

These are actually longer than a .455 Webley as far as I can see on the web (again, wish I had my CoA here!! - but these are shorter than a Schofield) - however I don't have any .455 MK I ammo here to compare, which may account for the length.

These ones I have are dimensionally identical to a .45 Colt except for the length (rim diameter] mics out to the same as the brass I have; same with case OD):

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As I say, my understanding was that these .455 series would NOT chamber in a .45, even if only due to the rim diameters or thickness. These DO, however; but again - 0.020" thinner rim than the .45.

Just passing it along anyway, purely an observation. Runs afoul of most of the interweb chatter on the interchangeability of these rounds (although these may have been developed by Dominion as a selling point to those who may want to fire these in everything they had).

(again, the .455 I figured out after posting is .020" thinner than the .45 Colt, not the other way around).
 
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I'm aware of the New Service and others - however (as I say above) most of the discussions on these suggest they interchange with the Webley, Eley etc, other ".455's" - NOT the .45 Colt (due to rim thickness and/or diameter, if nothing else);

The ones I show above have the exact same rim diameter & thickness as my .45 Colts. I think it is a commercial variant (as I say above). These ones (as I show above) chamber & cycle flawlessly in my Uberti (because of the rims being the same) EDIT: I discovered after this is not so, .455 rim is thinner. Diameters are identical.



At any rate, this is really posted for interest as someone may find it useful to know (thinking handy cases for reduced BP loads without need for filler, for example). Because of the thinner rim though, you may run into headspace issues...
 
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I have Dominion Colt 455 ammo.
I have 2 S&W 455 revolvers
The rim thickness of the 45 long colt is thicker than 455 Colt .
I turn down 45 long colt to 455 length . If I didn't thin the rim you can not close the cylinder .
Google Colt 455 case dimensions & you will find the data

and if you don't need them I'll buy them :rolleyes:
 
Ya, I had that backwards after all that - sorry, my confusion. Got excited, thought I had something unusual...

I also wasn't mic'ing the thickness properly, cheap micrometer. Just double checked (on an angle it seems to open up slightly).

That's what I get for thinking too much on Hallowe'en...had to drive the turkeys into town and then chase them from house to house...tired
 
In terms of length, remember there are two lengths for the 455 Webley; the early shells loaded with black powder were longer than the later ones intended for smokeless. I believe the long shells were loaded with smokeless for a few years before the transition to a shorter shell. Both shells are shorter than a 45 long colt and also I am pretty sure shorter than a 45 Scofield

cheers mooncoon
 
Yes, I shouldn't have tossed this up there. Thought I had something unusual. Need to get my book back, I find it less confusing than the internet for things like this.

mooncoon said:
In terms of length, remember there are two lengths for the 455 Webley; the early shells loaded with black powder were longer than the later ones intended for smokeless. I believe the long shells were loaded with smokeless for a few years before the transition to a shorter shell. Both shells are shorter than a 45 long colt and also I am pretty sure shorter than a 45 Scofield

cheers mooncoon
Click to expand...
 
The .455 COLT cartridge was the LENGTH of the old .476 Service Revolver cartridge, which was a Black Powder item.

When they went to Chopped Cordite for a propellant, there was too much room in the case for constant ignition, so they shortened it, the end result being the .455 Cordite Mark II.

Always CHAMBERS were deep enough that any Service ammunition would fit ANY gun. In an extreme case, you might be using a Webley Mark VI (came out very late in 1915) and the only ammo might be some ancient .476 left over from the Riel Rebellion. YOU WERE SAFE TO GO and the ammo would FIT and WORK in your shiny-new gun.

Sometimes military thinking can be VERY clear.
 
smellie said:
The .455 COLT cartridge was the LENGTH of the old .476 Service Revolver cartridge, which was a Black Powder item.

When they went to Chopped Cordite for a propellant, there was too much room in the case for constant ignition, so they shortened it, the end result being the .455 Cordite Mark II.

Always CHAMBERS were deep enough that any Service ammunition would fit ANY gun. In an extreme case, you might be using a Webley Mark VI (came out very late in 1915) and the only ammo might be some ancient .476 left over from the Riel Rebellion. YOU WERE SAFE TO GO and the ammo would FIT and WORK in your shiny-new gun.

Sometimes military thinking can be VERY clear.
Click to expand...

Interesting stuff Smellie - thank you as always!
 
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