Check your Webley before you shoot it!

O

Onty

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Mississauga, Ontario
Warning! Webley MK VI cylinder chambers could be considerably undersized. I just checked my two Webleys with plug gages, and surprise; one is .448” and another .447”. The fella that sold me whole package (refurbished Webley) was sizing Lyman 454190 and 454424 on .454”. Looks like he was shooting very mild loads. When the trigger is pulled all the way back, Webley is tight, rock solid, nothing moves or plays whatsoever. I didn’t slug the barrel yet, but I will try next day or so.

Should I open cylinder on at least .4515-.4520” so I can shoot .451” sized bullets? I just don’t like idea of shooting grossly oversized bullets. Webley is a fairly strong piece for top break revolver, but everything has its limit. Thank you.
 
Umm, not to sound stupid here but how did the previous owner load cartriges with bullets 7 thou oversize into the chamber? Are you certain your guage reads right?
 
Froget the cylinder measurement and measure the barrel diameter and forcing cone.

Also, if the cylinder was so undersized as you say, that ammo would not fit into the cylinder! I suspect a faulty gauge. You get it at Princess Auto or something?
 
Webley's by design have the forcing cone at the front of each chamber.
They were designed for soft lead or soft jacketed bullets of .454 diameter. DO NOT USE jacketed bullets with a hard jacket, you will drive preasures way up!!
As above do not mess with the cylinder, it is supposed to be this way!

Scott
Dycor Special Services.
 
Thank you for replies. Nothing wrong with gages, they are industrial grade (Mitutoyo), used in medium size shop. As for the previous owner, looks like that he used them such way; .006” oversize in Webley with .448 cylinder bore. However, lead bullets I’ve got from him are quite soft, could be straight lead or very close to it. Other bullets my friend cast were made from wheel weight and are noticeable harder. Seems to me that old guy was aware of all this so he had them soft.

Will look around for hollow based bullets or moulds.

I am wandering how that conversion to accommodate 45 ACP with clips (45 AR) worked with military ball ammo. Did they open the cylinder? If not, pressure in those Webley-s with military ball 45 ACP must be more than double than factory 455 load.

Regards.
 
Onty said:
Thank you for replies. Nothing wrong with gages, they are industrial grade (Mitutoyo), used in medium size shop. As for the previous owner, looks like that he used them such way; .006” oversize in Webley with .448 cylinder bore. However, lead bullets I’ve got from him are quite soft, could be straight lead or very close to it. Other bullets my friend cast were made from wheel weight and are noticeable harder. Seems to me that old guy was aware of all this so he had them soft.

Will look around for hollow based bullets or moulds.

I am wandering how that conversion to accommodate 45 ACP with clips (45 AR) worked with military ball ammo. Did they open the cylinder? If not, pressure in those Webley-s with military ball 45 ACP must be more than double than factory 455 load.

Regards.
Click to expand...
As you've already been told, they are all that way. What the reasoning was, I don't know, but the Brits weren't stupid when they designed the LE chamber (which makes many whine about "case stretch" and "excess headspace"), and I imagine they had a reason for the Webley setup.

RCBS makes a hollow base mould which is VERY close to being a replica of one of the last versions of ball ammo for the Webley. Can't remember what Mark of bullet it replicates off the top of my head. I bought one for my Webley; works great. I suspect the skirt obdurates after leaving the cylinder and then entering the barrel quite nicely, because accuracy is all you could ask for.

As for converting it to take moon clips... I don't understand why the idiots who did that didn't simply write their initials in the frame with an electric pencil and then have it chrome plated. They'd screw up the value just as well, and wouldn't gain an ounce in performance either way (unless they used .45 ACP loads that exceed the Webley's operating pressures).

The Webley is what it is. I'd still pick my Hi Power in .40 S&W if I had the time and choice, but if I was defending myself with that Webley and them big soft lead slugs... I wouldn't feel I was at much of a disadvantage.

WebleyMkVI.jpg
 
You CANNOT use .45ACP in an unbuggered Webley cylinder. to accomadate that round, the cylinder was shaved on the back end to increase headspace. while the round will slip in, with a half moon clip attached you will be unable to close the action. Conversely using .455 ammo in a shaved cylinder will lead to misfires as the headspace is excessive. For a shaved cylinder, use .45 auto rim brass available from Midway. NOT the loaded ammo (even if you could find it) as it is 1. expensive, and 2. loaded to the same pressure as .45ACP.

Just an add. These days, shaving a webley cylinder in order to use .45ACP should be a Flogging offence!
 
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