Need info and measurments from 44 Webley owners + general questions.

[MaxKW]

I have an Ajax Army marked revolver that should be chambered in 44 Webley and came with some 44 Webley ammo. Now I understand the brass can be made from 44 mag, special or russian so when I put a russian brass in the cylinder it fits perfectly right up to the step, seems to me this is chambered/reamed for 44 russian, however I would like for someone to measure there cylinder to confirm my suspicion. The other thing that made me curious is that a .427 cal bullet won't slide through the cylinder so upon firing the bullet would be squeezed down in the cylinder, now the previous owner did fire Webley ammo in it with no problems and it's .440, the bullets slide freely through the cylinders of my other revolvers so I just want to make sure it's ok to fire. Also there is just enough room for the cylinder to rotate with the brass inserted without having to thin the rims, again is that on purpose or just coincidence.

The rifling is very deep and I confirmed with a couple people that it should be fine with .427 bullets but I didn't know about the chamber so didn't discuss that with them.

 

[scianna54]

You are right, many people push too big bullets through too small holes, I wouldn't recommend it. You should measure the lands and grooves on both sides of the barrel and decide from there. Most Belgian revolvers in 44 Webley are actually .412, still people push .442 bullets through the holes, not sure how it works since I would never do that. Some are modified to take 44 Russian, still too big.

 

[MaxKW]

From what I researched and measured on the factory ammo the 44 webley used .440 bullets and our modern 44's are .427 so the biggest problem with these too small a bullet in too big of hole. The bore on the one I own is tight enough that regular .427 bullets will work.

I fired a few 44 Russian light loads today and everything worked fine. I don't have an original 44 webley cylinder to measure but it can't be just coincidence that the step in the cylinder is exactly the length for the Russian. That step would be a long way from the case of a webley.

 

[mooncoon]

I would suggest slugging the bore as well as checking the chamber dimensions in the cylinder. I bought a S&W with an RCMP letter that it was a 44 russian. I couldn't hit a bull in the bum at 10 feet with it. Then I did what I should have done right off the start; measured it. The cylinder was 44 russian but the barrel was 45 cal. I rechambered the gun to 45 scofield which helped a bit on the accuracy issue

cheers mooncoon

 

[jethunter]

.44 webley guns that were made by webley were just .442 Revolver guns rebadged for sale in USA.
The Belgian made 44 webley are various dimensions from .425 to .445

 

[MaxKW]

The bore is good to go for regular .427-.429 bullets but I still don't know if the cylinder has been modified. The 44 Russian cases fit perfectly tight against the step. So sounds modified but I have no idea if an original webley cylinder would have a step that far out.

 

[jethunter]

You really should slug the cylinder & bbl to get the right diameters.
The cartridge case should headspace on the rim/cylinder face. It should not headspace on the case mouth/cylinder step.