Shaving webley cylinder to 45 acp

Don't do it.
.45ACP factory ammunition isn't appropriate for a Webley; you need to handload it to .455 specs. .45ACP factory ammunition operates at the same pressure as .455 proof loads. And if you are going to handload, just load .455.
If you want to have your gun bubba'd, any lathe jockey who can set the cylinder up true on the lathe could do the cutting. Pay him to do it, reduce the value of your gun at the same time. Lose-lose.
 
I'm with tiriaq on this. 455 ammo and components are at least as available as 45 auto rim brass or moon clips.

If you really want one in 45acp sell yours and buy one that's already modified.
 
Don't do it. If you really want one, I will trade you my shaved Webley MK6 for your unshaved version if it is in decent condition. Mine is rated as Very Good (+). All it would cost us is postage one-way.....
 
Moon clips are convienient in 45 acp as well as chambering .45 auto rim. As said above, you can buy .455 brass and ammo so there’s no reason to do it. Any cost saved shooting cheaper ammo would be out weighed by conversion cost. .455 is only Roughly 25 percent less powerful than .45 acp.
 
Suther said:
45 acp isn't one of the calibers that make an antique into a restricted, so I'm thinking this conversion would keep its antique status?
Click to expand...

The MKVI he's offering is certainly not pre 1898.

There's also been rumours of guns someday being disqualified from antique status if they have been modified to take a modern cartridge. For what that might be worth.....
 
Antique webleys end at MKIII with only about the first 5000 being antique so no MKIV can be antique.

What is main reason you would want to convert from .455 to .45 acp. Just cost? Component availability?
 
I would not alter an antique revolver cylinder to fire 45acp with moonclips.

But if I had a spare cylinder or a non-antique I "might" shave the cylinder just enough to accept trimmed 45 Schofield brass without having to worry about thinning the rim, and this cylinder could still be used with regular 455 brass as well. I know because I have one like that. This is much better than shaving the cylinder for 45acp IMO.
 
Good suggestion.
The current situation allowing use of antiques was not intentional when the law was last revised. It is a fortunate happenstance.
I really doubt that it is going to last. When it does change, and there is no longer the freedom to shoot antiques without restrictions, the value of altered ones is going to crash, relative to those that have not been changed.
 
I'm hoping to find an unaltered Webley (at a price I can act on) one of these days. It's not a matter of value retention or what might happen in legal definitions. More about historical integrity.
.455 will be far from the most difficult cartridge I have to load for - have dies and brass already waiting.
 
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