How about brand new Webley .455's

I've gotten .455 ammo with Hornady's name on the box, so it is out there, at about $1 a round...or, it was...

Here's a question, while I know the top break system is the weak point of the gun, I wonder if a new made Mk VI, made with modern alloys, instead of 1900 era steel, would it handle standard .45ACP pressures???
(as a regular working load?)

Regular GI ball ammo is a proof level load for the old Webley, and so, its risky to shoot. Using .45acp BRASS, loaded to the proper levels is easily done for those guns converted.

Maybe, with new alloy steel, and maybe some tweaks to the design (MK VI*? or Mk VII? maybe?), if Webley could produce a gun that would handle standard .45acp pressures (NOT +P!), and made it in .45ACP for moon clips, AND kept the price down enough to be competitive, they might have a marketable offering.

I think that in a common caliber, with a reasonable price point, the potential market would expand dramatically. It would appeal to those who want the look of the classic Webley, but be in a caliber both available and useful.
 
In a common caliber & at a decent price, it COULD have a chance.

Ammomakers are not going to flock to the .455 in droves simply because one maker brings back a nostalgia piece.

Modern metallurgy can't entirely overcome the inherent weakness of the hinge & latch design.

And the $800 figure quoted I seriously doubt can be done, to necessary quality levels.

IF that gun were chambered in .45 ACP & IF it were acceptable quality & IF it sold for $800, I'd buy one myself. :)

I just don't think that'll happen.
Denis
 
I agree DPris.

I wonder if they could produce a .38 special Webley? Would the cartridge be too long? Heck, even a .38 Short Colt Webley would be interesting. Same case length as the .38/200 (AKA .38 S&W) and I've seen much more .38 Short Colt than .455 Webley LOL! At least my local farm store had/has Remington .38 Short Colt, and brass could easily be made by trimming .38 special brass.

IDK... I do know that the majority out there probably would prefer the new Webleys to be in a more common caliber than .455, but with the inherent weakness of the design, I don't think there is really that many options. .455 Webley is just such a low pressure round...
 
If the gun were a hand-loader-only-caliber, it'd be dead from the start.

There are people who'd load their own, but not enough to sustain sales/return investment funding.

The first Webley I had, a 1917 (I think), was so loose I sold it.
Liked it, great piece of history, but loose as a goose.
The second was a bird's-head & I still kick myself for letting that one go.

I would spend $800 on a big-bore of good quality (okay- make it $1000) in a .45 ACP.
I would not be interested in the smaller .38, in ANY .38 version. :)

I am set up to handload the .45 ACP, no big deal there, but at this late stage of life I wouldn't want to be adding more calibers to bother with.
Nor would I spend money on a niche gun I can't easily find factory ammunition for (.455 or .38 S&W). :)
Denis
 
"The team found some good spots for the guns. In fact, they found those good spots already prepared for the big guns. And, backtracking, they found a pair of railroad guns (12" I think, maybe 14"), stored in tunnels, tended by a small detachment of caretakers, who had been oiling and doing maint on them since 1918! until this "discovery", the govt had no idea they were there!"

Nope, not 12", not 14".

They were Ordnance BL 9.2"/35 Mk XIII guns.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_9.2-inch_Railway_Gun

The XIIIs and earlier marks had been used extensively (going back as far as the Boer War).

After service in World War I, the Mk XIIIs were returned to Britain and salted througout the country.

The British 14" railway guns used in World War I service (originally built for a Japanese battleship but not delivered) were scrapped because, at that time, the 14" wasn't a standard British shell size, and wouldn't be until the 1930s and the adoption of that caliber to arm the King George V class of battleships.

The 12" railway guns (only 4 were built) were scrapped after World War I.

The story you're recounting is, I believe, also told in the Ballantine Book series on 20th century warfare.
 
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These threads always go off on tangents. As long as we're on the British 9.2" railway guns - they sent some to France, where they were captured by the Germans. There is a picture of a pair of them pointing the wrong way.

Jim
 
The Germans were great believers in using what ever they captured, if it still worked. Guns, planes, tanks, trucks, rifles and pistols, etc. If it didn't fit in with frontline tactics, it was reworked until it did, or simply just used in rear echelon units.

yes, the story came from one of the Ian Hogg artillery books, the Ballantine one, I read as a youth. I mis-remembered the caliber of the guns, it seems.

one of the tings I found impressive about the movie Patton was a little thing. Armored column, stalled on mountain road, sitting duck for air attack, because of a farmer's cart and balky horses on a bridge. Patton shows up, and after giving the farmer one chance to get off the bridge (which he can't get the horses/ or donkeys, I forget which, to do), Patton shoots the horses, and has them and the cart tossed off the bridge, to get on with the war!
 
Webley's did make at least two .38 Special Mk IV-types in an attempt to interest the police. The frame is rather stretched compared with the standard frame; looks rather ungainly.
 
Given the number of SAA clones being sold, some of them fairly new versions I think it is foolish to say a MK VI has no potential. If you look at what is offered in SAA clones most will shoot a modern widely available cartridge. The number of people in the US who own absurd amounts of guns is amazing. A recently decease acquaintance had been buying a pistol a month since he retired almost 20 years ago. When you are doing that sort of buying something like this isn't much to bite off.

If they made a 22lr MK VI I might buy one. Not likely a 45 ACP as original conversions are available on the market for less. Certainly not in a cartridge that is cost prohibitive for me to shoot.
 
The Webley doesn't have NEAR the "love" as the SAA does in the United states: the largest gun buying group in the known universe.

I'd imagine most of the people who'd love a Webley clone... are not legally allowed to ever own one (i.e. Great Britain).

I sure wish they get made though, and in a caliber that's more common these days!
 
Maybe a Webley in .380 ACP would be good
Click to expand...

Not sure. I think maybe the .380ACP might be too high pressure to be a good fit in the original Webley gun design. The size would be ok, but even if the pressure is safe, still wouldn't be much market for a bulky revolver over a slim 7-8 (more?) shot auto.
 
I would not pay $1000+ for a large revolver with a heavy trigger & mediocre sights chambered for the .380 & VERY few others would, either.

That route could not fly. :)
Even if they built it on the smaller .38 frame.
Denis
 
The large-framed Webley's only real appeal for most is in its nostalgia factor.
It IS a sturdy design, when fired with the calibers it was originally developed around, large frame or small frame.

It is NOT a superior revolver in either design, ergonomics, strength, or general utility.

Aside from the questionable "advantage" the ejection offers (which advantage is at least partially off-set by the inherent relative weakness of the design), it is harder to shoot well in DA, the sights are not very good, and it is overall less of a performer than a good revolver in a more available and/or powerful caliber with a better selection of bullet types for serious use.

I'm not knocking the classic, just pointing out it'll be a niche gun with most of its appeal as a curio, rather than a working gun.
Even more so if in a now-obscure caliber (.455) or a pipsqueak caliber (.380).

Denis
 
The large-framed Webley's only real appeal for most is in its nostalgia factor.

It is NOT a superior revolver in either design, ergonomics, strength, or general utility.

Aside from the questionable "advantage" the ejection offers (which advantage is at least partially off-set by the inherent relative weakness of the design), it is harder to shoot well in DA, the sights are not very good, and it is overall less of a performer than a good revolver in a more available and/or powerful caliber with a better selection of bullet types for serious use.

I'm not knocking the classic, just pointing out it'll be a niche gun with most of its appeal as a curio, rather than a working gun.
Click to expand...


I think most folks with a curiosity of owning one of these knows this, or at least should. I think this gun and those that show an interest in it falls along the lines of those ranting for a "new" Python. Many talk the talk but will back off when the price tag finally shows up and they need to walk the walk.
 
have NEAR the "love" as the SAA does
Click to expand...
Also wouldn't have NEAR the supply. Like I said, thre must be ten or more SAA clones of some variation and MANY similar, but not quite clones. How many historic break tops are on the market?

I'd pay as much or more for a break top as I did for my Ruger single six. I wouldn't be able t get my VISA out fast enough. Probably up to $750 without pause.
Outside the 22lr I'm not very interested though. A novelty firearm I can't take to the range every trip is not a novelty I want to own.
 
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