S&W .455 Colt

The RNWMP/RCMP used .45 Colt, but the Canadian army, as part of the British Empire and Commonwealth forces, used the .455.

Jim
 
Rabbit, if you're thinking that it is similar to Dirty Harry's S&W .44mag, only bigger and badder :D...you would be badly mistaken!
It has a very thin barrel due to the low power/velocity. I have bounced bullets back off of wood timbers!
I will post a pic if you still are curious though.
 
The .455 Colt was also known as the .455 Eley , a different round than the .455 Webley. It was longer (1.388 OAL-.885 case length) , with a few grains heavier bullet.

I have a 1918 Colt New Service in .455 Eley.

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Ya can shoot the shorter .455 Webley (1.227 OAL-.748 case length) with no problems other than a different point of impact.

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The .455 Colt was also known as the .455 Eley
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I always thought the .455 Eley was the .455 Self Loading, although the Brits could have used the same name for more than one cartridge.
 
The Brits are even more confusing than us Yanks.

There's the .455 Eley = .455 Colt = .455 Enfield = .455 Revolver Mk.I

Then there's the.455 Webley Mk.II revolver , and the .455 Webley Automatic.

And there's great info in that wonderful book , Barnes Cartridges of the World!
 
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Note of caution. It seems unlikely given the rarity of the .455 Automatic cartridge, but do NOT fire them in a .455 revolver. They will work because the .455 Auto is semi-rimmed, but the pressure is a lot higher than .455 revolvers were designed for. The British War Department put out a notice on the subject at one time.

On much the same subject, if you have one of those .455 Webleys (Mks I-VI) that were converted to use .45 ACP with moon clips, DO NOT fire standard or mil spec .45 ACP or any heavier .45 ACP load in it. Some of those guns have blown with normal .45 ACP GI ammo. In spite of the Webley lovers, even the Mk VI is not the strongest revolver in the world or anywhere near it. So don't blow one of those old timers trying to prove it is.

Also, the often-made statement that the Colt autos made for the .455 Auto are identical to the .45 ACP gun. Not true, even the frames are different to take the wider magazines, and barrels and slides are different.

Jim
 
hello there were two .455 and .455 self Loading [ auto], the great thing you can learn on the net, rabbit
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The magazine for the .455 Colt 1911 I had was marked "Cal .455 Eley."
 
Yep, that is what Colt marked them. Without a time machine, I doubt we will ever know why. Note that a .455 magazine is wider than a .45 ACP magazine and won't fit in the .45 ACP pistol.

At a gun show a couple of years ago, I mentioned that to a dealer who had a .455 magazine on his table. He called me "a dumb sh*t" and said they were the same. He picked up a .45 ACP pistol and tried to put the .455 magazine in it. It wouldn't go. Then he hammered the mag on the table, then on the floor, bending the lanyard loop and the base plate lip. He finally got it almost in, turned to me (I was standing there, horror struck) and said, triumphantly, "See, dummy, it fits." I walked away shaking my head at a fool who would ruin a $150 magazine because he was too stupid to concede a point.

Jim
 
Bit of a PITA, but .455 Self Loading can be easily made by trimming back .45 Colt cases, cutting an extractor groove and thinning and turning the rims down a bit.

Generally it is best to fire them in a wide open area with a brass spotter, though.
 
Hi, Gyvel,

What kind of bullet did you use? I did the same thing with cases, but I had a problem and never did really solve it. The .455 Auto bullet that is outside the case is almost a round ball, and I couldn't get bullets that would seat properly yet be within the COAL. Of course, regular .45 ACP with the bullets seated deeper will work in both the .455 Colt and the Webley because the extractor will hold the case, but that is not really the way to go.

Jim
 
I'll have to dig out my old Lyman book to get the number, but, if I recall, I used a 200 grain lead round nose of theirs. The rounds worked well enough, but I was rewarded with a cracked grip and an hour long hunt for the brass. LOLL

Regarding .45 ACP, I have only had success using the naval auto as a single shot, since, as you pointed out, the OAL is lionger than the .455
 
I said earlier that I didn't know why Colt called the cartridge(s) the .455 Eley instead of the .455 Webley. I mentioned the question to a friend yesterday and his reply may be the answer. He said that Eley didn't make guns, only ammo, and that Colt never would put the name of a competitor, even a foreign one, on its guns.

Jim
 
hi , can you please post a picture i would really like to see what a 455 S&W looks like , rabbit
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rabbit, it looks just like a S&W Service Model of 1917. There are no special features
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There were two versions, the original was of the New Century or Triple Lock design. In the trenches, the underbarrel lug and crane lock tended to get fouled with mud (and they were expensive), so the Mk. II version, without the crane lock and with exposed ejector was developed. The M1917 was based on the second model, but with a 5.5" rather than 6.5" barrel. The grips on the British contract pistols retained the checkering and gold medallions of commercial guns, while the M1917 had smooth, unadorned grips.
 
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