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Home | Firearm Cartridge | 455 Webley
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The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed cartridge firing a .45 bullet at the relatively low velocity of 650 ft/s (190 m/s). The result was a cartridge and handgun combination with relatively mild recoil, but with good penetration and excellent stopping power. It was rated superior to the .45 Colt in stopping power in the disputed United States Thompson-LaGarde Tests of 1904 that resulted in the adoption by the U.S. of the .45 ACP cartridge. The .455 Webley cartridge remained in service with British and Commonwealth forces until the end of the Second World War. Six main types of .455 ammunition were produced: *.455 Webley Mk I: 265 grain (17.2 g) solid lead round-nosed bullet propelled by black powder, dating from the late 19th Century. All subsequent .455 designs used cordite propellant. * .455 Webley Mk II: 265 grain (17.2 g) solid lead round-nosed bullet propelled by 6.5 gr (0.4 g) cordite. There are minor differences between the Mk I and II bullet shape, though these concern the internal dimensions and so are not immediately apparent. * .455 Webley Mk III: the famous "Manstopper" bullet intended for police, civilian and colonial use. Essentially, the Mk III was a 218 grain lead "hollowpoint" design, propelled by cordite. The cylindrical bullet had hemispherical hollows at each end-one to seal the barrel, the other to deform on impact. This bullet was soon prohibited for use by the military because it was not compliant with the Hague Convention of 1899. * .455 Webley Mk IV: 220 grain, flat-nosed wadcutter with cordite propellant. * .455 Webley Mk V: identical to the Mk IV bullet, but cast from a harder lead-alloy containing more antimony with cordite propellant. * .455 Webley Mk VI: a 265 grain full metal jacketed bullet intended for military purposes, designed to comply with the Hague Convention. This bullet was used during the Great War and the Second World War. The propellant was 5.5 - 7.5 gr (0.4 - 0.5 g ) cordite or 5.5 gr (0.4 g) nitro-cellulose. * .455 Webley Auto Mk I: Produced from 1913 to about the middle of WWII. This is a semi-rimmed cartridge for the Webley & Scott Self Loading pistols, along with some M1911 pistols purchase by the Royal Navy. The cartridge headspaces on the rim and was loaded with a 224 grain cupro-nickel jacketed bullet with a muzzle velocity of 700 feet per second. In addition to the Webley revolvers, the British and Canadian armies also ordered several thousand Smith & Wesson .44 Hand Ejector revolvers, chambered in .455 Webley, in a rush to equip their troops for the Great War. The urgency was such that the earliest of these were converted from revolvers already completed and chambered for .44 Special. Approximately 60,000 Colt New Service revolvers were also purchased, in .455. The Italian firm Fiocchi is currently the only commercial manufacturer of the .455 Webley cartridge (in Mk II). The American firm Hornady produces equipment for reloading .455 Webley cartridges. Despite the apparent difference in caliber name, .476 Enfield was quite similar to the .455 Webley. The .476 had a 0.05 mm (0 in) shorter case than the .455 Mark I and could be fired in weapons regulated and marked as safe for the caliber, such as the Webley 'WG Army' model. This had a cylinder that was long enough to accommodate the significantly longer cartridge in which the bullet swelled out to .476" beyond the case. It would not chamber in any government-issue .455 Webley Marks I-VI. The .450 Adams (1868), .476 Enfield (1881), and .455 Webley (1887) British service cartridges all featured a case diameter of .476 inch. |
