Letter Re: Advice on Pre-1899 Revolvers for Self Defense

Dear James Wesley,
I thought that it was about time you mentioned Webley revolvers and their variants in your blog, and was pleased to see you’re recommendation in last week’s content. I am a long time prepper, mostly through accident of geography, my family and neighbors have a unique support system and find your blog quite useful. I spent just shy of a decade in and around West Africa, and a year in Israel, which is where I first became familiar with Webleys. The British mandate left behind a wealth of practical firearms for their newly independent allies, some of which was intentional and some reallocated. The reallocation of scarce resources has been an Israeli mainstay for close to three quarters of a century and the maintenance of those resources has been an ongoing occupation. Webleys and Enfield’s became an interest and then a passion, at the time, due to the availability and durability of both. Being a machinist, anything mechanical was of interest, but Webleys in their many iterations became first a hobby, then through need and availability, a viable avocation. Through that association I have become, first, a fair to middlin’ Webley gunsmith, then an appraiser of Large and Small Bore British Military Revolvers dating from the 1880s to the mid 1940s.

The Marks I and II that you mentioned, which date from 1887 and 1894 respectively, do indeed fall into the category of antique firearms and require no ATF paperwork, but you should also take into consideration the Mark III, which is an updated Mk II with improved lock work, dating from 1897, and is a sturdier than either the MK I or II. All three of these marks were originally designed for use with black powder/cordite but are of sufficient strength to withstand a certain amount of use with modern smokeless powders as long as you don’t go over the 700 fps mark. Accuracy suffers in the Webley when you use full metal jacket ammunition, especially .45 ACP cartridges held in full or half moon clips, due to the shallow rifling in the 4 inch barrels. The original 265 grain soft lead bullet was of conical configuration and left the barrel at about 650 fps, I have found that hand loading your cartridges is the best way to recapture that accuracy, using an available 250 grain .45 caliber soft lead bullet of at least .454 diameter (intended for Long Colt revolvers) and with a velocity of between 650 and 700 fps. You will want to use either a .455 caliber sizing die, if you can find one, or a .45 Long Colt sizing which is commonly used. For cut down .455 cylinders, (re-worked for use with .45 ACP cartridges in full or half moon clips), you can use .45 Auto Rim cases sized in the .455 sizing die.

I would appreciate you not giving out my name or contact information, but can be reached through my property manager if you have any questions or need any more information about British revolvers. Sorry if I got long winded, but I’ve been waiting you to discuss Webley revolvers and wanted to get this information to you when I was at a computer.

Take Care, our thoughts and prayers go out to you over your recent loss. – The Hebrew Hobbit