WEBLEY 'Top Break' Revolvers:

The thing about obsolete weaponry & cartridges is that they STILL work ..

.455 Webley Mk.VI  With The "lesser" Caliber .38 Mk.IV Webley.

"Manstoppers" with Character ..

 - There are those thickos who like to mock the anemic - clunky - old fashioned Webley top-break action revolvers that were issued to British & Commonwealth troops through many conflicts - including both WWI & WWII .. but these tools WORKED and persist to this very day .. still working on the continent of India and elsewhere. They also still go bang most adequately at my rural Pistol Club despite me shooting my handloaded versions of their "obsolete" cartridges.

.450 Adams .. .455 Webley Mk.1  .. .455 Webley Mk.II

The early black powder .450 Adams Cartridge was officially designated .450 Boxer Mk.I and interestingly could also be used in later guns chambered in .455 Webley as it's bullet was sized .455" - as was also the 476 Enfield bullet. - these three British rounds all had brass cases that measured .476"

- I read that the 38-200 cartridge makes similar energy levels to the .450 Adams ..

There are some folk that shy-away from the "obsolete" cartridges but I load my version of the 38-200 cartridges using Starline 38 S&W brass - Federal primers - Hornady 148gn. swaged lead, hollow-based 'wadcutter' bullets (or suitably sized local powder-coated round nose cast pills) - using 9x19mm Lee dies and a 38 Special shell-holder - pressed together with the smallest charge of nitro powder that my Lee Auto Disc powder thrower can drop.

I well understand that it is hard to keep opinion separate from statement of fact - but it has been said that the old 38 S&W cartridge produces power levels close to that of the 38 Special .. which is widely considered to be in a "sweet spot" effective zone for self defense.  This is the "Goldilocks" state of being hot enough but not too hot.

The original 38-200 "Manstopper" loadings used 200 grain soft lead flat nosed and hollow-point slugs that tumbled after impact .. until they were prohibited & withdrawn.

Here is a 'taster' of just how the big Webleys performed in the competent hand of Lieutenant Baines of The Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Ypres ..

"I took pot shots with my revolver at those that ran. I must mention here, for the sake of the incredulous, that there were, I think, three officers in the 52nd in 1914 at Aldershot, who had been known to hit the target at thirty yards, or was it fifteen? — at the officers' annual revolver shoot, and I was one of them. In fact I had been known to hit the target more often than to miss it, and what is more, with the left hand as well as the right. I only mention this in the hope that those that read this will believe me when I say that I don't think I missed one German that I fired at on this day. I fired fifty-two rounds through my revolver, and burnt my left hand on the barrel in reloading. It is not difficult to understand when I say that the longest range at which I fired at a Ger­man, was about thirty yards and the huge bulk of the average Prussian Guardsman made an easy target, even on the run."

Here's a Link to the full record of this action - a very interesting read:

 http://www.lightbobs.com/1914-nonne-bosschen.html

- then here is a further link to an academic dissertation on the British military handguns of World War I .. The Great War - lots of references for research ..

daviwww.worldwar1.com/tripwire/pdfdthomas.pdf

- Even down here in the South Pacific earthquake zone I meet shooters who will only touch pistols stamped with either of the 'classic Frontier' names Colts or Smith & Wesson .. despite both outfits having little connection to the original American pioneers - Both corporates having bankrupted in collapsed disposal sales at various times .. why - one of them was even run by a British lawnmower maker for years.

- Back to 'power levels' and "stopping power" (knockdown power) .. The government-military calculation is/was that 60 foot pounds impact is sufficient to produce the required incapacitating effect from ball shrapnel. However .. different enhanced wounding results are known from sharp items such as arrows, edged weapons, flechettes etc at much lower energy levels. - The power debate continues.

https://www.chuckhawks.com/energy_transfer.htm

Marty K.