As a followup, there should be a few things mentioned about the Mk.VI revolvers made by Webley & Scott and the RSAF Enfield version of it. The Mk.VI series was the end result of 40 plus years of W&S designing a top break .455 Webley revolver to use a heavy very slow lead bullet. 255/260 grain lead at barely 600fps. Both revolvers and ammo were blackpowder designs to start with. No problem thus far.
After World War II, the Webley and Enfield Mk.VI's were imported into the USA. .455 Webley was as relatively expensive then as now. An importer idea was to face off the rear of the cylinder so that US .45acp pistol ammo from a Colt 1911 could be used in the Webley's on half moon clips just as 1917 S&W and 1917 Colt revolvers used .45acp on half moon clips ever since WW I. No problem with Colt. Minor problem with S&W since they did not begin heat treating cylinders until 1929. For both, the .45acp loadings of the time, 230 grains at 825fps, were probably OK, but modern loads easily stress them.
As to the faced off cylinder Webleys, not such a good idea. The low pressure design of a top break combined with a low pressure originally black powder now cordite loaded cartridge combined with removing metal from the cylinder means that the average operating pressure of smokeless .45acp ammo is about like a mild to medium proof load used in the original .455 Webley. A steady diet will make a mess of them first loosening parts and frames and lockwork and the latch. Peters developed the .45 Auto Rim lead bullet loads as a solution to the 1917 revolver problems which also made half moon clips un-necessary. The .45AR factory loading of lead bullets also prevented damage to modified Webleys. Maybe. Just Maybe.
If anyone has a modified Webley and thinks a few .45acp+P or hot .45AR loads might be interesting, I think that is called a "Mills Bomb." (English hand gernade.)
The other side of the conversation is that the English Ministry of Defense decided the .455 Webley was such a ferocious cartridge that they needed to make a revolver with less recoil for the post WW I-pre WW II English boys no longer as studly as they had been. RSAF Enfield's No.2 Mk.I .380 Revolver won the contest over the Webley Mk.IV .38S&W entrant. No wonder since Enfield was making the Mk.VI at the time anyhow.
Noteworthy points in brief:
1) The new Enfield No.2 Mk.I was designed for a version of the .38 S&W that used a 200 grain lead bullet. The .38/200. The .38S&W Super Police of the day. Very heavy, very slow in the 600fps range again, and effective because it was so long for the rifling twist rate used that it tumbled. The Enfield bores were on the large side of standard.
2) The 200 grain lead bullet was soon replaced with a 178 grain FMJ pointy bullet. The jacket had a lot more friction and was equally slow. No problem in the large Enfield bore.
3) Webley & Scott continued on with their design, sold it commercially, sold it to the English police, and when WW II started up, the English MOD bought a lot of W&S Mk.IV revolvers. All were intended for use with the US standard .38S&W 146 grain load. The load was fine in the W&S bore since it was lead and since W&S used an only slightly tighter bore than the Enfield.
4) The English started buying S&W .38S&W revolvers. They were designed with an even tighter bore for the US standard .38S&W 146 grain lead bullet. No surprise there.
WW II conducted itself to conclusion and the Enfield and Webleys and S&Ws soldiered and policed on.
In the 1970's and 1980's, the police in England and the MOD finally noted that the 178 grain FMJ bullet of the .380 MK.2Z was not really appropriate for the Webley and the S&W revolvers. Their bores were smaller than the Enfield and too tight. The Webleys and S&Ws were better used with the 146 grain standard US lead bullet loads. The NRA picked up the information and printed it in that era. Mostly everyone forgets about it these days.
Unless you shoot a S&W or a Webley AND have British .380 Mk.2Z ammo with FMJ bullets, who cares.
The only care is that compared to the fat bore of the Enfield, the tighter bore of the Webley and the way tighter bore of the S&W will stick the FMJ bullet in the barrel. The big flash gaps hiss for a moment and leave the bullet in the bore. Pull the trigger again and kiss your nice collector gun goodbye. There are no spare barrels these days.
Droll info, so more fun.
Photo: 1938 RSAF Enfield No.2 Mk.I .380 Revolver.
Photo: The .380/.38S&W ammo the above paragraphs were chattering about. .380 Mk.2Z FMJ and .38S&W Lead.
Photo: Head stamps there of. FN made the one, NC FMJ and Remington the Lead Round Nose.
But for the rain and snow, I would have shot the Enfield .380.
Anyone have a photo of a Webley Mk. IV ??