When I was a child (circa 1955-6) my father gave me a deactivated Webley as a toy gun. I could blast off about 15 toy pistol caps simultaneously under the hammer. I lost my "In the house carry" privileges after demonstrating a fast draw for my younger sibling. On the draw, I lost control of the heavy pistol, which sailed past my Mother's head & made a divot in the wall. After that, it was Dodge City, check all guns at the door.

“Shaving my Webley” sounds like some British adult website search…

3:27 I totally expected a British epithet before each trigger pull... "Have at you!" BANG "Run, Rapscallion!" BANG "Back, you Poltroon!" BANG "Take that, Hornswaggler!" BANG "You pigeon-livered cove!" BANG "You sir, are a Cad!" BANG

Shaved Webley sounds like a frat boy's nickname.

I bet Webley ownership has gone up since Peaky Blinders started

Shooting .455 Webley in a revolver with a shaved cylinder results in unreliability because the rim of the cartridge isn't thick enough for the firing pin to hit the primer consistently. If you don't want to shoot .45 ACP handloads in moon clips, several boutique ammo makers, including Reed's and Buffalo Arms, make .45 Auto Rim loaded to .455 Webley specs, which has a thick enough rim to reliably work in shaved guns but without the need for moon clips, allowing you to retain the original functionality.

Shaved Webley would be a killer band name .

Moon clips were the original speed loader . I had a Sgt. that carried a S&W Model 1955 .45 acp revolver cut down to 4" barrel and with a double speed loader pouch could carry two moon clips in each one instead of just one speed loader giving him twice the capacity , 24 rounds vs 12 . Interesting concept .

Thanks so much for this video. I bought a shaved Webley MK VI, 6 years ago, and have toyed with loading some appropriate 45 Auto-rim cartridges, but with the pandemic the projectiles were impossible to get, so the project and the gun were put on a shelf. Now it’s off to the range with my 110 year old war horse.

Neat. Although I'll never own a Webley, shaved or otherwise, I love that a company would make such ownership easier in this way.

The webley still looks badass even in a modern pistol case, really an iconic style.

I shot one for several years back in the 1980's with the Cactus Match League in Phoenix. I did load my own for it. That ammo would not cycle my 1911's so I kept it separated from the rest. They didn't have the full moon's back then, so I TIG welded two half moons together. To get a glass smooth light double action pull you must straighten out the flat hammer spring and polish it to a taper, then polish the works glass smooth. Make the rear sight notch square and serrate the rear sight flat surface with a 50 lpi file. 2 second reloads were common. Lost it in a home burglary. I have been looking for another ever since.

3:33 Those bullets are so slow you can see that one leave the barrel. Edit: Actually at 4:02 you can see just about every round in flight.

Webleys look SO good, top class.

what a beautiful pair of Webley revolvers

In about 1973 I bought such a "shaved" Webley- actually an Enfield-built gun after the government began making them on their own- for $75 at a gunshop in St. Charles, Illinois. The counterman put a shoebox full of them on the counter and told me to pick one out. Being a .45 guy it was a natural addition and I went on to shoot the gun a lot over the years, mostly with my regular .45ACP lead-bullet handloads but mixing in some occasional factory hardball FMJs. In the mid-2000s as I was doing a lot of USPSA matches, normally in Single Stack, I had tried a Smith & Wesson 625 for the old Revolver Division (R.I.P.) but it wasn't a very good gun. So I began to compete in matches with the Webley-Enfield. Despite the considerable trigger pull weight (I don't recall ever firing the gun in single-action) I somehow managed to get my "B" classification with the gun. Always enjoyed snapping it open at the end of the stage and shooting the empty moonclip at the unsuspecting range officer, even if it wasn't a nice thing to do. I could not even imagine how many thousands of rounds of .45ACP I've put through the gun, and it still runs perfectly. A half-century of use and I will say to this day, if ever I got in a gunfight and had to use a revolver, the Webley would be by far my favorite choice: fast to operate, and fast to shoot with its much-superior ergonomics compared to the Smiths and Colts. The angle, size, and shape of the handle is much better than the American guns. I got fairly handy with an old Python in IDPA (where the Webley wasn't legal due to the 6" barrel) but my times could never match what I could do with the Webley. A great combat revolver.

I owned a shaved Webley back in the '90s. It was the most accurate handgun I ever owned and I loved popping the moon clips out. I wish I never got rid of it.

I owned a shaved Webley some years ago, I fired .45 Auto Rim cartridges in it, never fired regular.45acp. It was a great gun. Wish I still had it.

I used to have a shaved Webley but sold it years ago because I didn't know how much it was shot with off the shelf .45ACP and didn’t want it to pipebomb.

I have two "Webleys" first one is a actual webley the second is a Bobbed Tanker Enfield. Both in 38 S&W. I was naive when i bought the first thinking 38S&W was 38 Special

Ian, time to put on your riding breeches and cavalry boots…and don’t forget you’re supposed to keep that Webley on the lanyard when you are firing…

I have such a revolver; 'shaved' Webley. I am familiar with the pressure difference from the .455 Webley to the .45 ACP. My solution is to use .45 AutoRim cases. The Webley cartridge is (Cartridges of the World) a 260 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 600 fps. I find the .45 Colt 'standard' lead bullet (from several manufacturers) of 255 grains quite satisfactory and I load it with Unique or Power Pistol - slower than Bullseye and therefore less a shock - to 600 fps. Actually the Steinel loading seems quite useful as a 'buy and shoot' answer to those who do not reload. And I agree .45 AR brass is not found everywhere. However, the shaved Webley I have (with bird's head shaped grip and four inch barrel, which I understand to be an 'early' version) likes it quite well.

In Australia we have these places called RSL (Returned Servicemen’s League) Clubs, to honour our ANZACs, and the ones out in country towns usually have cabinets in the front with all of the soldiers gear and weapons of various conflicts from The Boer War to early Vietnam. I used to spend hours looking at those displays

Check the chamber mouth diameter on your Webley. My shaved cylinder chamber mouths were .450". Understandable for hollow based lead bullets, but bad for FMJ and higher pressures. I opened the mouths to .452" and use lead round nose bullets loaded in .45 Auto Rim cases . No mistakes and safer.

Always a pleasure listening to a real expert on his subject. Many thanks.

Thanks Ian

Thanks Ian, I never knew there was any difference. I don’t own anything like that but great knowledge to have!

As much as i see people talk about and shoot their revolvers, it Would be interesting to see a discussion and maybe even shooting gel with the different Webley cartridges. Like the longer black powder Mk I, the “man stopper” Mk III hollow point and the Mk IV wadcutter.

Very useful for those of us with antiques. Thank you!

Thanks for the info, always something to learn.

I love these videos so much.

Thank you Ion

Steinel is a pretty cool company! I have bought from them in the past when I owned a Carcano and recently when I bought a Schmidt-Rubin

A great heads up video, Thanks 😊.

Nice! Good to see there is safe ammo for this more available now.

a great very interesting video and revolver Mr.GJ.happy the father's day have a good one Mr.

My grandfather use to use 45 long colt and press the projectile down in a vice to clear the cylinder. My father use to shave down the same 45 long colts with a file to fit. I had to download 45acps. Nice that there is an off the shelf option to shoot those revolvers.

I have very distinct and fond memories from childhood of a Shaved Webley, had ports drilled laterally in the barrel forward of the forcing cone and the ammo was Remington surplus steel case thompson ammo in half moon clips, at night it was epic with all the ports and gaps venting bright purple flame. Cant for the life of me remember who had it or what happened to it but i remember those flames.

it cool to see the bullets for a frame as they leave the gun at these slow speeds

Another way to tell if your cylinder is shaved is that the inspector markings on the rear face of the cylinder itself will not be there having been shaved off

thanks, good information

I want a Webley! Thanks for providing the answer.

I get a chuckle when you see the round going down range with out slow motion.

I always shave my Weblys, it gives me a sense of freedom!

It's very crazy being able to see every shot from this revolver in shot for a frame whenever you shoot.

Steinel makes a trapdoor Springfield safe load that isn’t crazy expensive that shoots wonderfully through my rifle. Fun to shoot with my modern lever guns as well.

I've peened rims on *empty* .45ACP brass for my Webleys. Use a 1/4" steel drift. anvil-type surface and a hammer to create/knock a series of flattened projections around the circumference - sufficient for extraction, hammer strike and for the reloading press to function. Don't look pretty but they work.

Another one to watch out for is the Enfield revolver rechambered to use 38spl. Like this one, that's going well over the pressure levels it was designed for and more than a few have blown up. I've heard that some Webley's in 38/200 have been rechambered similarly. You can safely use the 38S&W in those which was readily available when those guns were surplussed and imported which always left me wondering why anyone would rechamber these, but they did. The ones I've seen were unmarked; you have to inspect the chamber depth to ascertain if it's been so altered.

I bought a shaved Webley a while back. I did get some half moon clips, but I decided to buy some 45 auto rim cases from Starline. That will make it easy to keep from accidentally shooting heavy loaded 45 acp in it.

I guess the ammo is loaded light because there is a lot of MKI and MKII webley that were shaved too. These webley were designed for blackpowder load.

It was lots easier to get 45 auto rim than 455 Webley in the 90's and I loved the convince of full moon clips. Half moons, not as much as many of the surplus clips I could find were bent moon shape in more ways than one.

This is very interesting. Please do more videos about ways in which existing firearms have been "doctored" to use ammunition that is "wrong". Or stuff like revolvers that are designed to take ammunition intended for automatics, etc (such as 9mm Parabellum)

I had always wanted to fire a Webley but never got the chance. When I was a young Army Reserve officer one of my duties as orderly officer was doing an armoury check. This was a 100% check of everything held in the armoury of an infantry battalion. The second in command had three personal Webleys stored in the armoury including a Fosberry (this was well before the handgun ban in the UK). The first time I saw them I thought I can finally get my hands on not just one but three..but attached to each revolver was a ticket saying words to the effect of 'Not to be handled during armoury inspections'. I have to say I ignored this and finally got to handle the beautiful Webleys (sorry sir!).

Love Steinel ammo, bought some of there trapdoor safe 45-70.

My dad had a S&W 1917 that he used to reload for. One of his reloads cracked the cylinder! They worked fine in his 1911 and he even called them, "kinda weak". I have a sneaking suspicion it wasn't his handloads, just a defect in the revolver itself. At any rate, Dad also supplied .44 Automag brass to Automag before they had it factory made. He'd take once-fired .308 blanks, cut them down, fireform? if I remember right, and polish them up all nice and pretty.

The Webley is a pretty neat revolver to look at and Shaved Webley sounds like a catchy nickname.

Huh, didn't know .455 Webley was that low pressure. I was always under the impression that .455 Webely and .45ACP were fairly comparable, especially given there were .455 Webley Self-Loader chamberings for the 1911 in British contracts. And .45ACP is already considered a fairly low pressure cartridge (being slow and heavy) compared to other ubiquotous cartridges like .40S&W, 10mm, and of course, 9mm.

🇬🇧 A excellent film well worth watching.

Very interesting. I've heard the .45 ACP was too high pressure, but that was the first blown cylinder I've ever seen. Colt chambered their New Service for .455 Eley, which was for all practical purposes, the same power as .455 Webley. I almost bought one of these that was shaved, but when I went back to that gun shop a week later, it was sold.

I reloaded .45 Auto-rim for mine. Had to use rifle primers because pistol primers would melt and flow back into the trigger hole, jamming the revolver. Was using 5.1gt Red dot if I recall. No clips required, but slower reloads.

I still have an Australian property marked 1917 dated Mk VI that i bought about 30 years ago. It's one of the shaved guns...in all those years I've never bothered to shoot it because i didn't want to damage it with modern .45 loads. Good to hear there's some options now.

'Darling! Come hither! I have shaved my Webley!

I wanna see more Webleys now

Thanks Ian! I'm a bit of a Webley fan, but I've shied away from buying a shaved revolver in 45acp because of the pressure issues. And I don't like altered stuff (don't try to sell me an old car with a new LS engine)

Nice revolvers. I don't have any Webleys in my collection but would be seriously tempted if I came across one when I had the money on me.

I can only imagine the wierd, wonderful things to be found in Ian's ammo closet.

I learned today!

Reminds me of the time Jonathan Ross told us how he once _saved Wembley._

I accidentally bought a shaved Webley a few years back at a gunshow. I was so annoyed when I got home ... stupidly I didn't know ahead of time that shaved ones were out there and I ended up selling it a couple months later at a loss just because I wasn't into hand loading. It's nice that Steinel is doing these loads for those who have these.

Black Hills ammo used to make lighter loaded .45 autorim that was safe to shoot for shaved Webley's, and you could use a speedloader for it too.

I bought an odd-ball Webley's Mk. VI pattern, but made post-war in the 20's and labeled as an Enfield. It was partially shaved, so it wouldn't take .455 Webley's cartridges reliably, and it wouldn't fit either 45 ACP on moon clips or 45 auto rim. It's collector's value was ruined by still not a shooter. Rather than shave the cylinder down any further, I had my local gunsmith reem the chamber a little longer so that it would take 45 Schofield cowboy cartridges. The fit and fire perfectly, and they are the right pressure range for the gun.

The friend who got me into shooting was a Webly lover and had several in .455, until the Dunblaine firearms ban, I hope his made it overseas rather than the furnace where my .38 Webly Mk3 ended up , as it wasn't considered historically important

Luckily, I have an MKV (1914) and an MKVI (1918) still in the original 455 Webley. I also have over 2,000 rounds of Fiocchi 455 that I got a great deal on a few years ago.

I'm a bit dyslexic, and so I read your title as "wallaby" and not "Webley" at first. You can imagine my intrigue, Lord help me :D

You should do a special episode on Bannerman. The first guy to sell military surplus. Look for some of those Bannerman specials. Enfield Mauser combo rifles. The catalogs are amazing.

Careful use of a pair of side cutters and 45acp rounds work great in old Webley's. Handgun legislation here in New Zealand is extremely tight, pretty sure it's pistol club members only, however back in the 1970's as.455 ammo was no longer made Webleys were classified as antiques and you could pick them up in antique shops for $30 or $40, didn't even have to show ID. They were pretty popular with pig hunters.

@4:00 onwards, the camera actually does capture the bullet mid flight. The light sandy ground siluet's it somewhat.

crazy i can actually see the bullet flying

My dad had one when I was little back in the late 1980s man I feel old lol

An easy way to also determine an uncut webley is that there will be markings on the back surface of the cylinder. If it's been shaved, it won't have those markings.

I know a guy who bought a webley on gun broker that showed full serial number and was should as "non shaved". Just because you can see the serial number doesn't mean its not shaved. Yes, that is the general rule, but there are exceptions. One way to shoot original ammo from a shaved webley is to open up the holes in the moon clip to accept the 455 with a dremel. It works like a dream. Just be careful to not get the steel too hot on the clip. The clips are basically springs and you don't want to ruin the spring temper unless you are confident you can retemper it.

Shaved Webley would be a great name for a rock band, or a mixed drink . I wonder how firearms history might be different if they'd had clips like that for the S&W Schofield revolver.

I have a Webley MKIV war finish in the .38/200 and sourcing ammo is a pricy endeavor. It’s either Steinel where it’s $1 per round or from Matt’s bullets where it’s $3 less per box. I ordered a box from Matt’s to make sure the revolver fired but 7/50 were dud rounds. Overall it’s an awesome gun and a centerpiece of my collection but it’s primarily a safe queen due to ammo being pricy. Planning to order from Steinel soon to pickup 3 boxes of ammo for it so I can show it off to some friends 😂

Well now, that's interesting. I knew that importers in the '60s diggered up the version of the S&W Victory made for Britain in .380 Revolver (basically .38 S&W) with 5" barrels, and reamed them to accept .38 Special cartridges. Butcher jobs, as the chamber diameters are too big for the .38 Special and can't support it properly. But I was unaware of these mods to the .455s. I have a .455 ones, a Webley-Green Target from the late 1890s, but I'll have to check if it's been modified in the past century. If it is I can finally shoot it. (I'm in bloody goddamn Massachusetts and can't just order specialty ammo from out-of-state suppliers.) Now I just have to remember where I put my stash of full-moon clips. Very informative, thanks.

This video about the Shaved Webley was sponsored by Manscaped, keep your piece clean.

I have one. It shoots half moon or full moon clips easily or Auto Rim works perfectly. Those guns reload really quick with clips I prefer they half moon ones the line up easier. I handload EVERY cartridge I shoot. I do not hunt or carry so it is ok.

I got a Webley Greener that was converted to 45LC. 😎

I never bother with them for all the reasons you state. They used to be dirt cheap.

Several years ago I used to look around gun shows trying to buy a Webley. Not because of Peaky Blinders (which wasn’t on yet). I wanted one because Doctor Watson carried it in the 80’s Sherlock Holmes stories. 😅

In your last video you were talking about the moon clips. I thought they were for Quick Change in the field. Didn't think they used it as headspace if that's what you call it. Awesome video Ian.

Somewhere in my random bags of ammo I have some of the old .45 "Auto Rim". Maybe one day Ian can touch on the genesis of that round.

you can also use the 45 auto rim without the moon clips

Great video. I wonder if cowboy action ammo would also be an option?

Wow seeing the round leave the muzzle was neat. I had my truck full of guns yesterday for a birthday in Fl. Ruger 10/22 weird "holy" furniture looks like a mini 14 FM-45 45acp pcc The quintessential Saturday night special Röhm RG-10 22 short Maybe a pocket full of NAAs A Mosin Nagant that seized up after a single shot 🤣 luckily the rounds can drop out of the bottom so i cleared it minus the chambered case (at the time) A german made Ak in 22lr (freaking weird) Some krinks One AR M&P Cant remember everything but it was fun.

A 45 GSP case is the same size as a 455 case. I load using it and 455 data. This way I came keep the ammo separate. Good video thanks.😢

A shaved webley was my first pistol, got it with a single box of dominion .455 colt…. I’ve been waiting for feochii to make new .455 but it’s never for sale!

Yo early team!

I saw one of these for sale once and I salivated, I was on a kick for moonclips and vintage guns at the time. The store owner fudd told me that you can fire regular off-the-shelf .45 ACP out of these just fine. I pressed X to doubt and passed on that gun, since it would be too expensive for me to reload at the time, but boy a top break was lucrative... not lucrative enough at $650+ the cost of a whole reloading setup, when I just wanted to make lead go downrange. 1911 never leaves me unsatisfied!

I love how 45acp is slow enough to be captured on a few frames and noticeable without slowmo

Personally, I took a moon clip and used a dremel to open it up enough to use the original .455. It wouldn’t clip onto the cases, so it wasn’t a perfect solution but it worked.