My Webley Conundrum

[Ronin]

I recently purchased a Webley Mk VI and have been gathering ammo for it so that I can take it out to the range. I ran into an issue where full moon clips loaded with .45 ACP will not allow the cylinder to close. I also bought a conversion plate that allows you to shoot .455 Webley from a shaved cylinder. That arrived today and it doesn't fit. It gets hung up on the extractor/star It appears that whoever shaved the cylinder didn't remove enough material from around the extractor. It doesn't look like a poorly done job, so I'm inclined to believe that this was cut for half moon clips back before full moon clips existed. Half moon clips hold the rounds from the outside, instead of the inside like full moon clips. If that's the case, .45 Auto Rim probably won't work, either. I don't have any to test that theory.

So my conundrum is - Do I have the extractor cut to match the cylinder? And if I do, is it something I could do at home with basic tools like locking the extractor in a drill and using a file, or should I leave that to a machinist? And if the latter, anyone know of a gunsmith or machinist that could do the work around SEPA?

The simple answer is just use .45 ACP loaded to Webley specs with half moon clips. But I already have .455 Webley in hand, and I have a couple of boxes of .45 Auto Rim loaded to Webley specs on the way. Plus I have the conversion plate to shoot the .455 Webley ammo. So I kinda want to shoot it all, dammit. LOL.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Ronin]

No one, eh?

[Walleye Hunter]

Not me but give it more time, you might score some help.

[HanzMcFeely]

Randy at The Handgunner in Topton. Well worth the wait and drive for his smith work

[Delkal]

It is hard to reply to your question because you have a pistol that has been machined /butchered to be something it is not supposed be and there is no telling how it was cut. To make things worse the 45 ACP case is longer than the Webley so there is a good chance the chamber's were reamed longer too. I don't understand about the conversion plate that is supposed to let you shoot from a shaved cylinder either. Shaved how an by whom? Throw that plate away.

Whatever you do don't start cutting on it more. You will just make things worse and it will probably cost you more than the pistols worth at this point. I would assume whoever did this was an old timer and did this was done when the conversion to .45 was the popular thing to do so it was probably done right. Find some half moon clips (there were no full moon clips at that time) and see if that solves your problem.

How much headspace is there when you chamber a 455 Webley? Can you shoot them without any plate?

[cdi]

I'm running behind on work orders right now so I would not be able to look at it right away.
If you bring the whole thing in around the end of June, I'll have a look and give you an opinion.

[Ronin]

It is hard to reply to your question because you have a pistol that has been machined /butchered to be something it is not supposed be and there is no telling how it was cut. To make things worse the 45 ACP case is longer than the Webley so there is a good chance the chamber's were reamed longer too. I don't understand about the conversion plate that is supposed to let you shoot from a shaved cylinder either. Shaved how an by whom? Throw that plate away.

Whatever you do don't start cutting on it more. You will just make things worse and it will probably cost you more than the pistols worth at this point. I would assume whoever did this was an old timer and did this was done when the conversion to .45 was the popular thing to do so it was probably done right. Find some half moon clips (there were no full moon clips at that time) and see if that solves your problem.

How much headspace is there when you chamber a 455 Webley? Can you shoot them without any plate?

The gun is from 1915. It was likely shaved when it was imported into this country. The earliest Webleys that had their cylinders shaved to accommodate .45 ACP using half moon clips. Those hold the rounds from the outside instead of from the inner ring that fits around the extractor. Later Webleys were shaved for full moon clips once they became more prevalent. So this wasn't a butcher job, it was a proper modification based on the moon clips available at that time.

The problem with half moon clips is they suck. They bend very easily, and loading and unloading them is a pain in the ass because there are no decent half moon clip loader tools available. Also, using half moon clips means I'm relegated to just .45 ACP, which means loading ammo to Webley specs because you can't run factory loads in a Mk VI (or any other .455 model) because the pressure is too great.

As far as shooting .455 out of the gun as is, I haven't tried. Depending on how the gun is held, part of the case is not supported by the cylinder, which means you have a potential pipe bomb. The firing pin should hold it in place long enough to complete detonation, but I don't want to find out. The adapter plate fills the gap where the cylinder was before it was shaved. This was a common practice. The plate is machined to a specific size and then the owner modifies it to fit their gun. In my case, I can't use the plate because it doesn't fit over the extractor hub in the center of the cylinder. You can achieve the same effect by modifying a full moon clip, but again, you have to have an extractor that's machined to the same level as the cylinder. There isn't enough material on the conversion plate or a moon clip to bore out the center any further.

[Ronin]

I'm running behind on work orders right now so I would not be able to look at it right away.
If you bring the whole thing in around the end of June, I'll have a look and give you an opinion.

Thanks! I will hit you later this month.

[Ronin]

I'm running behind on work orders right now so I would not be able to look at it right away.
If you bring the whole thing in around the end of June, I'll have a look and give you an opinion.

Thanks! I will hit you later this month.

Hey CDI, I tried to PM you but your mailbox says it's full. Hit me up when you can.

[cdi]

I emptied the box. Pm inbound.