GW also used revolver

[free1954]

Hello free1954,

Thanks, yes I was lucky to find one like that, mostly they are flaking badly, (that is if you can find one), I believe a collector passed way and his holster collection was purchased by a local gun shop.

khaki

I seen quite a few well kept wwi holsters and weapons at the forks of the Delaware show last year. stuff I had only seen in books. I can't post a link to them but you can look them up.

[Khaki]

Thanks for the 'tip', I checked them out on u tube, 20213 show, I agree the overall condition of GW holsters is generally good or better, its when you get back to Span Am or Civil War era they show a lot of deterioration (strangely the ammo pouches are in better condition). I think the host of the u tube Allentown show stated that they have five shows a year, it would be worth having a look.

thanks again

khaki

[calibre792x57.y]

Mike B said 'It doesn't seem obvious that FMJ Mk.VI ball would be much different'. Sorry about the delay in replying but I didn't notice your comment for a while. Well now, my father was a pistol instructor at Lulworth Gunnery School 1936 - 1945 when he was already an old soldier. His complaint was that the Mk VI bullet was not as accurate as the Mk II. I guess the ballistics don't matter too much if you don't hit the target! See 'Webley Revolvers' Page 251 which seems to support this assertion. I used to pick up the bullets fired on the target range at Bovington - the lead content was 12 to 1 of tin which made for a relatively soft nosed bullet and most of them were deformed. After all the velocity on the man-stopping marks III - V wasn't much different yet they were removed from service and replaced by the re-introduced Mk II because of the shocking nature of the wounds they produced.- different profiles of course but they were also lighter. - As for the .380 Mk II revolver round I was somewhat alarmed to see that at 15 yds the FMJ bullets - fired from Smith & Wesson and Enfield revolvers was sometimes failing to penetrate the two-inch pine frame of the targets, their noses being visible protruding from the wood. Doesn't give one a lot of confidence.-; yet they were said to match the ballistics of the 0.455. - SW

[MikB]

Thanks, SW - I hadn't heard of accuracy issues with Mk.VI before.

I did hear a WW2 story from an old soldier about .380 Mk.II ball failing to penetrate a German soldier's leather belt. But I'm not sure I'm too surprised they only just penetrated 2" pine - I can remember 9mm rounds with a bit more than twice the energy sometimes not exiting a 6" thick bit of timber, so it's not way out of proportion.

[dman]

Basic thing with bullet stopping power is have the bullet not exit the target = try to contain all the energy in the target

Idea with the 380 Revolver was replace the 455 with a lighter round without the muzzle blast and recoil . One that could be used

in lighter weapon.

Used a Webley design which was tweaked by the Royal Small Arms factory and Enfield to get the Enfield No 2 revolver for WW II

Initial loading was 200 grain lead bullet at 620 feet/second

Concerns that lead bullet violated Hague Convention led to its replacement with 180 Full jacket bullet at about 660 feet/ssecon

[Khaki]

Nice 1908 ammo holster by Rock Island that goes with my revolver & holster in photo #13

 

 

Edited 1 December , 2016 by Khaki

[Khaki]

reverse

 

 

Edited 1 December , 2016 by Khaki

[Khaki]

For general interest, the ammo pouch contains a shaped wooden block that holds twelve .38 cartridges in two rows of six,

 

khaki

[Khaki]

For your interest here is an 'older brother', of the other model I posted, it is a Colt 1894, one of a number of variations in 38 caliber recognizable by the date and US ARMY markings on the butt and notably by the lack of a butt swivel,  fortunately not retrofitted.

khaki

 

[Khaki]

Interesting and quite rare is this M1909 .45 Colt New Service that was made for service in the potent .45 'long Colt' caliber, saw some service in the Great War with US forces.

[Khaki]

Slightly better image, little bit more information, they were a temporary measure issued as a man-stopper during the on going Philippines Insurrection to replace (1) the Army .38's

that weren't powerful enough and (2) to replace the obsolete .45 single actions that had been issued but were still essentially a black powder revolver.  The US army through Frankford Arsenal produced it's own .45 ammo with a wider rim. I imagine that large quantities of these (cartridges) were still on hand during WWI. These revolvers had their own sequence of serial numbers from 30,000 to about 49,000 (I think) with all, less than 500 or so going direct to the Philippines. Allowing for a relatively short manufacturing run and normal attrition they are very hard to find today. I have about 12 FA cartridges, all dated 1911/12. I will post a photo of them if anyone's interested