.455 bullet types

[jimmy9fingers1]

Hi all,

 

I have attached a couple of photo's of two spent .455 rounds I have on display,

 

Can anybody tell me what the difference is and are they both for the same pistol type?

 

thanks,

 

Jim 

[reese williams]

M&S appears to be the headstamp for Klaus Mayer & Sons, Arnsberg and Neheim-Husten, Germany according to the International Ammunition Association page on headstamps  I found another reference to Mountain & Sowden but can't find evidence of them making ammunition. In either case your cases would appear to be commercial manufacture and topped with cast bullets of either commercial or home manufacture. Not military rounds.  
I stand by for gentle correction on the headstamp if someone else has better information.

[4thGordons]

I think it might be Mountain and Sowden

 

Here are the main military markings -- also note Mountain and Sowden mentioned as a post WWII commercial producer of the MkII case

Chris

[MikB]

I think they're made up with relatively modern home-cast bullets. The cases were made as equivalent to Mk.II ball, which used a conical roundnose bullet not quite like the right-hand example (as in Chris' link), with 2 grease grooves and a rollcrimp ('coning') cannelure. I'd guess the left hand bullet is a 230-grain roundnose intended for .45 ACP reloads.

 

The original Mk.II ball loads were the most common - a jacketed equivalent Mk.VI was made for WW2 because of concerns about lead bullet use, but was not thought to be as accurate.

[Mk VII]

As they are reloaded dummies then any and all sorts of bullets get used for this purpose.  Mountain & Sowden were a retailer of shooting supplies who were active in the 1980s and '90s - they produced, or more likely caused to be made with their h/s on, very good .455 cases at a time when Fiocchi were the only other source of Boxer-primed ones.  They were in Leeds, as I recall.

[jimmy9fingers1]

Thanks for the reply's guys' Thought they were possibly modern'ish, but didn't know any more than that, every day a school day  

[Joolz]

As said by others, they are Mountain & Sowden, you can still pick them up if you know where to look - I bought a few hundred new ones last year for use in my 7.3 Webleys. Shellhouse Bullet Company (in UK) make a good reproduction of the lead 265gr bullet which looks a lot closer to the originals than the one you have shown. That's a heck of a lump of lead to be on the receiving end of.