The British WWII revolver was an Enfield if I'm not mistaken, but Webley also made some of them. I believe that the design of both the earlier .455 Webley revolvers and the Enfield had more to do with the machinery available to make them than any other design considerations. Except for the cylinders, they could be made from flat stock on simple milling machines. The recoil shields behind the cylinder were flat pieces dovetailed into the frame and retained with one small screw. The holster guides at the front of the cylinder were also separate pieces. The barrel latch design was much stronger than any on a S&W top break, and in the case of the .455 has proven to be strong enough to stand up after conversion to .45 ACP, even those originally chambered and proofed for earlier black powder loads.

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Tom
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