I'm down to 100 of these out of a batch of 3000 bought years ago. They are great for my .455 Webley loads, but are now unavailable. Remington says they have no plans to sell them again as a component bullet although they still use them for their .45 Colt ammo. They are hollow base and .455 diameter. Any suggestions for a replacement?

Check Hornady. They make a similar bullet, and I have used it when I couldn't get the Remington.

If you should happen to find some more Remington bullets be aware that they are no longer a hollow base bullet they are now a flat base. I used them in my 25-5 and ran out so I purchased a new case only to find they are a flat base so I can only assume the factory ammo is flat base also. This all took place about 8-10 years ago when you could buy a case of a 1000 for $54.00. I sent Remington an e-mail about the change and they failed to respond.

I will assume you are talking about LEAD bullets here. If so, I have been very happy with Dardas Cast Bullets. They are flat base but perform flawlessly in all my Colt SAA's. IIR they will custom size their bullets at no additional charge.

Those Remington bullets were probably swaged not cast.

Groo here
Is Speer/cci still making lead bullets?

Try The BulletWorks.com

Midway had the Remington bullet but is now out of stock ....
plus it is in limited supply.
We all know what that means............ Zero to five years ?

Hornady does have 255gr with a dia. of .454

Lots of custom lead bullet makers out there. You just need to locate one......... good luck.

I have a 375 Winchester...... been there done that.

HKSmith, could you tell me more about your.455 Webley loads?
My 2nd Model Hand Ejector would get more range time if I could feed it property.

Sorry I can't be much help with your bullet search.


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Glad to help, with the understanding that I have no pressure testing equipment and know nothing about the condition of your revolver. I'm using a S&W 2nd Model HE that was produced in 1915 for the British military and was carried by a lieutenant who served in the Royal Garrison Artillery in France from 1916 to the end of WW I. I acquired the gun in 2005 and it's in unusually good condition.

Except for 20 rounds of Hornady ammo, all my shooting has been reloads. Hornady used to sell .455 Mark II brass and I bought 400 pieces of that when I got the gun. I've put about 2800 rounds through the gun with only one split neck. Fiocchi still makes loaded ammo, but I've not heard good things about the longevity of their brass for this round. If you can find some Hornady brass that would be your best bet.

The only bullet I've used is the Remington 250 grain swaged lead, .455 diameter, but as I said I'm running out and Remington has said they don't plan to offer more of these. Since starting this thread I got some Hornady 255 grain swaged lead bullets, .454 diameter, and I'll give those a try next time I load a batch of these. They look like they should work well, but their shape is more suited to the much larger .45 Colt case. I'll try seating them to about half way up the knurling as they have no crimp groove. Western Bullets and Matt's Bullets both offer cast bullets that are more like the originals, with a long nose and short bearing surface. I'll probably try those as well at some time.

My current load is 4.5 grains of HP-38 powder with the Remington bullets with a COL of 1.135 inches. Recoil and muzzle blast are similar to the Hornady factory ammo, which used a 265 grain bullet similar to the original military and commercial loadings. Other loads I've used are 4.3 grains of Zip and 4.7 grains of Unique. There is an article by Terry Wieland in the latest issue of Handloader magazine (Dec. 2016) on reloading this cartridge. He only used Bullseye powder and got to 3.6 grains with a 265 grain bullet, which gave 657 ft/sec from a Webley revolver, which pretty much duplicates the factory loads. I highly recommend his article.

These revolvers are commercial grade S&W's and are capable of excellent accuracy if they weren't beat up during the war. I just fired mine this morning at an indoor range at 50 feet. The gun shoots to point of aim at this distance and will shoot 100's on a 25 yard target at 50 feet - that's with a 2 hand hold, but at age 74 and with one good eye I'm not complaining! Best I could do today was 99 with 6 X's. Combined age of the gun and shooter is 175 years!

Good luck with your reloading for this gun. I find it particularly satisfying to shoot historic guns like this with my own reloads. Let me know if you have any questions about any of this or if you come across other data or components for this round.

Much thanks for the detailed reply! I came with a letter from S&W. It left their factory bound for England on March 29, 1916. It's in very nice shape, but I believe it's been re-blued at some point.

When I bought it, I picked up a couple hundred rounds of the Fiocchi ammo. It seems decent and the gun shoots very well. Of course I can't speak for the quality of the brass when it comes to reloading.




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That is a shame about the R-P bullet. I am down to my last 2 unopened boxes of 500 from about 10 years back. They shoot well in just about everything. The old W-W 255 grain equivalent was just as good or better.

I always believed the flexibility of those bullets loaded into traditional factory .45 Colt ammo was what allowed the .45 Colt guns to shoot so well with their mishmash of chambering dimensions. Flat-based, cast bullets for reloads had to be tailored to individual guns' dimensions, while the softer, swaged, concave bases and .455-456" diameters let the guns reshape the older bullets to the guns' satisfaction while being fired.