Lucked out past weekend at big outdoor Trade Days. I had Colt NS 455 ELEY in my trading stock. Guy runs up with box of 455s he wanted $20. As I hesitated, to check out contents of box he said a few were missing and dropped price. 32 rds, but 11 are some other Brit. .450 with shorter case. Turned out to be my only purchase.

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So what's a full box of the Dominion CIL 455 Colt going for nowadays?

I would say close to $100, if you can find them.

CIL Dominion, of course, was made in Canada as late as the mid-1970s.
Even back in the 1980s, just a few years after .455 Colt went out of production, it became very sought after and expensive.
CIL used to sell unprimed .455 brass also. It is excellent quality.
I remember buying a box of the ammo just to get the nice brass for reloading. I think I paid about $40 back then.

Seeing your Colt New Service paired with that old CIL Dominion box takes me back to days back in Canada, as a kid, going to gunshows with my Dad and brother.
Thank You!

Use to prowl all the Ma&Pa businesses back in 60s to milk out Rimfire and other ammo long obsolete down here. Now the Ma & Pa operations have all disappeared. For a few more years got a box or two from stores in little towns way off the beaten path. There probably hundreds of guys that did same thing. I did my share in eastern Ontario & western Quebec. I use to take 22ammo up to distribute amongst friends.

There was a chain of department stores called JM Fields. The one in my hometown in western Mass closed in the early 80s IIRC. They had all of the usual stuff including a hunting and fishing section that included farmer grade long guns and ammunition. In the early 70s it appears that they got a real good deal on CIL .22 Shorts. It seemed like they had an unlimited supply and it was the cheapest.22 RF to be found. While it was of no use in my Ruger 10/22 it worked just fine in my brand new model 18-3. The model 18 was and still is a revolver that I just can’t shoot enough.

All of that bargain priced CIL .22 short gave me a chance to practice DA revolver shooting and reach a skill level where I could actually hit something.

I did try some of their other stuff while it was around but never as much as the .22 Short ammo. It was sad to see this company go. I have seen some samples in various calibers from their reference collection for sale.

Thank you for sharing the photo of your fine old Colt. I have a 1909 US Army Model. I bought it in the early 70s from a neighbor whose great uncle was a career army man and was stationed in the Philippines during the time these guns were issued. I have fired 1 box of factory.45 Colt through it as well as some reloads using Trai Boss and a soft 255 gr cast bullet. My next run will be with .45 Schofield brass loaded down for stuff that will be easy and fun to shoot. I like to do the same thing with .45 AR brass in my 1917 Revolvers.

It looks like reloading for the .455 would be fun. Starline makes brass for it , though it is still on back order. Missouri Bullet Co has cast bullets and dies are available. The Colt New Service is a great old war horse it it is a shame not to shoot them.

I took one of my M1909 Colts out to shoot yesterday for the first time in maybe three years. I have always loaded .45 Colt lightly for it, typically 6.5 grains of Bullseye or Clays with a 200 grain cast bullet. Not many M1909s around.

Back in the day, CIL offered some fairly unusual British and European handgun and rifle calibers no longer made by the American manufacturers, and it wasn’t too difficult to find at larger US gun shops. I have no idea if CIL is still around or makes civilian ammunition.

For those who remember the Daisy VL caseless .22 rifles of the late 1960s, CIL made all the ammunition for it, but it was sold under the Daisy name, no indication on the box that it came from CIL. I have several VL rifles and a fair amount of VL ammunition.

For bullets for the .455s I modified a Ideal 322 Gould Express HP mold. Shaved base and made larger HP pin that is adjustable depth. Was shooting for 265 gr. When done had 272gr and called it close enough.
Poured soft and sized .457, stoked up with 4.5gr Unique. Arrived at load to print sights.

Donnelly’s manual gives instructions on forming .455 Webley cases from .45 Auto Rim cases. That assumes you can find any .45 AR cases to begin with. But it seems to involve more work than most would care to undertake. I sort of remember that Fiocchi may have once offered .455 Webley in their product line.

This is my 1915 Colt NS in .455 Eley.



A box of the CIL ammo came with it.



I reload for it. I found correct 265 gr. round nose, hollow base and 250 gr. hollow point "manstopper" bullets at Reeds Ammo and Research.



I just looked on their website and they sell loaded ammo with both bullets for $65/box of 50.

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Here's a ballistics chart published by CIL in 1974.
Their data for .455 Colt is a 265 gr. bullet at 770 fps for 349 ft/lbs.

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What a nice old Colt. I have 3 1917 Colts as well as the 1909 model. One of the 1917s has a bulged barrel and just about zero finish left. This one is a candidate for a rebarrel and arsenal type refinish. This will be my main shooter when the work is done.

I enjoy reading about how the North West Mounted Police and the RCMP used these until the mid 50s. As much as I like the S&W k frame I don’t think I would have been very happy trading one of these in for a 5” M&P.

A .455 New Service is on my wish list. If I have to start loading for another ancient caliber so be it.

Found my grail RNWMP NS from 1919 a few years ago.

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Like the Colt New Service.

This one was made for England circa 1915, IIRC. It was refinished when I got it, I added the repo hard rubber stocks in place of some brown plastic ones that I broke.

I think Fiocchi still makes .455 Webley, but it is Mark II. I like the longer case. Interesting too that Dominion Mark I used the LPP versus Fiocchi's SPP.

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You're shy a few manners.

Very nice New Service!

For the reasons you mention, and more, I found that the CIL brass was very much preferable than the Fiocchi. The case walls on the Fiocchi are very thin and prone to splitting. I had never had a problem with case splitting in any of my reloading, except for that Fiocchi .455 brass.
The longer CIL brass also helps with accuracy, as it places the bullet much closer to the cylinder throats. Also, I just prefer large primers in large calibers.
The best brass for .455, in my experience, is that which you make yourself using .45 Colt. You have to thin the rims to about .045", though, which is a bit of a hassle. But, you can cut the case length to exactly fit where the cylinder throats are in your particular gun. The result is, in a way, sort of a "wildcat" cartridge, in that it doesn't duplicate a specific "factory" version of the .455.

I agree with everything you wrote, Mr. 6String.

Regarding Fiocchi's .455 brass:
I had some cases split on the first firing of factory-new ammunition! Maybe that was just one bad box, but it cured me from using Fiocchi .455 brass for reloading!

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You're shy a few manners.

I think if I had a .455 Colt NS in shooter condition, I might consider getting the cylinder modified to use .45 AR. At least it’s not too difficult to find .45 AR brass even today. And I already have about 200 rounds of it.

Unless you never want to be a reloader, it seems like it would be more economical to just have some .45 Colt cases modified to .455 Webley Mk I specs.

Or buy some from Buffalo Arms:
455 Colt, 455 Webley MK I Cases* .890" Long Reformed Cases
I do note that these are currently out of stock.

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You're shy a few manners.

That four and a half inch barrel New Service is a doozy. Also as far as I’m concerned that CIL is the best factory ammo load ever in .455. Great ballistics. The right case, bullet and 100fps better velocity. JMHO – YMMV

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Cool thread! I'd read about this cartridge on p. 251 of the old Stebbins book, "Pistols, A Modern Encyclopedia." from 1961, but I'd never seen a photo of it. Thanks to those above who did. C-I-L had some interesting loads years ago, the above .455 Colt being one. IIRC, there was a 265 or 275 gr .303 round. Back then, rarely a problem crossing the border. Driver's was enough and bags almost never searched.

I'd buy 'leftover' ammo from small local sporting goods stores that had lost their firearms trade. Pistol permit was enough: they'd sell you any caliber to turn up a few bucks. I once bought 5 100rd boxes of RWS CB caps for $1.50 each, MUCH quieter than the modern CCI versions.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Lee makes dies and starline brass ,you can load your own.

From a little internet sleuthing, it appears C-I-L (Canadian Industries Limited) "Dominion" brand ceased production in about 1976 after the company was bought out by IVI (Industries Valcartier Inc), which made the "Imperial" brand. They in turn stopped making ammunition in about 1984. Apparently IVI was bought by General Dynamics and may still make powder/propellant.

There is also a reference to a SDI company making ammunition in India which may have some sort of connection to IVI.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Just ran across a box that sold for $53. Oc course shipping and handling has to be added.

Item # 31614 (Ended 2023-06-02 23:23:48) - CIL, Dominion, 455 Colt, 265 Grain Lead, Full, 1pc. Multi-colore...

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I would gladly pay $53 for a 50 round box of NOS Dominion/CIL .455
You'd pay that (or more) for a box of .45 Colt these days.

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You're shy a few manners.

Not really, Starline brass is Mark II. To match CIL specs in this short case would cause an over pressure event.

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Starline does not show .455 Colt at all.

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S&WHF #946
S&WCA #3824

And the Starline 455 Webley is out of stock and backordered.

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S&WHF #946
S&WCA #3824

If it says backorder and you need some get on the list. That means they're about to make a run...........

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

I wrote to star line several Times when they were talking about making .455 Webley trying to get them to make the mark I case. It would’ve worked on anything in .455 and would have been so much better.

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Don't remember what I paid for it, but I bought some of the Fiocchi .455 about 4 years ago. Seems like I got it from SG ammo. I chronographed it in my old MKVI Webley with 6" barrel. It averaged a very leisurely 554 FPS. Looks like CIL ballistics, if as fast as published, exceeds the Flocci ammo I tested by quite a bit.

BTW, throat diameter on my old Webley measures .450". A bit tighter than many might expect. Some other Webley owners have reported their guns have throats measuring .450" also. The .452" cast bullets and .451" plated bullets shoot well in my old gun. I wondered if my Webley would even be on the paper at 15 yards, but it did better than I expected.
A pulled bullet from a factory Fiocchi round measured .454", and weighed 263.4 grains..

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NRA Life, COTEP 640

I have several 455s, both Colt New Services as well as a Smith. I shoot the CIL 455 Colt brass in them and I'm always on the prowl for more.

I recently picked up a box of unfired, unloaded 455 Colt CIL brass on Gunsinternational for $35 plus shipping that I thought was a steal.

The throats on the Colts all measure .456 and the Smith measures .457 as measured with pin gauges.