Reference my post in the "S&W Antique" section "B/T .38spl / .32 S&W Long" Revolvers:

In the era of 1955 / 1956 I traded into a Webley Mk VI .455 Revolver that had been converted to .38 Special. IIRC the bore and chambers had been "Sleeved" ? I shot it quite a lot with factory (Western & Remington) 158 grain LRN ammo. It shot real low, so i filed the front sight down. Like all the other firearms I traded it off. Has anyone heard of any other Webley Mk VI revolver converted this way ?
Jimmy

No. Very strange. Ask about this on Gunboards in the British Gun Pub forum. If anyone knows, they will.

I'm quite interested in British martial arms and have read magazine ads since about 1957. I have NEVER seen anything like that advertised. Conversions were always in .45ACP. Some will fire .45 Auto Rim, too, but not all have the dimensions just right.

Jimmy, I would have sworn that you went goofy again and that a 38 Special was longer than the cylinder of a Mark VI. I went and dug my old Mk VI out and held a 38 cartridge alongside the cylinder and the cylinder is about 1/16" longer than the round. By the way, mine is one of those that were shaved for 45 acp so I guess that it's possible.

It's been done on .38/200 S&W's by Parker-Hale and by Cogswell & Harrison.

I have seen pics of MK VI Webleys in .22, but I think they had specal .22 cylinders. They were used for training. The barrels look skinny, too.

Hi:
The fellow that I got it from was a friend (Harry Klein) who's hobby was "Trading Guns". I in turn traded the Webley at "Uncle Abners Pawn Shop".
Later I went back to trade back for the Webley and discovered that
all the handguns were GONE ? The story was that Cuban Agents for Castro had went buying handguns for "Castro" to all the Town's Gun and Pawn Shops. I wonder if my Webley is still in Cuba?

I have a Webley Mark IV in .38/200 and it also shoots low with .38 wadcutters in it. I read that the .38/200 load and bullet was heavier and slower than the .38 Spec so the .38 Spec. slug left the barrel quicker and the gun didn't have time to recoil up into postition. Kind of a counterintuitive thing.

You didn't actually shoot .38 Special in it, did you? If so, did the cases split? I didn't think the cylinder was long enough for Specials.

Those guns are chambered for the British version of .38 S&W, an ENTIRELY different cartridge.

Or did you reload the .38 S&W cases with .357 diameter wadcutters? if so, they're undersize, as I believe that the .38 S&W is actually .380 or close to it.

I understand it to be .359/.360.

__________________
and what his trumpet saith

S&W made the .380/200 for the British, many of them had their chambers reamed out for 38 Special-Lee Harvey Oswald shot J. D. Tippit with one. "Sleeved"-? Hardly seems worth the effort. Only thing similar I know of are the 22 LR inserts for the S&W Model 53.
I have a No. 2 MkI, Hornady hollow based wadcutters gave good accuracy.

I knew it wasn't .357. The story was strange and confusing as it was.