considering bidding on a Webley Mk IV .38 Revolver.
1. the five inch barrel has been cut to three and one half inches and a different front sight has been dove tailed on the barre. ??
Seller advises that this modification was normal for issue to plane crews and other special groups ??

This story I have not heard before.
Why would this modification be under taken during war time just to shorten the barrel one and a half inches ??

There were apparently some very limited numbers of legitimate war-time “shorties” of both Enfield and Webleys, but reliable information seems impossible to come by, not even who did the modification.

What is known beyond doubt is that the same importers/converters who processed and then wholesaled and retailed the returning S&W BSR’s (cut barrel, nickel, plastic grips) also cut quite a few surplus British topbreaks and sold them with fancy names like “Enfield Commando”.

So I have no idea how to verify a non-standard barrel length. I’d always default to not trusting any claim of authenticity.

It was also common here in the US to rebore them to .38 Special...a bad idea. Without provenance, the shorter barrel will negatively affect the value of the gun.

I have never seen a .38 Webley/Enfield bored for .38 Special, and am not sure the cylinder is long enough to allow doing that.

I never heard of the Webleys or other British break open .38 service revolvers being converted to .38 Special.

I just went in the gun room, fetch a Webley Mark IV out of the safe and a box of .38 Special ammunition loaded with hollow base wadcutters flush seated and tested the theory. The .38 Special case would fit within the length of the Webley's cylinder ... but only just. The wadcutter load won't chamber though unless the throats were cut out and chambers were bored straight through.

There would be no future in marketing a .38 Special Webley Mark IV conversion.

I would not be interested in a cut down Webley and never heard of barrel modifications done for plane crews or other special groups and I've had an abiding interest in British service arms. Factory short barreled versions were issued.

Yeah, I was thinking of the S&E Victory model.

Frankly I was always surprised the Webleys were not bored through and marketed as 38 Special wadcutter target revolvers. If your Webley revolver with the shortened barrel also has a bobbed hammer the conversion may have been wartime.