2nd Model .455 Eley

[seattleM29]

Guys I have a question regarding a .44 Hand Ejector 2nd Model in .455 Eley that I'm looking at. How hard is it to find ammo for one? I know .455 Webley is available from Hornady & Fiocchi but no Eley. I do reload so I guess I can always do that. I have seen vintage .455 Eley(and .455 Colt which is the same thing) but it is outta sight on the price. I know I COULD always have it turned into a .45acp or .45 Colt gun but I'm not really keen on doing that to it as it really would destroy the collectibility of it. I'm assuming .455 Eley and .455 Webley do not interchange.

 

[Muley Gil]

IIRC, Hornady is producing new ammo in .455. All of the .455 ammo will fit either S&W or Colt revolvers chambered in .455. About the only difference is the length of the cases.

Really, once you get 100-150 cases to reload (I assume you reload), that should be enough for a shooting session. Avoid old ammo as it is probably corrosive and/or loaded with Berdan primers. It's usually expensive as well.

 

[seattleM29]

I do reload. So .455 Eley and .455 Webley will work in the same gun? Like running .44 Russian in a .44 Special??

 

[Jack Flash]

Here's some information / notes / experiences I have gleaned over the years with this round. I hope it's not way more than you want!

My understanding is that the .455 Eley, the .455 Revolver Mk I, and the .455 Colt are all basically the same cartridge. The case length is 0.880".

Originally a black powder round, ".455 Revolver Mark I" was the British Army's designation for the cartridge when they adopted it in 1892. Perhaps Eley wanted to put their own name on the round for commercial sales to civilians? (Colt of course always hated to put anybody else's name on their barrels, so they had to “create” a round and name it after themselves).

When smokeless powder was introduced, the British Army went to the shorter, more efficient Mk II version, with a case length of somewhere around 0.770", depending on the reference you are looking at. Colt continued to make the longer round, using smokeless powder of course, up until around WWII or shortly thereafter.

1960s vintage Lyman Manuals have loading data for both the longer Mk I and the shorter Mk II cartridges.


Old manuals are usually available at gun shows if you look for them.


Also, Pet Loads by Ken Waters has a lot of very useful information and load data on the .455 Eley/Colt/Webley.


By the way, if you are interested in the history of this cartridge "family", Cartridges of the World is a good place to start.

Buffalo Arms has both cases (you need to go to their website for up-to-date information and prices). When I bought mine a few years ago, they were made from .45 Colt brass cut down to 0.890" and with the rim properly thinned.

I would advise against buying the Fiocchi rounds if your intention is to save the brass and reload it.

A few years back, I bought some Fiocchi .455 Mk II ammunition and shot it in my New Service. Several of the cases split on their initial firing (ie, factory fresh, not reloaded). On examination, I could see that the case walls are really, really thin.

I only had this case splitting problem with ammo from one box; the rounds from another box did not split. Still, I would never reload this thin-walled Fiocchi brass.

One other oddity - Fiocchi uses small pistol primers for this round. I don't know how much an issue this is, but it seems odd for such a large diameter cartridge to use small primers. In any event, the reloading data I have seen calls for large pistol primers.

I bought several boxes of loaded Dominion .455 Colt from a local gun shop. They said they got it from another little shop that went out of business. It pays to keep your eyes open.
[Shown below with Fiocchi Mk II for comparison. Note the small pistol primers on the Fiocchi rounds.]

 

[seattleM29]

Ah so I can use the Webley round in the Eley gun ala .44 Russian/.44 Special. Cool then that makes my decsion a little easier--assuming I win the auction. I like Hornady ammo and they do make .455 Webley. Thanks for the info!

 

[Texas Star]

I don't believe that Eley made guns. They were just an ammo company.

 

[seattleM29]

I meant .455 Eley chambered gun sorry lol.

 

[Jack Flash]

I think the Brits went overboard keeping their ammunition "backward compatible" with all their old revolvers. Look at Cartridges of the World sometime and you'll see what I mean.

One downside of this is that there are a lot of ancient black powder era top-break Webley revolvers that can chamber the higher pressure smokeless rounds. Please note that this is a dangerous thing to do and IS NOT RECOMMENDED!

I fear that many an old Bulldog revolver was blown to pieces when someone assumed it was ok to fire smokeless ammo in it, with dire consequences to the shooter and any bystanders.