Never thought I'd have a Triple Lock - Part Two

[huthike]

When it rains...Here's another Triple Lock, this one in .455 Webley. Serial number 4535, Jinks letter says January of 1915 to Remington then to England. They do love their markings over there - this one has many of the English proof marks all over it.

No caliber marking, but cylinder has been faced off for .45 ACP/AR - no serial number there. Left side of barrel says 45 and AR. It will chamber .45 Colt, .45 ACP/AR and .455 Webley. I am aware from my research here about the pressure issues with .45 ACP; I am mainly interested in shooting .455 Webley anyway. Can't tell about headspace - will just have to try it and see.

In one of Taffin's articles on the .455, he talked about using machined spacers to allow shooting .455 out of altered guns. I found a guy making them for Webley's and will see if I - or rather my machinist neighbor - can alter it to fit my gun if necessary.

Sorry again about below par pictures - at least this one has some finish remaining and wasn't nearly as dirty as the TL in Part One!

 

[Hondo44]

Very nice!

Too bad it was modified for 45 AR the way it was. If the chambers had just been recessed it would shoot 455 normally because of its larger diameter rim.

Since you posted it’s chambered for 45 Colt see if it was done with a “short shoulder” in the chambers so the Colt case rim sticks out a bit for positive ignition, since the Colt rims are not quite as thick as the 45 AR rim.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

SWEET!!! Congrats on your 2nd TL!!!

 

[glowe]

The cylinder is shortened, so there is no need for recessed cylinders on the OP's gun, plus am not sure why the chambers were lengthened since the gap is large enough to give unreliable ignition for 45 Colt round without some sort of clip? I found that by observing the space between the rear of the cylinder stop slots and the cylinder will tell you what caliber the gun will take. The OP's gun should measure only about 0.05", while original 455s would measure 0.10". An recessed 455 cylinder converted to 45 Colt would measure about in the middle between the two.

As for chambering 455s, of course it would chamber the round since the cylinder has not been shortened much and someone also deepened the chambers to take 45 Colt. My 45 ACP converted guns will not shoot 455 ammo and would need moon clips, otherwise the firing pin will not even contact the 455 primer. The recoil shield to rear of the cylinder gap for the 45 ACP conversion is usually around 0.12", and about half that on an original 455.

Lastly, 45 ACP can be easily loaded to produce a mild round running at 455 velocities, so perfectly safe for the gun. I am sure you will need some sort of a custom moon-clip in order to get the right spacing for 455 and 45 Colt. If you reload, try loading 45 ACP. 455 cases are expensive and not nearly as available as 45 ACP brass. For the most accuracy, you should really shoot 45 Colt, since the shorter 455 and 45 ACP bullets have to jump a gap from ignition to the end of the reamed chambers, often resulting is less accuracy. Just too many choices of calibers on that gun!!

 

[huthike]

Some better pics...

 

[Borderboss]

I would recommend TK Custom if you want to have someone check out the length of the cylinder and make appropriately sized moon clips. I'm not affiliated with them. Just a happy customer.

 

[Ruger 13]

When it rains it pours…….good score!

 

[Hondo44]

The cylinder is shortened, so there is no need for recessed cylinders on the OP's gun...

Gary you may have misunderstood:

Too bad it was modified for 45 AR the way it was [by shaving the cyl]. If the chambers HAD JUST BEEN recessed it would shoot 455 normally because of its larger diameter rim.

There's a very simple way to convert a 455 cyl for a three cartridges; 455, 45 Colt, and 45 AR: with a chamber recess of .050" cut, it'll also shoot 45 AR. With the 45 Colt Chamber shoulder left .030" short for its rim to go into the .050" AR recess but .030”short of seat to the bottom of the recess due to the ‘short shoulder’, the cyl will then shoot 45 Colt, 45 AR, and again the 455 can still be shot because it's larger diameter rim won't fit in the chamber mouth recess so they’ll all have their proper headspace. One cyl can then safely shoot three different 45 cartridges.

 

[Hondo44]

In one of Taffin's articles on the .455, he talked about using machined spacers to allow shooting .455 out of altered guns. I found a guy making them for Webley's and will see if I - or rather my machinist neighbor - can alter it to fit my gun if necessary.

If you’re going to have some spacers made to shoot 455 anyway, you might just as well have the holes in the spacers recessed .015" on one side for the smaller 45 Colt rim diameter so you can shoot both 455 and 45 Colt just by flipping the spacer over and have proper headspace for both.

Just turn the spacer with recessed side toward the cyl for 455 , or faced to the rear for proper headspace to shoot 45 Colt, or leave the recessed side to the rear; it'll still work right to shoot both cartridges.

The spacer will also eliminate the slop between the shaved cyl face and the frame lug which was originally fit to the longer 455 cyl before it was shaved. I've also seen some spacers permanently attached to the rear cyl face. The cleanest installation I've seen was gluing the adapter in place with either red locktite or the industrial strength 620.

Even if you have the holes recessed, just glue the adapter with the recessed side to the rear.