The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The North Corral > Curios and Relics

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old November 10, 2011, 07:49 AM   #26
darkgael
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 9, 2006
Location: Homes in Brooklyn, NY and in Pennsylvania.
Posts: 5,472
Loads

MWM: I am really interested in how your test goes. For my own loads - .44 Webley/.44 Bulldog. I used FFFg Goex as opposed to a smokeless load.
I have a box of the cartridges loaded with smokeless and the heeled bullet - made up for me by GAD Custom Cartridges. I found that my own BP loads using a .440 LRB worked better.
Pic:

These are lighter bullets than you have loaded and a larger diameter. The two on the right are mine, made from .44 Spl. cases. The far right is the "Bulldog" sized round; less powder, less recoil. The heeled bullet is shown and the full length Webley round from GAD.
The gun is a Belgian copy of the Webley British Bulldog. I believe that you have seen this pic before but...



Pete
__________________
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” Ernest Hemingway ...
NRA Life Member

Last edited by darkgael; November 10, 2011 at 07:59 AM.
darkgael is offline  
Old November 10, 2011, 08:09 AM   #27
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
I "should" repair my Chrony ( last time I had it out... about a year ago I was shooting my 38 S&W snubbie... before I adjusted the front sight height... & shot the Chrony, cutting the wire in 1/2 )

I'd be currious what kind of velocities I'll get with the Bulldog...

my pressures should be plenty low, my cowboy loads for my 45 Colt use 5 grains of Trailboss with a 250 grain bullet, so even the 3 grain loads with a 160 grain bullet should be quite light... of course I'll start with the 5 - 2 grain loads 1st, before trying the 5-3 grain loads
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old November 10, 2011, 07:16 PM   #28
darkgael
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 9, 2006
Location: Homes in Brooklyn, NY and in Pennsylvania.
Posts: 5,472
BP

MWM: Trail Boss is a good choice. Why not BP?
__________________
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” Ernest Hemingway ...
NRA Life Member
darkgael is offline  
Old November 10, 2011, 10:31 PM   #29
James K
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
There were actually three different .44 cartridges used in (and made for) those .44 Bulldog revolvers. The shortest, called the .44 Bulldog, was equivalent to the British .442. The next was called .44 Webley; like the .44 Bulldog, it used a heel type bullet. The longest case length was the .44 Webley Inside Lubricated. All those used the same base and rim diameter, differing only in case length, and all can be made from .44 Special/.44 Magnum cases, but the rim might have to be thinned from the front for proper operation in some Bulldog revolvers.

Jim
James K is offline  
Old November 11, 2011, 09:21 AM   #30
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
DARK... I have black powder... just haven't been able to force myself to start loading for it yet...

on stuff like my CAS guns, sometimes ( I'm an extremely busy guy ) I might not get time to clean my guns for maybe a 1/2 week after I shoot them...

for guns like this Bulldog, I can better control when I shoot, & thus clean... but just haven't ever tried loading cartridges with black powder ... yet
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old November 11, 2011, 07:07 PM   #31
Asgardnz
Member
 
Join Date: November 4, 2011
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 35
I have seen a couple of revolvers with blown cylinders from loading cartridges with light loads of unique. One was a black powder Mk2(or 1, I can't remember) Webley and the other a large black powder bulldog marked Westley Richards( a well known maker of shotguns) in .450 calibre.
I think I still have the remains of the Webley, if I have, I'll post a picture. These pistols blew apart. The bulldog blew the cylinder and split the topstrap. The Webley bulged the top strap, blew off the catch for the action and spectacularly blew out a chamber
I am no expert on reloading, but after talking to the person who blew up the Webley, I suspect his light load of Unique may have detonated instead of burning, possibly because he did not use a fiiler to keep the powder up against the primer hole. I would stick to black powder only.
Asgardnz is offline  
Old November 14, 2011, 12:11 PM   #32
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
Trailboss is made to load in cartridges like this, & I've had really good luck with my 32 S&W's & my 38 S&W's with light loads of Trailboss

BTW... I did fire the gun this weekend, but ran into troubles with the thickness of the rims, actually more with the primers when shooting the gun... so I'll take it back to "my guy" & see if we need to thin those rims some, or if it would be easier / better in the long run, to do something like recess the chambers some, to use a standard thickness 44 special case shortened, for future use ???

I talked to my machinist buddy / loading mentor... he feels my loads were too mild, & the primer dents were bulging out around the dent ( not enough pressure to set back the case & flatten them back, as would happen with a normal cartridge pressure ) I'll try the 3 grain loads & see if theres an improvement... 1st

otherwise he suggested trying to drill out the flash hole one drill bit size to see if I can reduce the primer pocket pressure ( if the cartridges won't set back enough with my light loads ) before we looked at thinning the rims, or partially recessing the chambers
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...

Last edited by Magnum Wheel Man; November 14, 2011 at 03:31 PM.
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old November 15, 2011, 09:48 PM   #33
darkgael
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 9, 2006
Location: Homes in Brooklyn, NY and in Pennsylvania.
Posts: 5,472
Note: as far as I know there are only two cartridges in the Webley/Bulldog family. The .44 Webley/.442 Webley/.442 RIC/ 10.5X17R/.442 Revolver are all the same cartridge. The .44 Bulldog is a shorter version manufactured in the USA by Winchester and Peters.
Pete
__________________
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” Ernest Hemingway ...
NRA Life Member
darkgael is offline  
Old November 21, 2011, 08:30 AM   #34
Magnum Wheel Man
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 26, 2006
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 9,333
shot the next cylinder full with 3 grains of Trailboss this weekend... suprisingly the gun shot closer to point of aim, & ran all 5 cartridges... started getting a little tight by the 5th, still the primers, but much better than the 2 grain loads... will try bumping up the charge by 1/4 grain or so at a time, & see if I can get it to run smoother with a bit more powder... ( 3 grains worked much better than 2 grains )... if a 1/4 grain doesn't get me smooth operation, I'll probably try the bigger primer hole next... but this last set was quite promising
__________________
In life you either make dust or eat dust...
Magnum Wheel Man is offline  
Old November 21, 2011, 08:57 AM   #35
Lee McNelly
Junior member
 
Join Date: June 9, 2011
Posts: 325
Some history

http://www.gunsandammo.com/2011/10/0...ters-last-gun/
Lee McNelly is offline  
Old November 23, 2011, 02:47 PM   #36
Cartophilis
Junior Member
 
Join Date: February 19, 2007
Location: TN
Posts: 2
I have one of these that looks unfired.............all i know it thats is a 44 something..........

Id love to shoot it but i dont reload. I always hoped to find the right ammo......

So far, 8 years and no luck...
Cartophilis is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:29 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07285 seconds with 9 queries