WW1 British Contract M1911 in .455 Webley Self-Loading
Semiauto Pistols
•
9m 34s
On the eve of World War One, the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Flying Corps had both adopted the Webley Self-Loading Pistol, chambered for a special .455 caliber semi-rimmed cartridge. With the needs of wartime, Webley deliveries of these pistols were too slow, and alternatives were sought. The obvious choice was the Colt 1911 pistol, already in service elsewhere with British troops. Colt had no trouble adapting the design to the .455 Webley semiauto cartridge, and between 1915 and 1919 some 13,000 of them were sold to Britain (plus more in .45 ACP). The .455 caliber guns are so marked on the slide, and all have W-prefix serial numbers to indicate their chambering. Purchases continued after the Royal Flying Corps was renamed the Royal Air Force in April 1918. While some were surplussed after the war, others would stay in service until World War Two.
Up Next in Semiauto Pistols
-
British L66A1: A Pistol for Northern ...
In 1974, the British Royal Army Ordnance Corps purchased about 3,000 .22lr caliber Walther PP pistols to issue as Personal Defense Weapons to service members of the Ulster Defense Regiment. These were to be issued to servicemen (and women) who faced personal threats to their lives. the choice of ...
-
Business Intrigue Gone Wrong: High Po...
The story of the Browning High Power pistols with Omani national crests is and interesting one. It begins with a man named Paul Van Hee brokering a contract for Cadillac-Gage “Commando” armored cars for the Omani government in the late 1960s. These were to be equipped with FN MAG machine guns, an...
-
Building a Custom SIG P365 With ModGu...
Today’s video is about my project to build a custom SIG P365 at ModGuns. Like the P320, the P365 is built around a steel Fire Control Unit as the legal, serialized firearm. Everything else – barrels, grip frames, slides, etc – can be changed around like Legos. Now, there isn’t as much aftermarket...
