.442 Webley
Revolver cartridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The .442 Webley (also known as the ".442 Revolver Centre Fire" in Great Britain, the .442 Rook long (kangaroo) in Australia,[1] the "10.5x17mmR" or ".442 Kurz" in Europe, and ".44 Webley" or ".442 R.I.C." in the United States)[2] is a British centrefire revolver cartridge.
| .442 Webley | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.44 Bull Dog (Peters), .442 Webley (UMC) and .442 Revolver (Eley) | ||||||||||||
| Type | Revolver | |||||||||||
| Place of origin | British Empire | |||||||||||
| Production history | ||||||||||||
| Designed | 1868 | |||||||||||
| Produced | 1868â1950s | |||||||||||
| Specifications | ||||||||||||
| Case type | rimmed, straight | |||||||||||
| Bullet diameter | .436 in (11.1 mm) | |||||||||||
| Neck diameter | .47 in (12 mm) | |||||||||||
| Base diameter | .472 in (12.0 mm) | |||||||||||
| Rim diameter | .503 in (12.8 mm) | |||||||||||
| Rim thickness | .033 in (0.84 mm) | |||||||||||
| Case length | .69 in (18 mm) | |||||||||||
| Overall length | 1.1 in (28 mm) | |||||||||||
| Rifling twist | 1:20 | |||||||||||
| Primer type | Large | |||||||||||
| Ballistic performance | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Sources: Barnes & Amber 1972 | ||||||||||||
History
Introduced in 1868, the .442 (11.2mm) Webley round was used in the Webley RIC revolver. This was the standard service weapon of the Royal Irish Constabulary[3] (RIC, hence the revolver's name), which were also chambered in (among others) .450 Adams and 476/.455.[4] Lt. Col. George Custer is believed to have carried a pair of RIC revolvers (presented to him in 1869 by Lord Berkley Paget)[5] at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.[6][7][8]
A black powder round, the .442 originally used a 15â19 grain (gr) (0.972â1.23 g) charge behind a 200â220 gr (13â14.3 g) bullet.[9] This loading was later joined by a smokeless variety.[9]
At one time, the .442 Webley was a popular chambering in self-defence or "pocket" guns (so named for being designed to be carried in a pocket, what today might be a known as a snubnose or carry gun), such as the widely copied Webley British Bulldog pocket revolver.[10][11]
The cartridge was moderately effective,[12] being roughly similar in power to the contemporary .38 S&W,[13] .41 Colt,[14] or .44 S&W American,[15] and somewhat less potent than the later 7.65mm Parabellum,[16] .38 Special[17] or .45 ACP.[18] It was not very suitable at anything but close range.[3]
Smokeless .442 Webley loads continued to be commercially offered in the U.S. until 1940[9] and in the United Kingdom and Europe until the 1950s.
