The MkII Webley .455 was made betw mid 1895 and late 1897,,when they changed to the MkIII design. MkIII was used 1897 to '99
The MkIV was placed into service in 1899 and remained till 1913.
All of the .455 Webley revolvers MkI,I*,II, III, & IV are BP revolvers,,though the cylinders on the MkIV did use a different alloy steel in it's mfg than the prior Mk's.
You will find many that were Nitro proofed for Cordite Loads and were continued to be used in service as second line weapons.
It wasn't till the intro of the MkV in 1913 that the revolver was specificly designed for use with 'nitro/smokeless powder'.
The MkVI is of course proofed for that as well.
That thousands of these have been cut for 45acp and have fired more than that many over the counter 45acp rounds is a fine test of their strength.
I've owned several MkI and MkII Webleys that were shaved for 45acp and undoubtedly shot a lot with that ammo and still in one piece.. But it's kind of like the damascus bbl thing,,how many proof rounds do you want to put through one., and I have seen more than a couple with blown cylinders and top straps over the years.
Take it easy on them, they are fine revolvers. Keep the loads down.
WW2 ammo is collectible. It is most likely loaded w/ Cordite.
I made .455 brass from both 45AR and 45Colt.
The former by thinning the rims from the back..the latter by crunching the existing rim to thin it as needed in a home made die.
That also increases the dia just a bit which helps using the 45Colt brass as they have a habit of sliding under the extractor sometimes.
I used Green Dot in my MkIV. Fun to shoot. Should drag it out again for a trip to the range,,it's been a while.
