w 231 webley 455 reload?

saber22

I am trying to find a load for my webley mk6 revolver. The only powder I have available is winchester 231. I do not have a scale either I am using a set of lee dippers. I have one dipper that gives 3.2 grains and another that gives 5.4. I am using 255 grain lead swc slugs ment for the 45lc. I tried the 3.2 gr charge out of my heavy 38 spl with a 158gr slug ang had a delayed fire and the slug almost did not reach the target. I will next see what this load with 5.4 grs will do out of my .357mag. Would this charge be safe out of my mk6 webley with a 255gr slug?

Pearyw

5.4 gr 231 with a 158 lead bullet in a 357 mag case should give you around 950 fps. I am not sure what you are shooting in the Webley. Is it a 455 cartridge? It is not likely a 45 LC as case is too long. I have seen these with cylinder cut to use 45 auto Rim or 45 ACP with moon clips. If it is one of these, I would think that 5.4 gr 231 is a little warmer than I would want to try. I would not go over 4.5 gr 231 with a 255 bullet.

saber22

My webley's in 45acp. I've shot quite a lot of 45acp rounds through it with no problem, and even more light handloads with 454 longcolt bullets that a friend made for me. unfortunatly he died last year and I never got his load.

Im just starting to reload so I trying to be careful. Im using .45 autorim casings and .454 caliber 255 grain bullets.

What do you think of 3.2 grains of 231? It did not work well in my 38 but I suspect that may have been due to the long caseing.
I haven't been able to find much in the way of reloading data for this pistol, and until I get a scale Im not able to tailor them the way I would prefer.

It may be best to pick up some unique powder as the Lee dippers give 4.5grs with that powder, which is said to be perfect for a webley with 255gr bullets.

Pearyw

4.5 gr of Unique should work ok. You probably should invest in a powder measure and a scale. I used the Lee dippers when I started reloading 40 years ago. They usually were about 10 % lower than what Lee listed when you measured the charge with a scale. Cartridge of the World shows a load of 5 gr of Unique with a 260 gr bullet in a 455 case as a factory duplication load at a velocity of 610 fps. I think 3.2 gr of 231 would be too light. I use to load 3.1 gr of 231 in a 38 spl case with a 148 gr hollow based wadcutter as a light target load. A wadcuttter bullet will work with light powder charge because it is seated flush with the end of the case and there is not a lot of space around the powder.