Webley Mk III
Webley & Scott Ltd. · Revolver · Out Of Production · 1897
Also known as: Pistol, Revolver, Webley, Mk III, Webley Mark III, Webley .455 Mk III
Overview
The Webley Mk III is a British top-break, double-action/single-action service revolver chambered in .455 Webley, introduced in 1897 as the third iteration of the Webley military service-revolver lineage (Mk I 1887, Mk II 1894, Mk III 1897, Mk IV 1899, Mk V 1913, Mk VI 1915). Like its siblings it operates via a stirrup-type barrel latch on the upper rear of the frame: thumbing the lever releases the barrel assembly to pivot downward around a front hinge, driving a star-shaped extractor upward to eject all six spent cases simultaneously. The Mk III's defining improvement over the Mk II was a redesigned cylinder-to-frame lock - a hook engaging a lip on the front of the cylinder when the action was opened - which both improved lockup and, for the first time in the service line, allowed the cylinder to be removed from the frame for cleaning. This feature was carried directly into the Mk IV. The exposed-spur hammer can be fired double-action by a long trigger pull or single-action by manual cocking. The Mk III was issued chiefly to the Royal Navy rather than adopted as the standard British Army sidearm, and many examples reached officers through private purchase. It fired the .455 Webley Mk II cartridge, a heavy 265-grain lead bullet at roughly 620 feet per second, prized for close-range stopping power despite modest velocity.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 1100 g (38.8 oz) |
| Overall Length | 235 mm (9.25") |
| Barrel Length | 102 mm (4.02") |
| Action Type | Double Action |
| Firing Mechanism | Double Action Single Action |
| Trigger Type | Double Action Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 6 rounds |
| Magazine Type | Revolving Cylinder |
| Muzzle Velocity | 189 m/s (620 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 287 J (212 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 45 m (49 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 20 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Left Hand |
| Number of Grooves | 7 |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Checkered Vulcanite |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- .455 Webley Mk II · primary — also known as .455 Webley, .455 Eley, .455 Enfield, 11.6x19mmR
Features
- Firing modes: Repeating
- Feed systems: Revolving Cylinder
- Safety mechanisms: Rebounding Hammer, Stirrup Latch
- Features: Break Top Action, Simultaneous Extraction, Automatic Ejection, Six Shot Cylinder, Removable Cylinder For Cleaning, Improved Cylinder Lock, Fixed Front Sight, V Notch Rear Sight, Lanyard Ring
Variants
- Webley Mk I — Predecessor
- Webley Mk IV (Boer War Model) — Successor
- Webley Mk VI — Successor
Service history
Operators
- Royal Navy · adopted 1897 · as Pistol, Revolver, Webley, Mk III
- British Army (officer private purchase)
Conflicts
- Second Boer War (1899-1902)
- British colonial campaigns (1897-1914)
Production
Production years: 1897-1899
No reliable standalone Mk III service-revolver production count exists in accessible sources. Production of the broader Webley service-revolver family (Marks I-VI) totaled well over 500,000 units between 1887 and 1923.
Origin
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Designer: Philip Webley
Discontinued: 1899
Notes
The 'Webley Mk III' designation is a well-known source of confusion: it refers both to this 1897 .455 service revolver and to a later small-frame .38 Webley pocket revolver - and should not be confused with the .455 Webley Mk III cartridge of 1898 (the 'Manstopper' hollow-point, withdrawn from military use after the 1899 Hague Convention). No reliable standalone production figure for the Mk III service revolver was found in accessible sources; total Webley service-revolver output across all marks ran to the hundreds of thousands before the Mk VI's roughly 125,000 units of 1915-1923. Overall-length and weight figures here are drawn from commercial-listing and dealer sources and should be treated as approximate; a 4-inch barrel was standard, with longer commercial lengths also offered.
Background
The Mk III's name is one of the great traps for collectors - it denotes both this 1897 .455 break-top service revolver and an entirely separate small-frame .38 pocket revolver, while the contemporaneous .455 Mk III cartridge was the notorious 'Manstopper' hollow-point that Britain withdrew from military service for violating the 1899 Hague Convention on expanding bullets. Issued largely to the Royal Navy, the Mk III was the first Webley service revolver whose cylinder could be lifted out of the frame for cleaning.