Webley-Scott .455 1913 Navy Automatic

[varifleman]

Originally Posted by rhuff

Varifleman and myself both own one of those Colt Commercial Government Model 1911s in 455 Webley auto caliber. Mine was made in 1914. They are an interesting piece of history, but are not heat treated, and can be destroyed(value wise) if fired with hot 45ACP ammo(after a barrel swap) leading to slide and frame fractures.

Good advice Rhuff: Since my U.S. AEF Officer's British-proofed 1914 Colt Government Model (photos provenance posted earlier) is in such excellent condition I'll keep it as a collector's gun and not risk any damage to almost irreplaceable parts. I'll shoot my Colt WWI 1911 reissue which does just fine at the range. I also have 1 British-proofed .38 ACP 1903 Pocket Model shipped to UK in 1915 - it looks like it saw rough service in WWI; not much finish remaining but still performs flawlessly!It was most likely a British officer's private purchase pistol.

[rhuff]

I am a reloader, so I can load some "soft" rounds for these old gentlemen. I have some old Colt SAAs that I love to shoot also. If these old handguns could just talk....

[varifleman]

I found on-line an interesting article "The .455 Webley & Scott Pistol" (American Rifleman 1964) which has a chart which details both Government Contracts and Private sales deliveries by month/year/serial number. This pistol (serial number 3800) was 1 of 1919 (serial numbers 3691-5609) delivered to the Royal Navy in December 1914. It served through most of WWI.