Those .44 H&R's a pretty hard to find as H&R didn't make them very long. I think I can see why too, the .44 Webley isn't all that powerful and at close distances a .38 S&W would have been as effective, but in a smaller, lighter gun with a more common caliber.View attachment 1045659
Here is my American Double Action in caliber .44 Webley. No, I have never fired it and don't intend to. Not that I would be afraid to but I collect them and this one is unfired. The nickled trigger guard tells me it is pre-1896. I have 3 more .44's and examples of most other models too. I have been collecting early H&R revolvers since 1983.
With best regards,
Jeff
Those .44 H&R's a pretty hard to find as H&R didn't make them very long. I think I can see why too, the .44 Webley isn't all that powerful and at close distances a .38 S&W would have been as effective, but in a smaller, lighter gun with a more common caliber.
Found this 922 at the LGS, Guts in a plastic bag, got it cheap... pretty sure its a 2nd model large birdhead frame 2nd variation, probably 1941, shoots great now, lightly used...only problem it had was old dry oil and flat main spring was bent and holding too much pressure on hammer at rest...
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Then I have my 32 long 3rd Model 3rd variation, somewhere around 1921, smokeless powder, call it Black Beauty... very nice shooter...
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.44 Webley/.442 gets over 200 ft/lbs because it's a heavy bullet, one that doesn't expand. It pokes a hole, same as what .38 S&W does, and I'm willing to bet both would leave an exit wound. With those results, for a vest pocket gun used to fend off a mugger, the .38 S&W would do just as good.On paper, at least, 44 Webley (better known as 442 Webley in the UK) was a fairly powerful cartridge. Standard cartridge listings, like "Ammo Enyclopedia" by Michael Bussard give it about 230 ft/lbs of muzzle energy, which is more than standard velocity 38 Special. (Wikipedia agrees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.442_Webley ). Ballistics are not as good as 38 Special though, because 44 Webley gets there by launching a fat, heavy bullet at lower velocity.
I think the real problem was that the US guns made for it (like LC '92s H&R or the very similar Iver Johnson guns) were very unpleasant to shoot with a cartridge that had fairly heavy recoil by the standards of the time. They are small, light guns, with tiny grips of indifferent shape. When Webley introduced the cartridge around 1868, they put it in a gun of decent size, the six-shot Webley "Royal Irish Constabulary" model. H&R and IJ were apparently trying to invent the Charter Arms Bulldog 44 about a century early.
For that reason, apparently, a cartridge called (coincidentally) 44 Bulldog was developed to give these guns something more pleasant to shoot. Its ballistics were downright pathetic, worse than the 41 Short Rimfire of the Remington Double Derringer; a pitiful 80 ft/lbs (Wikipedia again, but also agreeing with other listings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Bull_Dog ).
44 Bulldog may have become the most common load in these guns, and then TTv2 is exactly right; a 38 S&W revolver would be a far better choice.
BTW, does anybody have a guess on whether a top break revolver could have been made in 44 Webley? I think the rim is too small, but in a solidly made 5-shot top break with a decent grip, it would have made an interesting alternative to S&W big six shot top break 44 Russian guns.
J frame grips i think, I'll look when I get home, not a perfect fit but great for shooting, have a set of wood grips on them currently...they look better but no pics on my phone...Nice! What are the rubber grips on the top break in the bottom left picture? They must make accurate shooting much more pleasant. Did you have to do any work on them to make them fit?
.44 Webley/.442 gets over 200 ft/lbs because it's a heavy bullet, one that doesn't expand. It pokes a hole, same as what .38 S&W does, and I'm willing to bet both would leave an exit wound. With those results, for a vest pocket gun used to fend off a mugger, the .38 S&W would do just as good.
I can't say how the recoil is for a .44 Webley in a 21oz revolver with the ergos of the H&R. It would probably be similar to what a Charter Bulldog feels like.
He also poses that the hammer/firing pin can be placed between 2 live rounds and the hammer released all the way. The protruding firing pin will prevent the cylinder from rotating a live round under the firing pin.