The .450 Adams was a British
black powder centrefire
Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center
A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...
revolver cartridge, initially used in converted
Beaumont–Adams revolvers, in the late 1860s. Officially designated .450 Boxer Mk I, and also known variously as the .450 Revolver, .450 Colt, .450 Short, .450 Corto and .450 Mark III, and in America as the .45 Webley,
[Barnes, p.173, ".450 Revolver"] it was the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas ...
's first centrefire revolver round.
History
The .450 was adopted for the Adams revolver in November 1868,
and served until it was replaced in service in 1880
by the
.476 Enfield (in the
Enfield Mark 1 and 2),
which was in turn supplanted by the
.455 Webley cartridge in 1887.
Originally loaded with of black powder under a
bullet,
it was later also offered in a
smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to ...
loading.
Despite the different designations, the .450 may be fired in any weapon chambered for .455 Webley,
, or .476 Enfield.
While not considered a suitable military round,
the .450 Mark III cartridges did serve in reserve for the British armed forces as late as the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with figh ...
.
The .450 Adams also proved popular among civilian users of
Webley RIC and
British Bulldog revolvers, being loaded in Europe, and persisting in the United States until around 1940. Both
Colt and
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 185 ...
offered revolvers in .450 Adams.
It was roughly similar in power to the contemporary
.38 S&W,
.41 Colt, and
.44 S&W American.
[Barnes, p.167, ".44 Smith & Wesson American".]
Handloaded
Handloading, or reloading, is the practice of making firearm cartridges by assembling the individual components (case, primer, propellant, and projectile), rather than purchasing mass-assembled, factory-loaded ammunition.
The term ''handlo ...
ammunition can be made from shortened .455 Webley
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
.
Dimensions
See also
*
Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load (e.g. the highest muzzle energy might not be in the same ...
Notes
Sources
*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".450 Revolver", in ''Cartridges of the World'', pp. 170 & 177. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. .
*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".38 Smith & Wesson", in ''Cartridges of the World'', p. 163. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. .
*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber.. ".41 Long Colt", in ''Cartridges of the World'', p. 165. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. .
*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".44 Smith & Wesson American", in ''Cartridges of the World'', p. 167. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. .
*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber.. ".455 Revolver MK-1/.455 Colt", in ''Cartridges of the World'', p. 174. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. .
*Maze, Robert J. ''Howdah to High Power''. Tucson, AZ: Excalibur Publications, 2002. .
External links
Revive your antique English .450 (.455 - .460) black powder revolvers
{{DEFAULTSORT:450
Pistol and rifle cartridges
World War I weapons of the United Kingdom
British firearm cartridges