1911 in .455 British

[Steve1987]

Hi MkVII,

The example in the Bonhams auction had great provenance that was reflected in that price.

My example was likely brought back by a Canadian at the end of WWI. These are tough guns to find in nice original condition and I'm not surprised they're bringing a lot of money on the collectors market.





-Steve

[Claven2]

FWIW, I just picked up one of these as well, mine's been refurbished by the British (looks to have been bead blasted and blued, then re-issued and has typical holster wear) and is marked to the RAF for WW2 service, but looks to have all its original WW1 parts. Proper .455 barrel (lightly frosted ahead of the chamber, but otherwise nice bore), proper 2-tone original .455 mag. Cool gun, just waiting on the transfer.

There were some other original finish guns with the one I picked up (it was a collection of six .455's offered through a dealer - I'm assuming an estate). A forum member here picked up two of the .455's in nicer shape than mine with original WW1 finish, but I could't afford the price tag right now! lol.

It was cool to see them all together, depute one example being really rough, how often do you ever see SIX .455 British Contract 1911's in one place at the same time?

[xSentinel]

Wow. Great find. Got a pic?
I love these guns. Lots of history.

[Claven2]

I'll post a pic when I have the gun in-hand, maybe later in the week. Here in Canada you have to wait for the gov't to approve the transfer of handguns before you physically get them from the dealer.

[Steve1987]

I'll post a pic when I have the gun in-hand, maybe later in the week. Here in Canada you have to wait for the gov't to approve the transfer of handguns before you physically get them from the dealer.

I will post a few pics of mine as well

Perhaps a gallery album of original 1911's in .455 is in order?

-Steve

[Claven2]

Yes, I definitely think we should do an MKL entry. Heck Steve, with your collection alone, we could cover off almost every major military 1911 variant in a series of Milsurp Knowledge Library entries if we ever find the time to do so

[SA M1Dom]

how close to 45 ACP is that british 455? Or is it the same. Certainly looks very much alike.

[Mk VII]

semi-rimmed case. Neither will function properly in guns chambered for the other.

[Claven2]

.455 Auto has a longer case than .45ACP and a stubbier more rounded bullet. Semi-rimmed, unlike the fully-rebated rim of the .45ACP. The .455 was a webley design for the P1913 Webley auto MkI, and they adapted their 1911 orders to use that same cartridge in WW1.

[Promo]

I already once posted pictures of mine, but since some were asking for additional samples

It's fully matching, including the magazine. Also it still has the original barrel and is RAF marked. Unfortunately it appears to have been reblued, but I'm pretty sure that was done very long ago, probably still during service.