Birmingham native here. I am proud and sad about my city's lost Gunsmith trade.

My dad bought one Webley & Scott mark IV .32 6shot revolver & a single barrel shotgun made in Birmingham UK 🇬🇧.
Back in late 60’s.
I still have them in Pakistan on my license.

Love the illusrations of the top brake pistol with a swing out cylinder and the solid frame pistol with a top brake hinge!

I own the Webley Mk VI. My Grandfather was issued in 1917. He entered the trenches in 1916 as a Private. Lieutenant by September 1917. 25th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force.

The thing that surprised me most was that British officers often bought the Webley with their own money. Despite newer automatic pistols being available, they kept choosing the same heavy top-break revolver because they trusted it when everything came down to a few chaotic seconds at close range.

Excellent story. The Webley became a true symbol of British military service.

“One motion to open it. Six cases gone. Six rounds in, in the dark, one-handed, in the mud.” That perfectly explains why the Webley earned such loyalty—it wasn’t the most modern revolver, but it was built for the brutal reality of close combat. Would you have chosen the Webley or a newer automatic pistol?

A friend had one and I fired it at 25 yards and found it very accurate.

When I was in primary school, back in the 1950's a school friend whose father was a Police Sgt told me that his father had a revolver at home. I told him he was daft and stop telling lies. Well, next day, he turned up at school with a .380 Enfield and a box of 12 rounds. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, I had a good play with it (making sure I wasn't seen), gave it back and told him to get it home before anyone noticed it missing. Loved the Enfield from that day on.

Some of the Enfield and Webley .38 revolvers were passed on to the British police. I have a friend who was a British police officer in the 1970s. He volunteered to be trained on firearms and trained on a Webley .38.

Many thanks for this! Well my grandfather survived WW1, Ypres, wounded and repatriated, small wars in the inter-war years in East Africa, was recalled for the expeditionary force in France in 1939/ WW2, one of the last out of Dunkirk and then lead his battalion pushing the Germans up through Italy & survived the horrendous battle of Medicina, fighting alongside Gurkhas, and his chosen weapon was a Webley MKIV - I am proud to have it to this day - and the boots he wore through Italy. I became a Gurkha because of the tales he told me about their bravery. Proud of my grandpa!

I believe it was 1964 when my Dad took my brother and myself to the Bradley Theater to see the movie "Zulu". I was took in by the bright red British uniforms of the British soldier, their single shot Martini-Henry Rifle and the two British Lieutenants who carried the Webley MK VI Revolvers. In 1964 when I first saw this movie, Zulu, I was but 12-years old. I would get a chance to see this great movie several times down through the passing years and it wasn't until I started checking out books from the library on the Zulu Wars and this was in the time period that our. country stood for the truth. This would mean that books concerning world history were truthful and Communism was not widespread in this country. The two British Officers that commanded this small group of soldiers was a very young Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. Both men were superb actors and both men were carrying the Webley MK VI Revolver. A large British handgun that was chambered for the .455 round. Now history indicates this battle with the Zulu Warriors took place in the 1880's, if memory serves. The Correct handgun was not the Webley MK VI, but the Webley MK II .476 Revolver. I guess for this British made movie there were no Webley MK II .476 Revolvers that could be found. There were scenes in the movie that had the two British Officers using their Webley's to telling effect on charging Zulu Warriors. The big .455 bullet was a real man stopper when the round was placed right by the shooter.The Webley MK VI did not come out until 1915, years past the Zulu battles. I have a Webley MK VI Revolver in my modest collection. I was made aware recently that unshaven Webley MK VI Revolvers are far and few between. I'm happy now that I never had my Webley shaved. I have a family member that can reload the .455, should I decide to shoot up the precious few .455 rounds that I own. Thanks for a wonderful and informative video on a firearm legend! PS: I have another British Revolver that I keep in my nightstand. A ultra reliable break top .38/200 Enfield No.2 Mk I*, that was purchased at a local gun show, years ago, for the princely sum of 100-dollars right out the door. The would be the first Enfield .38/200 Revolver that I would acquire and now it is one of several. Don't never, ever, never let some gun expert tell you that the .38/200 round is too weak to be effective. Hogwash and one-half! This round is like the original .38/200 round the gun was chambered for. A big, slow traveling lead round nose bullet that will make Jack the Ripper find a new job! Thanks again and sorry for the length here.

When you said "Obsolete when it was introduced"...The Webley Mk1 Revolver was double action, the Colt Revolver at that time was single action. Apart from that, you were spot on. After the Government contract for the .38 revolver was given to Enfield, Enfield could not produce enough guns and so the government then had to go back to Webley and order the Revolver they had rejected to make up the numbers, and you were right, the Enfield .38 was just a copy of the Webley MkIV .38 with a couple of minor tweeks. My Grandfather carried a .455 Webley MkVI during WW1 and kept his after the war.

My Dad was a policeman in the South African police and his sidearm was a Webley .38. He retired around 1980.

It was not for shooting the enemy. It was for ensuring that his men did what they were ordered to do.

As a country we're good at killing home grown industries. It's as if we are ashamed of being able to make anything.

My Uncle, Same name was Shot Point Blank in the Head, Belfast 1972 He Survived, Millimeters ftom the Brain, Thank God.

That was the word, when you shot a man with a Webley he fell back, with a Colt he fall forward.

Thank you

Very informative; thanks