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RANGE TESTING THE GUNS

Even though the three World War I-era revolvers presented in this article are in great shape, none of them can be described as “mint.” In this writer’s opinion that makes them all eminently shootable. As well as being an enjoyable diversion, a range session with these three Hand Ejectors, using ammunition that replicates the performance of the original military rounds, should also provide some practical insight into the power and accuracy of the handguns used by Allied forces in the Great War.

Finding modern .45 ACP ammunition that duplicates the load used by the American doughboys is not a problem. The classic loading of a 230-grain round nose, jacketed bullet, propelled at a muzzle velocity of approximately 800 fps, is still produced by several ammo makers.

Obtaining modern .455 Webley Mark II ammunition is a little more problematic. Due to low consumer demand in the U.S., for many years this archaic round was not offered by any domestic manufacturer. The Italian firm Fiocchi was about the only commercial source of new, non-corrosive .455 Mark II ammo. Bullet weight of the Fiocchi loading is 262 grains, rather than the nominal 265 grains of the original round, but such a slight weight difference should be of no consequence.