(Wrongly but commonly known as the automatic). The rugged Webley in ‘455” a hinged frame, self extracting revolver that fired a man stopping ‘455” round did everything that it was required to do. However, the tremendous losses, especially of officers who went over the top in front of their men, who generally carried the revolver, meant that orders had to be placed with Smith and Western and Colt to keep up with the demands for dreadful losses. It was however, the Webley, that proved its worth in the dreadful conditions of trench warfare. However, the ‘455” was a big round and the slightly built men found it a bit of a handful to become proficient in its use. For that reason when trials were conducted between the wars for a replacement revolver, a new calibre of ‘38” x 200 was decided upon. The 200 grain bullet gave almost comparable stopping power to the ‘455” but reduced weight of the new revolver plus its reduced calibre made training and proficiency far easier. Hence, the hinged frame Enfield revolver No 2 Mark 1 became our official revolver from around 1936 onwards. This has to be questioned from a technical point of view because Webley were always considered to be our revolver makers. The Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield “slightly modified” the Webley design and as in so, many “political” reasons, Enfield were given the contract for the new revolver. Enfield However, when war came in 1939, Enfield could not produce the revolver so Webley were given the task of manufacturing the ’38” revolver instead! The Mark 4 Webley along with the Enfield proved to be rugged and generally, very well made.