A nice 1917 dated, Webley Mark VI, top break revolver, but with turned down cylinder. Boo Hoo!

[talltom]

very nice webley looks amazing even if it is converted nice pickup thanks for sharing
brilliant info rambob

tom

[rambob]

Tom, Thanks for the nice words! This pistol was the first WWI/WWII pistol I ever bought 35 years ago and is still one of my all time my favorites.

Rob, Here is the back of the "shoulder" holster. It looks like it has a belt carrier on the back and may actually be a belt holster. But with the added strap threaded through the carrier, it would do double duty as a shoulder holster. You can see in the pictures that the strap has about an 8" section folded over on itself and stiched which I believe kept the strap from digging into the neck. Very clever British!! BTW. Eugene Bender in his ground breaking book Military Holsters of World War II has this exact holster and strap on Page 110 described as Shoulder Holster For Webley, .455 caliber. So here is a published reference stating the holster and straps use.

Bob

[Battery Command Post]

Rob, Here is the back of the "shoulder" holster. It looks like it has a belt carrier on the back and may actually be a belt holster. But with the added strap threaded through the carrier, it would do double duty as a shoulder holster. You can see in the pictures that the strap has about an 8" section folded over on itself and stiched which I believe kept the strap from digging into the neck. Very clever British!! BTW. Eugene Bender in his ground breaking book Military Holsters of World War II has this exact holster and strap on Page 110 described as Shoulder Holster For Webley, .455 caliber. So here is a published reference stating the holster and straps use.

Bob

Thanks for the photo Bob. The holster is definitely a standard British Army issue "pistol case", of the type used in WWI and and WW2. There were three versions of it, the original type (this one), and ones with rear fittings for the 1908 and 1914 equipments. This version is often called the 1903 Pattern as it was very often used with the belt from that equipment, although it doesn't actually have a 'pattern' associated with it.

I haven't seen any references to it being used as a shoulder holster, but of course that doesnt mean it wasn't. However, if the author of the book didn't recognise it as what it actually is, whether or not the shoulder holster adaptation ever happened, i would have doubts about his work.

In its normal form, it is an iconic military holster of ww1 and 2.

Rob