The .450 Adams was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 black powder centrefire

Centerfire ammunition

A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component....

 revolver

Revolver

A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...

 cartridge

Cartridge (firearms)

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...

, initially used in converted Beaumont-Adams Revolver

Beaumont-Adams Revolver

The Beaumont-Adams Revolver was a muzzle-loading percussion revolver. Originally adopted by the British Army in .442 calibre in 1856, many were later converted to use centrefire cartridges. It was replaced in British service in 1880 by the .476 calibre Enfield Mk I revolver.-History:On 20...

s, in the late 1860s. Officially designated .450 Boxer Mk I, and also known variously as the .450 Revolver, .450 Colt, .450 Short, .450 Corto and .450 Mark III, and in America as the .45 Webley, it was the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

's first centrefire revolver round.

History

The .450 was adopted for the Adams revolver in November 1868, and served until it was replaced in service in 1880 by the .476 Enfield

.476 Enfield

The .476 Enfield is a British centrefire black powder revolver cartridge....

 (in the Enfield

Enfield revolver

Enfield Revolver is the name applied to two totally separate models of self-extracting British handgun designed and manufactured at the government-owned Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield; initially the .476 calibre Revolver Enfield Mk I/Mk II revolvers , and later the .38/200 calibre Enfield No...

 Mark 1 and 2), which was in turn supplanted by the .455 Webley

.455 Webley

.455 Webley is a British handgun cartridge, most commonly used in the Webley top break revolvers Marks I through VI.The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed cartridge firing a .45 bullet at the relatively low velocity of 650 ft/s...

 cartridge in 1887.

Originally loaded with 13 gr of black powder over a 225 gr bullet

Bullet

A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...

, it was later also offered in a smokeless powder

Smokeless powder

Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of propellants used in firearms and artillery which produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the older gunpowder which they replaced...

 loading. Despite the different designations, the .450 may be fired in any weapon chambered for .455 Webley

.455 Webley

.455 Webley is a British handgun cartridge, most commonly used in the Webley top break revolvers Marks I through VI.The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed cartridge firing a .45 bullet at the relatively low velocity of 650 ft/s...

, .455 Colt, or .476 Enfield

.476 Enfield

The .476 Enfield is a British centrefire black powder revolver cartridge....

.

While not considered a suitable military round,. 450 Mark III cartridges did serve in reserve for the British armed forces as late as the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.
The .450 Adams also proved popular among civilian users of Webley RIC and British Bulldog

British Bulldog revolver

The British Bull Dog was a popular type of solid-frame pocket revolver introduced by Philip Webley & Son of Birmingham, England in 1872 and subsequently copied by gunmakers in Continental Europe and the United States. It featured a barrel and was chambered for five .44 Short Rimfire, .442 Webley,...

 revolvers, being loaded in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and persisting in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 until around 1940. Both Colt's

Colt's Manufacturing Company

Colt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer, whose first predecessor corporation was founded in 1836 by Sam Colt. Colt is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...

 and Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...

 offered revolvers in .450 Adams.

It was roughly similar in power to the contemporary .38 S&W

.38 S&W

The .38 S&W is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1877. Though similar in name, it is not interchangeable with the later .38 Smith and Wesson Special due to a different case shape and slightly larger bullet diameter....

, .41 Colt

.41 Long Colt

The .41 Long Colt cartridge was created in 1877 for Colt's double-action "Thunderer" revolver. It was a lengthened version of the earlier centerfire .41 Short Colt, which was made to duplicate the dimensions of the even earlier .41 Rimfire. The front of the bullet was about 0.406"-0.408”OD, the...

, or .44 S&W American

.44 S&W American

The .44 S&W American is an American centerfire revolver cartridge.Used in the Smith & Wesson Model 3, it was introduced around 1869. Between 1871 and 1873, the .44 Model 3 was used as the standard United States Army sidearm. It was also offered in the Merwin Hulbert & Co...

.

Handloaded

Handloading

Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components , rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded cartridges...

 ammunition can be made from shortened .455 Webley brass.

Sources

• Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".450 Revolver", in Cartridges of the World, pp. 170 & 177. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".38 Smith & Wesson", in Cartridges of the World, p. 163. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".41 Long Colt", in Cartridges of the World, p. 165. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".44 Smith & Wesson American", in Cartridges of the World, p. 167. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".455 Revolver MK-1/.455 Colt", in Cartridges of the World, p. 174. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• Maze, Robert J. Howdah to High Power. Tucson, AZ: Excalibur Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-880677-17-2.