The Webley Revolver was, in various marks, the standard issue service
pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire,
and the Commonwealth from 1887 until 1963. The Webley is a top-break
revolver with automatic extraction; breaking the revolver open for
reloading also operates the extractor, removing the spent cartridges
from the cylinder. The Webley Mk I service revolver was adopted in
1887, but it was a later version—the Mk IV—which rose to prominence
during the Boer War of 1899–1902. The Mk VI, introduced in 1915 during
World War I, is perhaps the best-known model. Webley service revolvers
are among the most powerful top-break revolvers ever produced, firing
the .455 Webley cartridge. Although the .455 calibre Webley is no
longer in military service, the .38/200 Webley Mk IV variant is still
sporadically in use as a police sidearm in a number of countries.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webley_Revolver
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1519:
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire: Spanish conquistador Hernán
Cortés entered Tenochtitlan where Aztec tlatoani Moctezuma II welcomed
him with great pomp as would befit a returning god.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire)
1520:
Stockholm Bloodbath: Following a successful invasion of Sweden by
Danish forces under Christian II of Denmark, scores of Swedish leaders
were executed despite Christian's promise of general amnesty.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Bloodbath)
1895:
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen produced and detected
electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range that is known today as
X-rays.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Conrad_R%C3%B6ntgen)
1923:
Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and other members of the Kampfbund
started the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed attempt to seize power in
Germany.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Hall_Putsch)
1987:
A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded during a
Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing
at least eleven people and injuring sixty-three others.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day_bombing)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
grandiloquent: Of a person, their language or writing: overly wordy,
pompous, flowery, or elaborate.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grandiloquent)