Military & police handgun cartridges of South Africa.

In the mid-16th century the Dutch East Indies Company established asupply station at the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.The settlement became known as Kaapstaad (Capetown) and Dutch settlerswere brought in to raise crops and livestock to provision theCompany's ships on their voyages to and from the Indies. While thepractice was discouraged, settlers began to move into the interior tofind land suitable for farming. Thus evolved a unique frontier societyknown as the Boers (from the Dutch word for farmer or Afrikaners).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Tough, self-reliant, independent and pious, the vast interior ofsouthern Africa allowed the Boers to travel (trek) whenever they neededmore land and settle where they pleased. The inevitable conflicts withnative Bantu tribes led to the creation of commandos. Made up of allmales from 16 to 60, these groups of mounted riflemen would gathertogether when danger threatened and their mobility and firepower usuallyenabled them to defeat their more numerous foes.

In 1795, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British occupied the Capeand, later, the east coast, eventually creating the Cape Colony andNatal. British officialdom proved so meddlesome that large numbers ofBoers trekked further inland to escape them, eventually establishing twoindependent republics--the Oranje-Vrystaat and the Zuid AfrikaanscheRepubliek (a.k.a. Transvaal)--which the British recognized in 1854.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

During this time, the growing numbers of English settlers in theCape Colony and Natal came into conflict with the native tribes and inresponse established volunteer units patterned on the Boer commandos.

Firearms played a vital role in the settlement of South Africa and,as did the Boers, the English volunteer units tended to purchase Britishpattern small arms. Thus, the earliest, cartridge firing handguns to seeuse in South Africa were the Adams Mark I, II and III revolvers andvarious models of the Webley RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) revolvers.

* .450 Revolver--better known as the .450 Boxer or .450 Adams, thiscartridge used a straight-walled case .69" in length that had ariveted on iron (Mark I) or brass (Mark II) disk which functioned as arim. A charge of 13 grains of blackpowder propelled its 225-grain leadbullet to 650 fps.

* .442 RIC--used a straight-walled, rimmed case .74" longcontaining 19 grains of blackpowder that moved a 220-grain lead bulletto 700 fps. It was sometimes referred to as the .44 Webley or the .44Centrefire.

The discovery of diamonds in the region led to renewed Britishinterest. In 1877, encouraged by the growing political turmoil in theTransvaal, the British peacefully annexed the republic. By 1880 Boerresentment boiled over, and a rebellion broke out under the leadershipof Paul Kruger and Piet Joubert. Known as the First Anglo-Boer War, thecommandos rather handily defeated British forces and reestablished theirindependence.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Realizing that they faced danger from both native tribes and therapacious British, the Boers set about improving the armament of thecommandos. Both Republics had established European-officered artillerycorps, dispatch services, prison guards and police forces, all of whomneeded handguns. In 1879, the Transvaal placed an order for severalhundred Webley New Model Army Express and "Bull DogConstabulary" revolvers. The former were chambered for the .450Revolver, while the latter were a mixed lot in " ... either .320,.380 or .450 bore." (1)

* .320 Revolver--also known as the .320 Webley, it consisted of arimmed, straight-walled case .62" long topped with an 80-grain leadbullet that 6 grains of blackpowder pushed to an uninspiring 550 fps.

* .380 Revolver--about the same time, Webley introduced a largercaliber cartridge that used a straight-walled, rimmed case .70"long topped with a 124-grain lead bullet backed by 10 grains ofblackpowder. Muzzle velocity was approximately 625 fps.

In the mid-1880s, the discovery of vast gold deposits in theTransvaal led to large numbers of Uitlanders settling in the region andresulting tension between these (mainly British) foreigners and theBoers. But it also gave the Boers the financial wherewithal they neededto purchase modern weapons. In 1888, the Transvaal purchased a quantityof the odd Kynoch revolver, in .450 cal, from the manufacturer for themunicipal police force in Klerksdorp.

In 1894, Thomas W. Webley himself visited Pretoria and signed acontract with the Transvaal for 500 of his firm's Mark II revolverschambered for the new 455 cartridge. In 1896, in the aftermath of theill-fated Jameson raid, the order was increased to 1,000 and then--withwar with Great Britain looming--to 5,000 revolvers and 500,000cartridges! To fill the order on time, Webley included Mark II, MarkIII, Webley WG and even some obsolete No. 4 revolvers.

* Cartridge, .455, SA, Ball, Pistol, Revolver Webley MarkI--utilized a 265-grain lead bullet in a case .860" long backed by18 grains of blackpowder that produced a muzzle velocity of 600 fps.

* Cartridge, .455, SA, Ball, Pistol, Revolver Webley, Cordite MarkI--in 1894, the propellant was changed to 6.5-grain of smokeless Corditealthough the muzzle velocity remained unchanged.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

* Cartridge, .455 ... Mark II--in 1897, it was discovered that moreefficient propellant combustion was achieved in a smaller capacity case,so the Mark II used a case .750" in length although, once again,the ballistics remained the same.

* Cartridge, .455 ... Mark III & IV--the Boers purchasedquantities of these cartridges that featured the "Manstopper"bullet--a 218-grain hollow-point wadcutter--backed, by 7 grains ofcordite. It was designed for use against "savage" foes inAfrica and on India's northern frontier.

At this same time, a Portuguese firm in Mozambique providedVechtgeneraal Piet Joubert with samples of the new MauserSelbstaladepistole C96 (the famous "Broomhandle"). The Boerswere impressed with the Mauser's firepower, range and accuracy, butonly purchased 100 of them and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. (2) Besidesgovernment purchases, individual burghers purchased a wide variety ofhandguns--including additional Mauser pistols--for their own use.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

* 7.63 x 25 Mauser--the most ballistically impressive pistolcartridge of its day, the 7.63mm Mauser used a rimless, bottleneckedcase 25mm in length whose 86-grain full metal-jacketed bullet was pushedto an impressive 1400 fps.

Handguns did not figure prominently in the Second Anglo-Boer War(1899-1902), the battlefields being dominated by the long-range accuracyof the 7 x 57 Mauser rifle and artillery.

In the aftermath of the Boer capitulation, all of southern Africacame under British control. The new South African Defense Forces wereorganized along British lines with various .455 Webley revolvers beingthe standard sidearm. In 1913, the South African Police (SAP) wasestablished as a national gendarmerie. Their main duty was to providelaw enforcement outside of those areas policed by municipal police.

When the Great War erupted, South African forces conqueredneighboring Deutsch-Sudwestafrika and then spent four frustrating yearschasing the forces of Col. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck aroundDeutsch-Ostafrika. South African troops also fought on the Western Frontand in Palestine. During the war they received quantities of the Britishstandard Webley Mark VI revolver.

In the postwar years, the SAP purchased a quantity of Webley .32Automatic Pistols for use by detectives.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

* .32 ACP--also known as the 7.65mm Browning, this round consistedof a straight-walled, semi-rimmed case 17mm long whose 71-grain FMJ hada rated muzzle velocity of about 900 fps.

While the SAP continued to issue revolvers--mainly the .455Webley--to their uniformed personnel, in 1921 they adopted the WebleyM1909 9mm Automatic Pistol.

* 9mm Browning Long--designed by John M. Browning in the early 20thcentury, this cartridge used a semi-rimmed, straight-walled case 20mm inlength whose 110-grain FMJ bullet achieved a velocity of 1100 fps.

With the outbreak of World War II, under the leadership of PrimeMinister Jan Smuts, South Africa sided with the Allies. Their troopswere instrumental in expelling the Italians from Ethiopia and Somaliaand they fought with distinction in North Africa and Italy. Whileoriginally equipped with the Webley Mark IV, during the war theyobtained quantities of No. 2 Enfield, Webley Mark VI and S&W VictoryModel revolvers chambered for the .380 cartridge.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

* Cartridge, SA, Ball, .380 Mark 1, 2, & 2z--the new cartridgeutilized a straight-walled, rimmed case .79" long loaded with a200-grain, blunt-nosed, lead bullet moving at approximately 605 fps andwas commonly referred to as the ".380 / 200." So as to abideby international conventions, in 1938 the .380 Mark 2 was adopted, whose178-grain FMJ bullet was propelled to 700 fps. During World War II, the.380 Mark 2z with nitro-cellulose powder replacing Cordite was approvedfor service. (3)

In 1939, Commonwealth armies began loading the venerable .455cartridge with a FMJ bullet.

* Cartridge .455 ... Mark 6 & 6z--it featured a FMJ bullet ofthe same weight and velocity as the Mark II (see above). The later"Mark 6z" used nitro-cellulose powder instead of Cordite.

Postwar internal political struggles in the disgruntled andimpoverished Afrikaner community led to the rise of theAfrikaner-dominated Nationalist Party, which instituted apartheid, atotal separation of the races and political disenfranchisement ofnon-whites in South Africa.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In the postwar years the SADF continued to use various 380revolvers while the SAP's aging Webley handguns were replaced withS&W revolvers. At first these were surplus Victory Models in .380,but in the 1950s they purchased additional Model 11 revolvers (chamberedfor the .38 S&W cartridge) directly from S&W. The 200-grain MarkI loading was produced locally for police service.

In 1961, South Africa left the British Commonwealth. Two yearslater, the UN established a voluntary arms embargo against them becauseof the government's apartheid racial policies, With their primarysources of firearms in Belgium and Great Britain cut off, in 1968 theSouth African government created a native arms industry,, Armscor (laterabsorbed into the Denel Corporation), which produced military smallarms, except for handguns. Apparently Spain and France did not abide bythe embargo, because during this period the SADF adopted the 9mm StarModelo B pistol while the SAP standardized on the Manuhrin-made 9mmWalther P1 for uniformed officers and 7.65mm PPK pistols for detectives.

* 9mm Parabellum--both the P1 and Modelo B were chambered for the9mm Parabellum As loaded for the SADF and SAP, this round uses arimless, tapered case 19mm long topped with a 115-grain FMJ bulletmoving at approximately 1160 fps.

South African intransigence as regards apartheid led to the UNadopting a mandatory arms embargo in 1977.

During the 1980s the SADF supplemented the Modelo B with a varietyof 9mm pistols, one of the more common being the Czech-madeCZ75--apparently the Czechs cared more for Krugerrands than they did UNembargoes. The CZ75 was, and still is, used by a number of municipalpolice forces in South Africa.

With the end of apartheid and the coming of majority rule in 1994,the armed forces and police have been reorganized and reequipped. In1992, the Denel Corporation obtained a license from Beretta allowingtheir subsidiary Vektor, Ltd. to produce the M92F as the Vektor Z88,which was adopted by the SAP. Those officers needing a handier weaponare issued the Vektor RAP-410 while to arm undercover officers they havepurchased the F.E.G. PMK-380 pistol.

* 380 ACP--also known as the 9mm Browning Short, it consists of arimless, straight-walled case 17mm long loaded with a 95-grain FMJbullet at a muzzle velocity of 950 fps.

The SADF's new sidearm is a somewhat highly modified versionof the Z88 known as the Vektor SP1.

I would like to thank the following for providing information andphotographs used to prepare this report: Keith Dyer, Gregor Woods, BobMeyer, Roy Jinks, Dr. Ron Bester, Kris Gasior and Vincent Scarlata.

(1) Bester, Ron. Small Arms of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. Pages236-237.

(2) Bester, Ron. Small Arms of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. Pages252-255.

(3) The British .380 cartridge was little more than the venerable.38 S&W loaded with heavier bullets.

* Photos by Lou Behling & James Walters