searching for info on a British handgun

[WillieB]

Years ago I read an article in either Guns and Ammo or Gun World about a .58 cal British handgun.
It was a massive five or six shot black powder .58 cal revolver and I seem to recall that it was nicknamed something like Bulldog man-stopper. There might have been 2 different models and it wasn't issued by the army but privately  purchased by some officers.
Probably used in India or the NW Frontier. Not sure about which gunsmith made them. It could have been Tranter or perhaps even Webley.
Alas, all my (17 or 18 years worth of) back issues got lost a few years ago when my basement flooded after a mains pipe burst.
I've been searching on the 'net about for some time now but came up with nothing.
Thanks very much for any info!

[sjwalker51]

The Bull Dog was a .45 Webley variant of the 1870's (allegedly carried by Custer at the LBH) so if you're looking for something earlier, a Tranter or a Beaumont-Adams seem the most likely candidates from the 1850/60's: the latter was a 5-round, .442 cal (54 bore), which would fit closely with your recollection

but I'm sure there may be other, better informed, suggestions to come...

[6milPhil]

There's a list of obsolete calibre firearms here which might help: http://www.vintageguns.co.uk/articles/obsolete-calibre-list

[Harry Faversham]

Back in the day when we could call a spade a spade these large calibre revolvers were called 'bogstoppers'. When Occifers and Gentleman were trying to drop a drug crazed Pathan/Fuzzy with a .36 Navy and still getting skewered after emptying it... the enlightened found a .455 revolver did the job a lot better by dropping said Pathan/Fuzzy flat on his arse, wherever it nobbled 'im.

[WillieB]

Thanks to another forum member I found it!

For those interested

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/577-caliber-tranter-revolver/

[Leigh Metford]

'...most turned up in Australia. I still wonder why' (!) (Peter R's post).

At a guess. maybe because Aboriginal warriors were said to 'ignore' ordinary revolvers and to 'consider them mere toys'. They were renowned for being able to absorb hits that would disable a white man and carry on fighting. I have an account of one fight in which, despite having taken three bullets in the stomach, a warrior attacked a settler and kept fighting for some time.   

[Anna Elizabeth]

Wow, a .557 revolver! 

I doubt I could manage the recoil on that - sometimes I fancy myself a Queen's Officer, in Pith helmet and skirt. XD