British Bull Dog
- Category
- Revolver
- Barrel
- 64 mm
- Weight, empty
- 450 g
- Introduced
- 1872
About
What it is, and why it matters
The British Bull Dog is a compact double-action revolver introduced by P. Webley & Son of Birmingham in 1872. Designed as an affordable pocket pistol for self-defence, it featured a short 64 mm barrel and a five-round cylinder chambered for the .442 Webley centrefire cartridge (also offered in .450 Adams). Its small size, solid frame, and stopping power made it one of the most popular concealed-carry handguns of the late Victorian era, and it was extensively copied by gunmakers in Belgium, France, and the United States.
The British Bull Dog earned lasting notoriety in 1881 when Charles J. Guiteau used one chambered in .442 to fatally shoot U.S. President James A. Garfield. Cheap, concealable, and hard-hitting, it became the archetypal Victorian pocket revolver and lent its name to an entire class of compact self-defence handguns.
Sold in enormous numbers and so widely copied that 'Bulldog' became a generic term for short-barrelled solid-frame pocket revolvers. Charles Guiteau used a .442 British Bull Dog to assassinate U.S. President James A. Garfield in 1881.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- P. Webley & Son
- Category
- Revolver
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1872 to 1939
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 64 mm
- Overall length
- 152 mm
- Weight, empty
- 450 g
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Revolving
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Double action
- Capacity
- 5
- Magazine
- Revolving cylinder
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Walnut
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 210 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 324 J
- Effective range
- 14 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Fixed sights
Short barrel
Concealable
Rebounding hammer
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 404 revolvers | 450 g | 1.05 kg | Lighter than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 415 revolvers | 152 mm | 260 mm | Shorter than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 431 revolvers | 64 mm | 127 mm | Shorter than about 90% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 434 revolvers | 5 | 6 | Holds fewer rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the British Bull Dog
How much does the British Bull Dog weigh?
The British Bull Dog weighs 450 g (15.9 oz) empty.
What caliber is the British Bull Dog?
The British Bull Dog is chambered in .442 Webley.
How many rounds does the British Bull Dog hold?
The British Bull Dog holds 5 rounds, fed from a revolving cylinder.
How long is the British Bull Dog?
The British Bull Dog is 152 mm (5.98 in) long overall, with a 64 mm (2.52 in) barrel.
Who makes the British Bull Dog?
The British Bull Dog is made by P. Webley & Son (United Kingdom). It was designed by P. Webley & Son.
When was the British Bull Dog introduced?
The British Bull Dog was introduced in 1872 and discontinued in 1939.
How does the British Bull Dog operate?
The British Bull Dog uses a revolving action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Civilian self-defence market
- 1872
Provenance
Confidence in this record
78%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/british-bulldog' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "british-bulldog", "name": "British Bull Dog", "manufacturer": { "id": "webley", "name": "P. Webley & Son", "countryCode": "GB", "foundedYear": 1834, "website": "https://www.webley.co.uk", "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "5274fc3f816dc9a096f79f487fc21fde0c5c276883906e921b5113552efc7b72" }, "category": { "id": "revolver", "name": "Revolver", "description": "Handguns with a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers" }, "country_of_origin": "GB", "year_introduced": 1872, "barrel_length_mm": 64, "weight_empty_g": 450, "action_type": "revolving"}