in the United States)[1] is a British centrefire revolver cartridge.

This was the standard service weapon of the Royal Irish Constabulary[2] (RIC, hence the revolver's name), which were also chambered in (among others) .450 Adams and 476/.455.

[3] Lt. Col. George Custer is believed to have carried a pair of RIC revolvers (presented to him in 1869 by Lord Berkley Paget)[4] at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

[9][10] The cartridge was moderately effective,[11] being roughly similar in power to the contemporary .38 S&W,[12] .41 Colt,[13] or .44 S&W American,[14] and somewhat less potent than the later 7.65mm Parabellum,[15] .38 Special[16] or .45 ACP.

[2] Smokeless .442 Webley loads continued to be commercially offered in the U.S. until 1940[8] and in the United Kingdom and Europe until the 1950s.