Webley Mark 1 - Chrome / nickel

kruzaroad wrote: Nice. One more question I just noticed. What's the chrome rear blade on a chrome front blade like for sighting? I imagine against a dark background fine but bit curious about in strong sunlight

kruzaroad wrote: What sweet pistol j-s. Just been looking thru the web at them. It's in pretty dam good condition compared a lot on there. I noticed there's the wooden boxes and the cardboard,any idea what this came in. Love the loading action. Also suprised to learn webley patented the barrel over cylinder in 1929 I think it was. Nice example. You'll be stoked to have that in collection. Great seeing things like this come up. Gets me looking down avenues I probly never would have gone down. Cheers. Any info you have on it that you think would be interesting? How stable is the barrel once it's locked back. Was rather surprised that breach end of it came clear just as barrel.

Im no webley collector by any means, but they were a very popular range of pistols. Interestingly the Webley Junior pistol came to New Zealand as rifled barrel pistols when the ones in UK are smooth bore - so the Pom collectors would probably love to get their hands on some NZ juniors..

In general they are nice pistols - all steel, usually blued and nicely finished so they feel great in the hand. Cock the overlever / barrel to set the piston which releases toward the shooter, air transfers up and through the barrel. Very simple design. There is a little latch that keeps the barrel set and barrel contacts a seal (modern are rubber, original is oiled leather) so they have a good positive seal.
Pellet loaded directly in barrel and fire.

Not huge power, but with leather seals you often get a small puff of smoke.

I like the Webley Senior; this has a thumb latch for the barrel release.

In terms of packaging, I’d say the wood boxes are custom made by / for collectors, they would have come in a pictorial cardboard box with a brush, manual / parts diagram etc. good condition boxes are hard to find but you can buy replicas out of UK.

Breech / barrel latch:

Webley serial numbers are hard to trace, apart from some features that can distinguish certain periods.. this having the “Birmingham 4” address places it pre-1958…

It’s a rarity being chrome plated, it’s in good condition for its age with a small amount of damage to the chrome. It doesn’t cock as I think the cocking shoe is worn - I have a replacement but it’s black not chromed so this’ll be kept as a show piece rather than a shooter, but it would be an easy fix.

Hard to tell if it’s original chrome from the Webley factory as there were some done, and the wording on the gun is still pretty shard so I don’t think it’s a blued gun that’s been stripped and sanded for chroming.