I beleive this gun was manufactured between 1950-1958 This is based on it having an elevation adjustment on the rear sight and having Birmingham 4 engraved on the right hand side of the compresion tube.

Does anyone know if replacement breach and piston seals are availble in NZ?   The barrel has a lot of play at the breach and it has to be loosing air presure.   Currently it is only running at 37fps - I could just about throw a pellet faster!   It has resonable cocking presure but  feels a bit clunky so in need of a good clean and re-lube with Moly paste.  Not sure what the piston seal is like as I havn't taken it apart yet, but at the very least it will need oiling but at at least 67 years old I suspect it will also need to be replaced

Had one in the 1960's - I used to try shooting ears of wheat with it as they nodded in the wind!

Nice one EC....

It is a bit rough but should clean up OK.   After looking at vidios on replacing the breach seal and having a closer look,  the seal is completely missing on my gun - no wonder it is only making 37fps on the crony!  I also can see that is also is missing at least one of the guide rings from the piston.    The  good news if that the barrell looks OK - not bent like many of them are but I beleive this may be more common with the 22.  Also almost all the parts are availble reasonably cheaply from the UK  

I may take it apart and check out the internals in the next day or so and see what else I will need to get this working properly.  Not in any hurry as  I want to do a decent restoration on it.   Not looking to make it look new as it is not new - as I was born in 1958 it is most likely older than me! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ydoymV8g3U&list=WL&index=3

I did take the gun apart yesterday - so simple to do!  the piston seal looks to be in resonable condition, but probably will replace it .   What I had thought was a missing guide seal from the piston was actuallly acumulated crud - the piston apears to be in very good condition. 

I will give everything a good clean and remove the worst of the rust with a bit f WD40 and a scouring pad.  Looks like the most of the bluing has gone from the barrel.  Will know more one it has been cleaned, but may need to look at cold blueing it.  Not trying to make it look new but bare metal will just rust again.

Looking forward to getting this working as it should again and seeing how well I can shoot it.  Several different YouTube videos suggest the Mark 1 is a reasonably acurate pistol.

Ultimately I will probably get a leather breach seal from the UK so as to keep the gun origonal, but for now it will be nice to be able to use it.

Below are a couple of pictures of the existing piston seal.

Leather breach seals are availble from the UK so I will get 1 so I can  keep the gun origonal as I don't beleive this will impact the usability of the gun in any way.   However the rubbber seal was only $13 from Youngs and as it shoulld be here in the next day or two, I will be able to use the gun soon.  At this stage I intend leaving the origional leather piston seal in the gun as it looks OK.   Once  I have run it over the crony I will have a better idea.

I have stripped the gun down and given it a clean and it looks like it will come up well.  Looks like most of the finish from the outside of the barrel is gone so I may look at cold bluing it.  I was happy to tind that the screw  that holds the piston seal in place can be loosened - in both the seal replacement videos I found they had real prblems getting this screw out.  Happy that is one issue I won't have to deal with.

Overall impressed with the build quality of this gun. So much beter than anything else I have.

Lapco Auckland has neatsfoot oil.

I can get neatsfoot oil locally at Farmlands, however as I suspect the seal has had regular doses of light machine oil so  I'm probably going to use that on the existing the seal.   I do have new seal on the way with the breach seal and will probably use neetsfoot on that if the crony shows  the power is way down. From what I can gather, in good condition it should  be running at around 2.5 foot pounds.

I think if it is running at 2 foot pound or more I will leave it for now.  The Webley pistols were never powerfull but are said to shoot very well.  Mine certainly feels good to hold.

 

Looking forward to trying is on the 6 yard challenge target sometime next week.

Need to put a few shots through it and then I will do a full test over the crono with both these and the 8.44 JSB exacts.

Very happy with how it's turned out.   Will put a couple of pictures of how the gun looks now tonight.

Picture of the finished gun

Hopefully will get time later today to test more.

I am keen to try cold blueing but will leave that for the $15 air rifle I picked up.  The Webley is better left as is.  Will be a while before I get to stripping down the air rifle as I need to build myself a "man cave" first.  Inside my tiny home isn't really suitible and the the son-in-laws garage just doesn't have any room.

With the Moly, I have founf it good to apply a little, rub it into all surfaces required, then temtatively wipe it off. It should in the "pores" and perform well like that. It seems to go a long way.

Also a pro tip, make sure you get it off your hands before handling cushions your wife has just recovered.