Webley MK3 springs

[Phil Russell]

Batfink sourced herself a MK3 series 3 (27861) in .22 flavour and I have been looking at it ...
It was terribly 'boingy' and had a stock fixing bolt missing at the forend.
It turned out that the bolt had probably fallen out because the thread in the action plate was virtually missing. I am afraid I have gone the route of a modern mod and used an M5 bolt there as it seems to fit well.

But to the point: the spring fitted is 30 coils at 8 7/8 inches long with dimensions of an Airsporter spring ( so about an inch shorter). What surprised me was that the spring direction was clockwise away from you as you look at it end on ... Airsporter springs I have are wound in the opposite direction. By any chance could my spring be original ... somehow I doubt it but you never know. My airsporter springs measure just over 9" for 30 coils.

I cleaned the rifle up (lots of oil and grease removed), rough edges removed and relubed. I rebuilt using original spring. The leather piston washer looked in good condition. I tried a spring washer in the piston and on the trigger block end but the spring clearly became coil bound with the two washers there. I removed the trigger block washer and all cocked well.

Power varies a bit with pellet but 5.5 mm Wasps seem reasonable. Overall running at about 9 ft lbs at present, but no boing and quite smooth. Maybe a new spring would give a few more fps, but we are happy as it is at present.

Cheers, Phil

[corbett]

I have just found an original Mk3 spring,it has a little metal pressed tin tag with "Webley Mk3 RA40" hanging on it. It measures 10 inches and has 30 coils in the clockwise direction. I assume they used to be sold in this way as a measure of authenticity. Perhaps Webley specialists could confirm this. I do`nt know if this is of any help , but good luck with the rifle.Cheers Pete.

[Phil Russell]

Thanks Pete, excellent information.
This supports my idea that the spring in our rifle is original but a little compressed as it is only 8 7/8 inches long. But at 30 coils it fits your measurement.
I could be tempted to fit a new spring to bring the rifle back to spec but from my initial experience a spring with more than 30 coils and a wire dimension of approx 3.2mm as on an Airsporter would be coil bound. I will check my spring box to see if I have one with a larger gap between the coils.

Thanks again
Cheers, Phil