webley premier help please

[greasemonkey]

hi all, went to the pheonix yesterday and bought what appears to be a new unused webley premier .22 .finish is blued with the brown grips,has a 5 pin frame. no is 980 with an E stamped stamped on the left hand side of the frame behind the trigger address is webley & scott ltd.birmingham[no four].my guess is late fifties or sixties but my knowledge is very limited.if anyone can give me any info on it i would be most grateful.also is there a book available on webley air pistols which i can use for reference as i seem to be amassing a quite a few of these guns?...thanks..greasemonkey

[webman]

The 'E' series were made between 1972 and 1975. If you remove the stock plates (grips) you may find a production date stamp on the frame eg 3-73 for March 1973. If you do this, be very careful putting them back on. There is a pin in the frame which must be lined up with a recess in the grip. If you don't do this you will crack the grip when you tighten up the large grip screw. The number you quote is the batch number, not a Serial Number. The reference book you need is "Webley Air Pistols" by Gordon Bruce. The ISBN is 0 7090 6619 8. This went out of print, but I understand there has been a reprint.

[greasemonkey]

hi webman,thanks for your very comprehensive answer,tells me all i need to know,i will try and source that book..cheers greasemonkey

[thenightstalker]

Hi, if you find the book can you get two as i would like one aswell.
Nick.

[PaulR]

I go a copy from Amazon about six months ago. It is secondhand (but looks brand new). They did not have one when I first tried but I went on a waiting list and a week later one turned up.
It is pretty much the definitive work on Webley pistols up to the Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest.