A lot of you know that I have messed around with a lot of old and pretty knackered guns since I joined the site. I have come across a lot of abused guns/broken guns/ guns that are virtually impossible to repair or get spares for and some plain old crappy designs. One of the things that stand out are Webley pistols. Think of how old the design is. Think of how much abuse some of these have had and how many are still working.
got a few (cough,cough) of these things now. a tin grip junior, early Mk1 with a safety, later post war mk 1,mid 50,s junior, senior,premier,premier and junior mk2's, typhoon,hurricane and tempest. Ok they are not the most powerful of guns and I wish they had done a beefed up one with a larger diameter cylinder and stronger linkage. They are not the most accurate of guns either and with that firing cycle take some getting used to. The grips on most models will chip or crack with a little abuse and the linkage and pins can wear, usually with abuse as well.
BUT---when you think about it. With the junior they made a gun that could take the abuse young boys could throw at it (I think Edbear put up an advert of some running round a camping site, shooting in the glory years before everyone was terrified of "GUNS" :rolleyes) Some of these things are still going strong after 80 years. I think that there are about 20 parts in a Junior? You can undo 1 screw and then the end cap and get the mainspring and piston out in about a minute! The mk1 and senior are similar, even the early mk1 with the end cap at the rear and the little lock screw to locate it. The Mk1 and premier sears could do with being a bit tougher but they last long enough I suppose. All of the guns up to the Hurricane could be stripped without removing the trigger. I usually strip guns right down but it is a bit of a pain on the later ones having to strip the trigger to get the piston out. That is a criticism of the later guns as well as the plastic fore end and grips. But these things plink great, despite the short sight line. With practice, with anything from an earlier junior or mk1, right through to the last tempests and hurricanes, it is possible to hit bottle caps more often than not at 7 or 8 yards. Now that is not bad really is it? I know a few people on here do wooden grips for these pistols and if you want a bit of fun plinking, buy yourself a rough Webley pistol and a set of wooden grips and you will have something that will last longer than you.