Webley Air Pistol Batch Numbers

[Troubledshooter]

As I believe I've mentioned to you before, John, I have a Junior Air Pistol batch No:1, as does another BBS member. I have pictures of his as well as my own.
This is the only batch number I know of with a twin.

[webman]

Just a thought. I've always assumed that the number signified the particular gun made in a batch. For example, you could have a batch of say 3000 gun bodies, and as each one in the batch was assembled, it was given a consecutive number. Is this how other collectors see things? In this case, the number isn't actually a batch number, but the number of the gun made in a particular batch.

[Josie & John]

Just a thought. I've always assumed that the number signified the particular gun made in a batch. For example, you could have a batch of say 3000 gun bodies, and as each one in the batch was assembled, it was given a consecutive number. Is this how other collectors see things? In this case, the number isn't actually a batch number, but the number of the gun made in a particular batch.

Hi Webman,

You raise a very interesting point. There are two schools of thought around Batch/Assembly numbers.

1/ Consecutive numbering of all pistols within a batch and then start again from the beginning.
2/ A certain number of pistols made together as part of one batch and all sharing the same number.

Chris Thrale identified the use of the 1st explanation above with some Mk3 air rifles but production within this serial number range was around 10,000, so quite a large batch and the higher numbers are way higher than any seen on Webley air pistols.

Dennis Hiller seemed to favour the 2nd explanation when he said he had never seen the same batch number stamped on more than one pistol. As for me, well I honestly don't know. The first explanation is the more logical and one of the reasons for starting this thread is to see exactly what is out there. Let's see if we can identify two identical pistols that may have been part of the same batch.

Keep 'em coming!

John

[Troubledshooter]

Here's a list of most of mine:

Junior:

1
43
203
259
581
624
762
1150
1198
1342
1523
1736

Junior Mk.II:

717

Mk.I:

73
309
1069
2290

Senior:

87
126
149
209
312
459
488
617
841
1322
1456
1530
1648
1929
2161
2381

Premier

80 - 'E' - 7-8
141 - N/L - N/C
301 - 'E' - 11-71
477 - 'D' - 2-8
553 - 'E' - 12-71
806 - 'B' - N/C
808 - N/L - N/C
974 - 'B' - 9-5
1888 - 'D' - 7-7
1398 - 'E' - 12-8
3315 - 'D' - 12-6
4219 - 'D' - 1-8

Premier Mk.II

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