webley premier mkll .177

[doormann]

seeing as how my quest for a webley junior is going no where I've decided to put it on the back burner and move on. I now have my sites on a webley premier and before I get to carried away i'd like to get some info from you guys, knowledge is power. I currently own a webley senior in .22 that I am very pleased with and i'd like to know how the premier mkii compares.
are they the same size or is the premier smaller? which one is more powerful? from what I've read the senior that I own was produce between 1946 and 1958 I believe, is the premier older or younger? were they produced in the same numbers? the premier that i'm looking at has black grip panels as opposed the brown grips on my senior and an adjustable trigger if that makes any difference. I really have a soft spot for these fine pistols, thanks for any help you can give me. andy r.

[Garvin]

seeing as how my quest for a webley junior is going no where I've decided to put it on the back burner and move on. I now have my sites on a webley premier and before I get to carried away i'd like to get some info from you guys, knowledge is power. I currently own a webley senior in .22 that I am very pleased with and i'd like to know how the premier mkii compares.
are they the same size or is the premier smaller? which one is more powerful? from what I've read the senior that I own was produce between 1946 and 1958 I believe, is the premier older or younger? were they produced in the same numbers? the premier that i'm looking at has black grip panels as opposed the brown grips on my senior and an adjustable trigger if that makes any difference. I really have a soft spot for these fine pistols, thanks for any help you can give me. andy r.

Andy, for background on these pistols, John Milewski has written a fantastic article on the history of the Premier in the free magazine linked to here:


http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....nload-and-keep!

[Abasmajor]

Hi Andy,

Webley decided to combine what they considered were the best features of the Mk1 and Senior into a single model named the Premier in 1964. The Premier was basically a Senior with and a trigger weight adjustment facility accessed through the trigger guard. The design went through a number of relatively minor changes indicated by an uppercase letter ( A-F) stamped into the left side of the frame. These first Premiers were produced from traditional 'all steel' material until the mid-seventies when Webley changed to using alloy frames and the much cheaper epoxy coating in place of the previous blued finish.

The alloy framed models became the standard material used for the Mk2 Junior, Mk2 Premier, Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest.

I have found there is little to choose between the Senior and the Premier for both handling and accuracy. The trigger weight on some of the Seniors can be a bit heavy, but I don't see the lack of trigger adjustment as being a particularly big issue.

I would always choose one of the early 'all steel' Premiers over the later alloy framed Mk2, but bear in mind there will be little difference between this and your Senior.

Regards

Brian

[lodmoor]

There are internal differences, Premier has a PTFE piston washer, the Senior has a phospher bronze piston ring.

The earlier blued steel Premiers certainly look and feel better than the later epoxy finished guns and certainly look superior to the MII Premier.

[Troubledshooter]

It's a pity your quest for a Webley Junior is proving fruitless, as there are plenty available over here.
I agree with what has been said about the Mk.II Premier, the earlier all steel Premier is by far the more desirable model.

[doormann]

thanks for the replies and the great info. the early premier looks very similar to my senior, there are 4-5 to choose from on gunbroker.com. that is where I have acquired several pistols including my bsa