Finally! (Sigh)

[ggggr]

Sounds like major expletives were muchly used Guy

Did you ever sort the little Tell 2?


John

I got a Tell 2 sorted out of the bits that Garvin sent me a few year ago but need a little cocking shoe and a grip screw/ pivot before I think about the thing that is left. I have one Tell 2 (Why) and gave the other as a prezzie.

I finally got the correct barrel nut for the G2 and that will be getting wrapped and some poor sod will get it for Christmas

I very kindly got bits of a Webley Junior with my last purchase. It is a normal gripped Birmingham 4 one. There was no barrel or linkage on it and the grips were damaged around the locating dowel bit and the grip screws were seized. I am hoping to talk someone into trying to repair the grips. It was very rusty.
I took most of the rust off and then put some Plus Gas on the screws and pins overnight. The trigger and sear pins came out not too adly but the grip screws were stuck. Even tapping the screwdriver with the hammer and trying to tighten them didn't work. I managed to slowly drill the head off one screw, without further damage to the grip, remove the remains with pliers and get some more Plus Gas down the hole, then undid the other screw. I stripped, cleaned and lube it. The piston washer did not look too bad or smell of old oil so I kept it. I put the gun together with the barrel and linkage off another to see if the sear and trigger were ok. As they were, I checked what bits I had and what I needed. I had the links and pins in as spares and also found a spare grip screw. A mate said he had a barrel for one and sent it to me.
I tried the barrel on the gun and there was a lot of up and down play on it.An inspection showed that the very front of the barrel catch was slightly worn. A phone call an a chat about it an I tried various things to try to get the metal back into place, ease the lugs etc. I then tried another catch and the play was still there! So, not wanting to squeeze the breech jaws onr tap them with a hammer or anything like that, I was going to glue a piece of 8 thou shim brass in the breech body at the bottom. However, when I sorted a breech seal, the play had gone, although the shim idea could be brought into play later.
I had some bits of leather that had been punched out as Webley breech seals but there were no inserts in them. I dont like having to cut down new rubber seals, although if anyoe throws old ones my way, I sand cut/sand the back off tehm to fit Juniors and Mk1's which are shallower than later pistols.
I got some tube from an old radio aerial and put that in one of the washers then tried peening it over slightly.
The little cocking shoe was tight going into the cylinder and once in would not move. I spent about 45 minutes filing the bottom and the leading edge so it would sit low enough on the piston to enable it to work.
Once together I tried a few shots, without the grips on last night. A pair of wooden grisp were fitted this morning and it seems to plink ok and is hitting the bottle caps, so hopefully the home made breech seal is ok.
It is always nice to get something like this together and working, but sometimes it is luck in locating the bits.
If another pistol turned up in similar condition, it would probably not be financially viable due to the cost of the bits.
As time goes on and people have checked the bits boxes and drawers and found the bit, it wont be there again---------and as the same parts are often damaged or missing it becomes harder to get something like this together.