webley junior air pistol valuation

[shellymad]

Hi

I have recently aquired a webley junior air pistol and was wondering what it might be worth it has the numbers J6591 and 219272 stamped on it

images here





I originally posted this in the pistols section but was kindly told it may be better posted in this sub forum


Thanks

Shelly

[Abasmajor]

Hi Shelly,

As you may already be aware, your Junior is pre-war and consequently a bit more sought after with the J6591 stamping being the Ser No and 219272 the Webley Patent No. However, it would appear from the photos that somebody has attempted to paint over what remained of the original blue finish. Unfortunately, this will significantly affect the value which I would estimate at only being around £30-£50 due to the poor cosmetic condition.

Regards

Brian

[pjbingham]

Hi Shelly,

As you may already be aware, your Junior is pre-war and consequently a bit more sought after with the J6591 stamping being the Ser No and 219272 the Webley Patent No. However, it would appear from the photos that somebody has attempted to paint over what remained of the original blue finish. Unfortunately, this will significantly affect the value which I would estimate at only being around £30-£50 due to the poor cosmetic condition.

Regards

Brian

Looks like the barrel is bent too.

[laverdabru]

I'm no expert, but my first gun back in the '70's was a similar tin grip pre war Junior. It does look as if it has been painted, & not very well at that. If it was mine, I'd restore the internals, & keep it as a plinker. Shouldn't cost much or be difficult, and in a few years it might be worth far more.

Bru

[PaulR]

As above.

If you sell as is then £30 - £50.

Tin grips means pre 1939 and these are collectable. It could be possible to strip and reblue it but the cost of doing such would probably not be recouped when subsequently sold.

[shellymad]

Thanks for all the replies guys - guess I will clean it up a bit, get it working and keep it - as you say one day it may be worth a bit more and I can give it to my great grand kids when they arive

shelly

[Troubledshooter]

I would advise treating the whole pistol to a coating of paint stripper, then see what the finish is like beneath the paint job.
As mentioned, the barrel appears to be bent in two ways; the rear portion has a distinct curve, and it is also out of kilter with the front portion from the cocking link back. This shouldn't be too difficult to correct, and once sorted, and the internals checked, replaced as necessary and lubricated, it should make a decent little plinker worth around £60.
If there is no original finish remaining and you decide to keep it, a coat of acrylic satin black spray paint would make an attractive protective finish.

[scrapman]

As mentioned, the barrel appears to be bent in two ways...

The best way to do this is to use a large vise and strategically placed blocks of wood to apply pressure gradually until the detached barrel is straight to the eye. You'll need to do this at least a couple of times due to the compound bend in your case. You can get away with propping the barrel across blocks with the bend upward and just hitting it with a leather or resin-nosed mallet to straighten the bent bit, but its quite difficult to judge the force required. Either way a steel ruler will confirm when you've succeeded.

Looking at the images I suspect that after stripping you'll have an uneven light grey patina that could probably be evened out and polished using wire wool and oil in the 'traditional' manner, if you are not keen on a paint finish. Good luck with the restoration.

[shellymad]

Many thanks for the advice in restoring this pistol guys - I have made a start and have dismantled and paint stripped the gun also started cleaning her up with wire wool - I dont fancy painting her as it will just look tacky in my opinion so I will have a go at re-blueing it chemically and polishing and oiling her in order to try to get a good petina - have had a new spring arived today from chambers as the pistol didnt have one - the leather piston seal seems in good condition but it was dry so I have soaked it in a lite oil overnight - I have followed your advice scrapman regarding straightening barell and and it seems much straighter now - will put up some pics here when restoration is complete

shelly