Webley Service Mk2 Aperture Sight & Power Question

[Jungle George]

Hi

First post for me and will admit that my knowledge on airguns is limited.

I decided a month or two back to dig out my granddads old service rifle which was a pile of rusty parts at the bottom of our gun cupboard. Although this gun is never going to win any beauty competitions I would like to at least get all the original parts for it and by some miracle the only piece I have not managed to find is the aperture sight / rear eyepiece. These are not in stock at John Knibbs so would appreciate it if anyone could help.

I was also hoping someone could give me some guidance as to what power this gun should be putting out, it is currently running at an astounding 1.5 ft/lbs.

thanks

George

[Abasmajor]

Hi

I have a third series Mk2 Service in the rarer .25 calibre which is currently running at 8.5 ft/lbs with Rhino pellets. The first thing to check would be the breech washer followed by the piston rings which Webley used instead of the leather seals commonly fitted by other manufacturers.

Regards

Brian

[Jungle George]

Thanks Brian
I suspected that the piston ring might be passed it so will strip it down and check. There does not seem to be any air escaping from the breech so would assume this part is ok.
Is good to know that there is more power to be had as the pellets are heading straight for the deck as soon as they leave the barrel at the moment.
regards
George

[Garvin]

I would like to at least get all the original parts for it and by some miracle the only piece I have not managed to find is the aperture sight / rear eyepiece. These are not in stock at John Knibbs so would appreciate it if anyone could help.

The aperture sight occasionally comes up on the auction site, but they are not cheap. The last one sold for £122. (See item no. 111733995668).

[Jungle George]

The aperture sight occasionally comes up on the auction site, but they are not cheap. The last one sold for £122. (See item no. 111733995668).

Thanks Garvin - That is really annoying, I regularly check the auction site and am surprised that I missed this one.

[Josie & John]

Hi George,

Welcome to the collector's section of the BBS.

Advertised Webley velocities from their 1938 catalogue were:

.177: 550 fps
.22: 500 fps
.25: 475 fps

Webley initially claimed 'hitherto unknown velocities' of around 700 fps in the instruction booklets which accompanied the 2nd Series rifles. Although they did not state the calibre, it was presumably .177.

My findings from around 18 months ago, using a 4th Series rifle action in good working order:

.177: 638 FPS with H&N FTT pellets (spare barrel with Assembly No of 471)
.22: 479 FPS with H&N FTT pellets (original barrel to the rifle)
.25: 427 FPS with 19 Gn Milbro Rhino (Barrel from S7814)

As you'll see, my results were not a million miles away from Webley's claims and accuracy was good too, when I used my rifle for bell target shooting and vintage HFT for 3 months last year.

Hope this helps,

John

[Jungle George]

Thanks John, this gives me something to aim at.