Originally Posted by
ccdjg
Although I am not an avid collector of vintage Webleys, I do have quite a few in my springer pistol collection and I have had the opportunity to compare them with more than 250 different vintage springer pistols of all shapes and sizes and countries of origin. I can say in my experience that in terms of build quality, reliability, performance and aesthetics they comfortably come within the top 5%, and I can understand why collectors can become addicted to them.
My first air pistol was a Webley Senior, bought for me by my dear old dad 63 years ago when I was just twelve. It must have had thousands of shots put through it over the years and suffered all the trials and tribulations that a teenager could throw at it. It had new grips fitted at some stage. I remember even experimenting with ether to get it to diesel, and blowing the barrel out of its catch. Around then a new short link was fitted. I didn't take up air pistol collecting until 30 years later and when I eventually dug out the old Senior it was as rusty as hell with no trace of blue, so I decided to give it a make over and use it as a guinea pig in my early experiments with hot bluing.
The gun now takes pride of place in my collection, and here it is as it now looks (white lettering courtesy of Typex). It shoots fine, and no wobble anywhere. Not bad for a much used and abused 60+ year old pistol. Hardly a bad design. I think it is a clever use of the fact that air does not mind being forced round right angles to make a pistol that is half the size of a conventional in-line design with no significant loss of efficiency. I can think of few other air pistols that would still be in this sort of condition after all that this has been through.
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