Quote Originally Posted by Hsing-ee View Post
Who bought these rifles? They would be competing against the Anschutz 335S and the HW55 rather than the FWB300 etc, but were poor competition for the recoilling springers as for the recoilless. An HW35 with a German home market mainspring and a diopter would knock it into a cocked hat.

I suppose Webley thought it was carrying on the tradition of the Webley Mk 3, with a dedicated fixed-barrel target gun. But they must have been drunk or totally self-deluded to think that the Osprey could step into the shoes of the Mk 3, especially as things had moved on. It was a fixed-barrel Hawk, not a child any parent could be truly proud of.

Taploaders were seen as being stronger and potentially more accurate than break-barrels, and the side-lever is the best arrangement for a target gun. It is my favorite format, and a ProSport with a 25mm piston and a sidelever would be my 'perfect' rifle.

The standard Osprey is very elegant to look at, and I like the front-heavy balance and unique shotgun like pistol grip. But the duff trigger and piston rings put me off ever buying one.

Webley did show a moment of genius when they bobbed the barrel, upped the power and called it the Tracker, a springer that was unreasonably popular in its time, at least until airgunners figured out how to use a Junior hacksaw...
i have an Osprey Supertarget and a HW55MM, and whilst the 55 is far, far better, the Osprey is surprisingly good. Sometimes a rifle that makes you work for and think about each shot, makes you a better shot than one that doesn't. One advantage the Osprey does have is like the the HW77, it has a relatively light piston in a heavy gun so recoil is not an issue.