Webley Excel .22 - Advice required please

[Shoto1]

I have recently taken possession of a somewhat tired and slightly neglected example in .22 caliber.

It is my intention to carry out a stripdown, inspection and carry out any remedial work that might be required.

The first thing I always do with any airgun is to check the energy with a range of pellets over my chronoscope - SKAN
This will enable me to compare and contrast results, after any work has been carried out.

The barrel was very dirty and full of brown residue, so after several pull throughs it was squeaky clean and ready for initial testing:

The following results were obtained:

RWS Hobby, 11.9gr 638 FPS - 10.7 FPE
Bisley Practice, 13.7gr 604 FPS - 11.1 FPE
H&N Sniper Light, 14.00gr 540 FPS - 9.08 FPE
JSB Exact RS 13.43gr 574 FPS - 9.83 FPE
JSB Exact Jumbo 15.89gr 556 FPS - 10.9 FPE
H&N FTT 14.66gr 573 FPS - 10.6 FPE

Not too shabby for starters, I am sure things can be further refined after some basic attention.

I am struggling to find any in-depth information on this model; in particular stripdown / work guides and information on the history - date of manufacture etc.

Any help from owners / those more knowledgeable, would be very much appreciated.


Thank you in advance.

[T 20]

Hi Shoto.

The Excel appears to have the same action as a Vulcan which is closely related to the Hawk, so this may help you search, there's a stripdown guide on the collectors section. :-

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....86#post3624386




All the best Mick

[Geezer]

As above, it's a Vulcan action with no safety catch in a plainer, cheaper stock. It may also have had a slightly lower standard of finish than the Vulcan (though still very good compared to its competitors). Made 1988-2000. Aimed at the youth market.

Unlike the similar Victor, which it replaced, it was a full-power rifle. Like the Vulcan it was capable of over 12 ft-lbs in "export" trim. By 1988, the youth market wanted "full hunting power" and it was a brave dad who tried to persuade his nipper that an easier to cock, less hold sensitive, 9-10 ft-lbs rifle was a better choice than an 11.9 ft-lbs one.

Bit of a forgotten and overlooked rifle. The earlier Victor is a low-level 80s classic era springer, the later Excel-replacement Xocet has a much better stock and slightly improved trigger (and "sexy" carbine options) and was produced until Webley folded in 2006, so has the credibility of being one of the last proper Birmingham Webleys.

Not sure they sold very well. The Excel was not cheap, and I think a standard Vulcan (they were often discounted to compete with contemporary HWs and BSAs) only cost about a tenner more (though that was back when a tenner was worth something ).

I'd recommend a basic lube tune/service. Without a lot of re-engineering, you can't get much better performance from these old things than you will get from a standard spit and polish. And it keeps them true to type, rather than trying to turn a Webley into a Weihrauch.

[Shoto1]

Hi Shoto.

The Excel appears to have the same action as a Vulcan which is closely related to the Hawk, so this may help you search, there's a stripdown guide on the collectors section. :-

http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....86#post3624386




All the best Mick

Evening Mick,

Many thanks for your post and link - very helpful information

[Shoto1]

As above, it's a Vulcan action with no safety catch in a plainer, cheaper stock. It may also have had a slightly lower standard of finish than the Vulcan (though still very good compared to its competitors). Made 1988-2000. Aimed at the youth market.

Unlike the similar Victor, which it replaced, it was a full-power rifle. Like the Vulcan it was capable of over 12 ft-lbs in "export" trim. By 1988, the youth market wanted "full hunting power" and it was a brave dad who tried to persuade his nipper that an easier to cock, less hold sensitive, 9-10 ft-lbs rifle was a better choice than an 11.9 ft-lbs one.

Bit of a forgotten and overlooked rifle. The earlier Victor is a low-level 80s classic era springer, the later Excel-replacement Xocet has a much better stock and slightly improved trigger (and "sexy" carbine options) and was produced until Webley folded in 2006, so has the credibility of being one of the last proper Birmingham Webleys.

Not sure they sold very well. The Excel was not cheap, and I think a standard Vulcan (they were often discounted to compete with contemporary HWs and BSAs) only cost about a tenner more (though that was back when a tenner was worth something ).

I'd recommend a basic lube tune/service. Without a lot of re-engineering, you can't get much better performance from these old things than you will get from a standard spit and polish. And it keeps them true to type, rather than trying to turn a Webley into a Weihrauch.

Hello Geezer,

Thank you for taking time to run through this, much obliged to you.

I like the rifle for what it is, even with the basic trigger and plain stock ~ hopefully I can breathe some new life back into it in due course.

I found a nice period Nikko Stirling 4x32 scope, (that could be used occasionally), although I generally prefer open sights on my older springers.

It would be nice to pinpoint the exact year of manufacture from the serial number but it appears this might not be possible.

Thanks again.

[Geezer]

Hello Geezer,

Thank you for taking time to run through this, much obliged to you.

I like the rifle for what it is, even with the basic trigger and plain stock ~ hopefully I can breathe some new life back into it in due course.

I found a nice period Nikko Stirling 4x32 scope, (that could be used occasionally), although I generally prefer open sights on my older springers.

It would be nice to pinpoint the exact year of manufacture from the serial number but it appears this might not be possible.

Thanks again.

They are indeed nice guns. Period Nikko 4x is right, if you want to scope it.

On dating, it's hard, as many Webleys back then appear to have shared the same run of serial numbers. In the Excel's case from around s/n 806449 (pre-production model).

Highest s/n mentioned in Chris Thrales' excellent book (source for this data) is 861349. By comparison, the contemporaneous Vulcan Mk3 went above s/n 88xxxx. And the Omega (stopped production in 1994) has no recorded numbers I've seen beyond 836394.

Those numbers may help an educated guess at where yours fits on the 88-00 spectrum.

My hunch is that the Excel was mostly made early in the production run, with manufacture slowing later on. Because that's a fairly common pattern, and consistent with the heavy discounting later in its availability.

[rovercoupe]

I have a excel and a exocet and shooting them side by side I prefer the way the excel shoots. Its just a nice honest gun and at around 11 ftlbs gets the job done. Never asked for anything apart from a rub down and oil every so often.

[thisisdonald]

I can recommend the Aussie red seal on any of the vulcan variants... much softer shit cycle than the heard ptfe seal.

If it was me, I'd replace the seal with an Aussie, get a new breech seal, do a basic clean/lube and replace the trigger spring with one from a click pen... also polish the sears..
I've had loads of vulcan variants and that's the way to go

[T 20]

I can recommend the Aussie red seal on any of the vulcan variants... much softer shit cycle

image.jpeg

[Shoto1]

They are indeed nice guns. Period Nikko 4x is right, if you want to scope it.

On dating, it's hard, as many Webleys back then appear to have shared the same run of serial numbers. In the Excel's case from around s/n 806449 (pre-production model).

Highest s/n mentioned in Chris Thrales' excellent book (source for this data) is 861349. By comparison, the contemporaneous Vulcan Mk3 went above s/n 88xxxx. And the Omega (stopped production in 1994) has no recorded numbers I've seen beyond 836394.

Those numbers may help an educated guess at where yours fits on the 88-00 spectrum.

My hunch is that the Excel was mostly made early in the production run, with manufacture slowing later on. Because that's a fairly common pattern, and consistent with the heavy discounting later in its availability.

Thanks - that’s interesting to know.

Here is the serial number: 816824

[Shoto1]

I can recommend the Aussie red seal on any of the vulcan variants... much softer shit cycle than the heard ptfe seal.

If it was me, I'd replace the seal with an Aussie, get a new breech seal, do a basic clean/lube and replace the trigger spring with one from a click pen... also polish the sears..
I've had loads of vulcan variants and that's the way to go

Thank you Donald - good call on the trigger spring, that should soften things up a tad.
Cheers

[thisisdonald]

image.jpeg

Honestly Mick, predicti e text!!!@ and beer... don't for get the beer!!!

[Shoto1]

I’m thinking about getting a sound moderator for this rig, once the basic work has been completed.

As the barrel is not threaded, did Webley make anything specific for the Excel?

[thisisdonald]

Webley prosystem, or Parker hale

[Shoto1]

Webley prosystem, or Parker hale

That’s great ~ much appreciated 👍