Webley Excel .22 - Advice required please

[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

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[thisisdonald]

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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]

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

[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