I can see why the Webley Mark3 vs the Airsporter debate was never resolved

[45flint]

Fabulous story! Thnx for sharing

I agree, and “I paid my money”and bought both, only logical conclusion.

[45flint]

If I was forced to choose between the two, I would go for the Airsporter partly for its more elegant appearance, but perhaps more importantly because it was an original British design rather than a copy of the pre-war German Diana 45.

Brian

Was necessity the mother of invention, thought I read Webley factories were not damaged during the war but BSA lost it old Airgun tooling?

[Abasmajor]

What necessity the mother of invention, thought I read Webley factories were not damaged during the war but BSA lost it old Airgun tooling?

As far as I'm aware both Webley and BSA were both in a position to recommence air gun production almost immediately following the end of the war.

Webley, BSA and Milbro were all interested in acquiring the Diana facilities and tooling as part of the reparation process, but both BSA and Webley were outbid by Milbro with the Webley bid of £10,000 being declined. Milbro were able to start production very quickly as they had the original Diana tooling, but opted to only produce the cheaper models leaving Webley to start production of the MK3 (Diana Mod 45) using their own tooling in 1947. Apparently, Webley had decided to copy the Diana design as early as 1944 as their post war development of their Mk2 Service replacement was in its very early stages which would probably have made more sense commercially. The bit I find a bit strange is why Webley decided to reposition the loading tap from the left hand side of the frame as on the Diana Mod 45, to the right hand side which I wouldn't have thought suited the majority of mainly right handed shooters.

Brian

[Blackrider]

A very fair and unbiased assessment Flint, almost along the lines of my own some years back.
I boiled it down to the BSA feeling and handling like a true sporting rifle, the Webley, a very well engineered "shooting contraption" !

[Dutch]

I boiled it down to the BSA feeling and handling like a true sporting rifle, the Webley, a very well engineered "shooting contraption" !

this is the essence of their differences and concurs with my perception! If the Webley is tuned (lighter spring) the gap becomes smaller. The Airsporter seems to set the standard out of the box, mostly in cocking and handling (the early stock and balance are both excellent). Material wise and engineering both excel.