Webley Mk 3 double pull.

[I. J.]

Not being able to sleep (due to my medication) I was just thumbing through the Wallis & W. Auction (June '06) catalogue, as you do, and noticed Lot 1196. 'A .22 Webley Mk III underlever ..... double pull trigger model ...... WO & QGC to GC (blueing to barrel and chamber worn).' I remembered an article by John Atkins in one of the airgun magazines (Air Gunner. Oct 06) so looked it up. There it was at the top of page 68 with a price ticket of £600 !
'Shirley' this cant be right and probably an inflated price due to, I suspect, bidding fever.
The reason I asked is that I picked up a tidy example while trawling the NW gun shops early this year and I didn't pay anywhere near that! (and wouldn't ) Ive never seen one for sale before so knew they were pretty rare but £600+ rare?

I have read Dennis Hiller book with the warning not to use these rifles due to their fragile triggers and the Chris Thrales book gives no mention of value.

ATB
Ian

[micky2]

Not being able to sleep (due to my medication) I was just thumbing through the Wallis & W. Auction (June '06) catalogue, as you do, and noticed Lot 1196. 'A .22 Webley Mk III underlever ..... double pull trigger model ...... WO & QGC to GC (blueing to barrel and chamber worn).' I remembered an article by John Atkins in one of the airgun magazines (Air Gunner. Oct 06) so looked it up. There it was at the top of page 68 with a price ticket of £600 !
'Shirley' this cant be right and probably an inflated price due to, I suspect, bidding fever.
The reason I asked is that I picked up a tidy example while trawling the NW gun shops early this year and I didn't pay anywhere near that! (and wouldn't ) Ive never seen one for sale before so knew they were pretty rare but £600+ rare?

I have read Dennis Hiller book with the warning not to use these rifles due to their fragile triggers and the Chris Thrales book gives no mention of value.

ATB
Ian

Webley copied the prewar Diana double pull trigger which l belive they used on a few of their models.

[trajectory]

Morning, seem to recall prices around the £180-225 mark for the few of these I've seen advertised over the past few years. Not sure what condition they were in because I never saw them myself but from the description given they sounded reasonably good. Can't really see why one made £600 even if it was truly excellent. Never really understood why the advice was not to use them though, unless they are rare but I've never thought they were that scarce. Unusual maybe, but not rare. I've not seen any similar advice for the Diana / Originals that used what looked to me to be a similar three ball trigger mechanism. Was the Webey design flawed somehow. It will be interesting to see what others might say about this. Have you tried your one out?

[Benelli B76]

I don't think they are that rare, I have spare a one. They say the sharp angle in the casting where the piston latches was a weak point. If you convert the old rifle to a new trigger you have to change the piston as well, see below..

Baz

[IMG][/IMG]

[I. J.]

Have you tried your one out?

Unfortunately due to 'Arthur' Im no longer able to cock a springer. (Rifle not dog.)

Ive not seen one of these for sale in the past 10-15 years. Perhaps I wasn't looking in the right place. My local airgun shop has never had one in in the past 30 years.

It will be interesting to know exactly how rare they are and what, exactly, did the bidder who paid £600 see that I cant.

Thank you for your comments and Baz for the photo.

[Vasbyt]

I saw one in Aim point ( now Derwent air rifles) in Cockermouth last October for around £250, It looked like it came in as a job lot from a collector as there were several other early Mk3s plus super targets etc. I got an early super target instead

[SRV1]

That's the problem I.J. with too many J Arthurs, I can't cock anything let alone those springers.....

[oldcurmudgeon]

The story of the first and second model triggers as told to me by Roy Valentine is as follows.
At the end of the last global blood letting was that during the carving up of German assets both Webley and Milbro were slated for Dianawerke.
While Milbro took the name and products, Webley got 6000 or so trigger and piston units which became the Mk 111.
The first batch of 2500 used the Diana units when the loading tap was changed, but still continued to use the Diana trigger and piston until around serial number 6000 and from then on a Webley design was used.
I to have heard the rumour of the trigger being unreliable but from my own experience with the unit I have to say that this is hearsay that seems to have survived to the present day. In my opinion this unit is better than the much vaunted Rekord unit.