I think you hit the nail on the head with fashion dictating the popularity of shorter barrels. That sexy barrel weight also added to the Tracker's looks and it was marketed as a handy little carbine. A walnut stocked Tracker deluxe is certainly one of the best looking air rifles Webley ever made IMHO.

I never got around to buying the walnut stocked Beeman/Williams aperture sighted Viscount I always wanted at the back of my mind!

Towards the end of production, Webley dropped the Viscount name and marketed two Trackers: the Tracker Carbine and the rifle version, so you will see long barrelled 'Viscounts' marked as Trackers.

Definitely an underrated classic.

John