Why was the Webley Viscount such a flop?

[bill57]

I've said it before, the Viscount with the Osprey heavy barrel could have been a great gun, with balance and handling that would put others to shame. It's on my project list, unfortunately at the moment I only have a .22 Tracker action and a .177 Osprey barrel so it's a bit more complex. Anybody got a .177 Tracker cylinder?

[DM80]

I owned a viscount deluxe years ago it was a lovely looking gun one I regret moving on I also think they shot nicer than the tracker due to the full length barrel think back then every body went carbine mad and sadly the viscount didn't sell very well no were near as many as the short carbined tracker which is also a nice little airgun,

Dave.

[Geezer]

Also, back then, the break-barrel ruled the roost. The only lever-cocked rifles that got any real traction were the Airsporter as BSA’s flagship prestige model, and the Tracker and the military-style Jackals, because of they were different. The Viscount, which I agree looks and handles superbly in walnut, just wasn’t different enough. Then the HW77 cane along (with which the Viscount could not compete on performance) and suddenly break-barrels were for farmers in barns, and all serious shooters had to have an underlever.

[MDriskill]

Neither here more there I suppose...but there was a nice article by a Swedish author in “Airgun World” in the early 90’s, about the popularity of Webleys in Scandinavia. English airguns apparently out-sold German ones by a healthy margin there (durability and finish quality being considered particular points of superiority), which I found interesting as the latest-and-greatest HW and FWB sporters were of course all the rage in the contemporary press.

The Tracker and Viscount were particularly popular in Sweden. I’ve always wondered how the numbers sold there compared to the UK, and which of the two sold better.

[Thegreg]

That’s a really excellent question! The Viscount had to be one of the best-looking air rifles of all time...lovely lines, nice stock detailing, fantastic fit and finish on the metal bits, great size and balance. Also rather quieter to shoot that the Tracker thanks to the longer barrel, all in all one of my favorite modern Webleys. I owned a walnut-stocked one briefly and it is amongst the rifles I most regret selling!

Note that the “Viscount” name died before the long barrel did, however. I’ve seen several guns labeled “Tracker” with the long barrel at gun shows here in the US. No doubt the carbine was much more popular, yet there may be more examples of the long-barreled version of that action out there than you think.

Dis many make their way to the US which weren't relabelled as Barnett? I've always wondered what sort of number of Webley's went to the US.

I have a Webley catalogue from the late 80's/early 90's which does actually show the Viscount and "standard barrel" Tracker side by side, so they didn't just drop the Viscount name. It says the standard Tracker has a barrel length of 17.5" and the Viscount 18.5". Who would buy the Viscount though to gain 1" of barrel length?

Neither here more there I suppose...but there was a nice article by a Swedish author in “Airgun World” in the early 90’s, about the popularity of Webleys in Scandinavia. English airguns apparently out-sold German ones by a healthy margin there (durability and finish quality being considered particular points of superiority), which I found interesting as the latest-and-greatest HW and FWB sporters were of course all the rage in the contemporary press.

The Tracker and Viscount were particularly popular in Sweden. I’ve always wondered how the numbers sold there compared to the UK, and which of the two sold better.

I have read somewhere as many as 75% of Trackers were exported to Sweden, and I believe it was partially due to their 550fps(?) limit, which made it one of the few British guns that they could legally import.

Cheers
Greg

[MDriskill]

Dis many make their way to the US which weren't relabelled as Barnett? I've always wondered what sort of number of Webley's went to the US.

I have a Webley catalogue from the late 80's/early 90's which does actually show the Viscount and "standard barrel" Tracker side by side, so they didn't just drop the Viscount name. It says the standard Tracker has a barrel length of 17.5" and the Viscount 18.5". Who would buy the Viscount though to gain 1" of barrel length.

I have read somewhere as many as 75% of Trackers were exported to Sweden, and I believe it was partially due to their 550fps(?) limit, which made it one of the few British guns that they could legally import.

Cheers
Greg

A few smaller dealers brought the Tracker in, such as Great Lakes Airguns in upstate New York, but none of the bigger importers, so one sees only a few Webley-marked sidelevers here.

They came a bit too late for Air Rifle Headquarters to handle (stopped trading early 80’s). Beeman imported the Osprey in his early days, but never the Tracker/Viscount. By then he was promoting the HW 77, and had added some rather nasty anti-taploader verbiage to his famous catalogs. One of the guns I most regret selling was a late UK-market Tracker with the nice wide curved trigger blade, have never seen another here. My current example is a “Barnett Spitfire.”

I did not know that about the Viscount vs. “standard Tracker” barrel lengths! Very interesting indeed. I do recall the Viscount I had as seeming quite long, now that you mention it, but did not get the same impression from the two standard Trackers I have handled. Even a small dimensional difference can be quite noticeable sometimes.

The “Airgun World” article did mention the Swedish velocity restriction (I think it was 600 FPS but not sure without looking it up). The law restricted only speed and not energy though, so as you can imagine .22 and .25 were the dominant calibers there at the time.

[Thegreg]

A few smaller dealers brought the Tracker in, such as Great Lakes Airguns in upstate New York, but none of the bigger importers, so one sees only a few Webley-marked sidelevers here.

They came a bit too late for Air Rifle Headquarters to handle (stopped trading early 80’s). Beeman imported the Osprey in his early days, but never the Tracker/Viscount. By then he was promoting the HW 77, and had added some rather nasty anti-taploader verbiage to his famous catalogs. One of the guns I most regret selling was a late UK-market Tracker with the nice wide curved trigger blade, have never seen another here. My current example is a “Barnett Spitfire.”

I did not know that about the Viscount vs. “standard Tracker” barrel lengths! Very interesting indeed. I do recall the Viscount I had as seeming quite long, now that you mention it, but did not get the same impression from the two standard Trackers I have handled. Even a small dimensional difference can be quite noticeable sometimes.

The “Airgun World” article did mention the Swedish velocity restriction (I think it was 600 FPS but not sure without looking it up). The law restricted only speed and not energy though, so as you can imagine .22 and .25 were the dominant calibers there at the time.

That curved trigger blade was a nice upgrade from the ones fitted to the earlier models. Better still, the "2 stage" (not a true 2 stage) trigger unit fitted to the Stingray/Xocet can be retrofitted to the Tracker for a much nicer feel.

To be honest I have never seen a long (standard) barrel Tracker in the flesh (and I've had a LOT of Tracker's!) and only ever remember seeing one or two advertised. It's odd that they'd market 2 guns which except for an inch of barrel length, were identical. Maybe that year they were trying to clear old stock. Good old Webley.

Cheers
Greg