I see a lot of love here but I really dislike the look of a side-lever, though I realize Diana has made theirs for a long time successfully. Ruins the lines of a rifle.
I see a lot of love here but I really dislike the look of a side-lever, though I realize Diana has made theirs for a long time successfully. Ruins the lines of a rifle.
The walnut Vicount is a good looking rifle.
They shoot OK. And that was the problem, they only shot OK.
The HW77 shot better and killed it and nearly everything else.
Apologies in advance, as I actually posted this in another thread yesterday! But it works here too:
Those lamenting the quality of late Webley rifles might be interested in these quotes from an article entitled, “Swedes Home In On The Tracker,” written by Captain Anders Dahlman, published in the February 1991 issue of “Airgun World:”
“While the same brands of air rifles are on the Swedish market as in the UK, almost every Swedish airgunner goes for the Webleys. In fact, the .22 Webley Tracker deluxe is the number one air rifle over here. Due to poor balance, simple varnished stocks and two-stage triggers, German air rifles are not popular at all. They have not proven to be that reliable, either. At one time a few Swedes bought HW 77’s, HW 80’s and HW 85’s, but most of them have now switched to the Webley Tracker...
Most Swedes consider the Webleys to be superior when it comes to handling qualities, blueing, fit, finish and balance, and I certainly agree...
The Webley Tracker deluxe has proven utterly reliable and accurate in the hands of Swedish airgunners, and is definitely the country’s most popular air rifle. ... At the last FT competition I attended, more that 85% used these air rifles. The remainder had BSA’s or Air Arms, but you could not find one single HW or Diana. Oh yes, some things are the other way around over here!”
Well all just one fellow’s opinions of course, but rather interesting ones! It’s worth noting that the walnut-stocked Tracker deluxe seems to have been the main choice. By the way Swedish law at the time banned all air rifle hunting, and limited airguns by velocity rather than muzzle energy. The maximum allowed was 200 m/sec or about 660 FPS, which of course favored larger calibers.
Last edited by MDriskill; 24-10-2018 at 12:43 PM.
I'd be interested to hear from Swedes around at the time whether their recollection accords with that of Capn Dahlman.
I wouldn't want to impugn the man's integrity but his report can't have hurt Webley's PR efforts to challenge the dominance of Weihrauch springers. In fact it could almost have been written by Webley... "poor balance, simple varnished stocks and two-stage triggers, German air rifles are not popular at all. They have not proven to be that reliable, either."
Did Dahlman definitey exist?!
Vintage Airguns Gallery
..Above link posted with permission from Gareth W-B
In British slang an anorak is a person who has a very strong interest in niche subjects.
As a point of historical interest, sidelevers at one point made up Air Arms’ entire range!
The company was the successor to “Sussex Armory,” which designed a sidelever tap-loader with a military-style stock called the Jackal. Under the AA banner, this action was further developed in the early 1980's into several different models via different stocks, barrel lengths, and an optional self-loading mechanism. The Bora and Mistral were beech-stocked models. The Camargue had a walnut Tyrolean stock, and the Khamsin lovely walnut thumbhole woodwork. All excellent guns, some being imported by Great Lakes Airguns into the US in the 80’s.
I agree that sidelevers can be a little clunky looking, but I’ve always thought the Tracker/Viscount action incorporated it rather elegantly into the overall lines, and the Air Arms rifles were similar. A practical advantage of this design, too, is elimination of the long slot under the fore end typically seen on barrel-cockers and underlevers.
Last edited by MDriskill; 24-10-2018 at 10:18 PM.