A couple of interesting home-made air pistols

[micky2]

Hi l had a pistol very much like this one, which l put it down to being a home made one off but very well done and quite heavy. as l recall the pellet loading bit was slighty different it didn't have the nut holding the barrel in. pity l didn't take any photos of it before l sold it.

[ggggr]

Hi John --is one half of the frame part of the cylinder set up or is all the frame screwed to the underside of the cylinder.
Also, is that a screw for adjusting the trigger underneath the sear spring?
Looking at the gun from the point of view of ease of making and stripping (Because I am an untalented idiot with limited skills and tools), I like the nut holding the barrel as that seems a better idea than the peened over set up on gats. Also the nut for the probe seems a better idea than the normal set up. Do you think that bit is some sort of modified gas fitting?
It looks like the leaf spring is one out of a lock to me as well, which makes sense if you can find something to do the job.
The screw as a rearsight, I guess , gives some limited form of elevation adjustment?
I'd be interested what is in the cylinder, by way of sealing round the barrel. I am always amazed with gats that the air can be persuaded to go into the barrel through the transfer port without bypassing the barrel where it goes through to the bit of the gun that holds the mainspring.
I am waiting for the Webley pics

[ccdjg]

Hi Guy. Both sides of the frame come away leaving just a thin steel profile frame attached to the underside of the cylinder. I was wrong when I said that the gun had no welds as I have found that the profile frame has just one spot weld to the cylinder, just under the breech area. The other end of the profile frame is fixed to the cyllnder by the small bolt you can see. Why he didn't just use two welds I don't know.

Yes, that screw is for adjusting the tension on the sear spring - an odd refinement, especially as you have to take the frame side off to reach the screw. It makes me think even more that this as an experimental prototype.

The cylinder sealing method seems to be just the usual leather washer arrangement you get in gats.

Pics of the Webley here soon.

Cheers, John

[ccdjg]

I finally managed to get pictures sorted out for the customised Webley, the second of the “homemade “ air pistols. I acquired this oddity as part of another auction lot that I bid on, and it wasn’t something I particularly wanted. My original intention was to convert it back to original condition, but it turned out to be quite nicely done so I will be leaving it as it is. It is a post-war Webley Mark 1 with an extended barrel:







It was probably inspired by those customised long barrel Webley Seniors that appeared briefly on the market in the 1950’s. These were .22 and had an 11 and a quarter inch barrel, whereas this one is 0.177 with a 10 inch barrel. The barrel is nicely rifled and was most probably turned down from the barrel of a rifle. The modified cocking link has been well done with a short L-shaped steel section brazed under the barrel as the main pivot unit which connects at its rear end to the conventional Mark 1 cocking link.

The front sight blade is brazed into a slot in the barrel and is non-adjustable. It shoots much like a normal Mark 1 and I have not noticed any significant increase in accuracy, although my shooting skills are probably not good enough to judge this reliably.
I don’t know who made the modification, other than that there are the initials AJP stamped on the left hand side of the pivot bar. Does anybody have any idea who AJP might be?

[ggggr]

I finally managed to get pictures sorted out for the customised Webley, the second of the “homemade “ air pistols. I acquired this oddity as part of another auction lot that I bid on, and it wasn’t something I particularly wanted. My original intention was to convert it back to original condition, but it turned out to be quite nicely done so I will be leaving it as it is. It is a post-war Webley Mark 1 with an extended barrel:







It was probably inspired by those customised long barrel Webley Seniors that appeared briefly on the market in the 1950’s. These were .22 and had an 11 and a quarter inch barrel, whereas this one is 0.177 with a 10 inch barrel. The barrel is nicely rifled and was most probably turned down from the barrel of a rifle. The modified cocking link has been well done with a short L-shaped steel section brazed under the barrel as the main pivot unit which connects at its rear end to the conventional Mark 1 cocking link.

The front sight blade is brazed into a slot in the barrel and is non-adjustable. It shoots much like a normal Mark 1 and I have not noticed any significant increase in accuracy, although my shooting skills are probably not good enough to judge this reliably.
I don’t know who made the modification, other than that there are the initials AJP stamped on the left hand side of the pivot bar. Does anybody have any idea who AJP might be?

Hi John---That foresight looks like it is off a MK2 BSA Meteor. Just checking the length of one from the front to where the "Bsa" is stamped on the barrel is 10 inches, so it would not show on your barrel if it is a Meteor one as that bit would have been turned down to fit the breech block.

Do you have a long barreled Senior? I've never seen one. Did they have a modified linkage, as over 9 1/4 inches the barrel would hit the trigger guard?
In one of the old Arrgun worlds, somebody modifed a Premier and went for a long barrel, but it fouled on the trigger guard so they had to modify the linkage. I think Gerald Cardew turned it down from a Cadet barrel.

[Powderfinger]

AJP = A.J. Parker ?

[ccdjg]

AJP = A.J. Parker ?

Nice thought, but I would have thought the man himself was six foot under at the time of the Premier. I suppose AJP could be the initials of the company, which was still going at the time, and the modification was done in their workshops, but the professionalism of the workmanship doesn't seem to quite live up to that.

Guy, good point about the risk of the barrel fouling the trigger guard in extended barrel Seniors (and Premiers). Denis Hiller shows a long barrel D series Premier in his book, and the barrel seems to be short enough to get over this problem. He doesn't say anything about this gun, but I assume it is an amateur customisation as I have never heard of any long-barreled Premiers being advertised.

I am not sure how they solved this problem in the commercially produced long-barrel Seniors as I have never seen one on the flesh. Pictures of the Senior are hard to come by and this is the only one I have. That is something for you to do when you get fed up with your table goodies- get out your ruler and compasses and work out the trajectory of the barrel when it is cocked.





Does anyone own one of these rare Seniors? Apparently they contained a few other modifications and it would be nice to get some more pics and feedback on performance.