Vintage .25

[trajectory]

I was hoping some owners of .25 vintage air rifles, Webley, BSA, Gem or whatever might be kind enough to post what velocity they find these large calibre examples capable of, together with the pellet weight used to determine the velocity. If you could say what sort of mecanical condition you consider it to be in that might help to compare like for like. For instance a resprung fully renovated example couldn't be compared side by side fairly with an example known to be in need of a new spring. I think it might be interesting to know how these vintage makes might perform compared to one another.

[Abasmajor]

I was hoping some owners of .25 vintage air rifles, Webley, BSA, Gem or whatever might be kind enough to post what velocity they find these large calibre examples capable of, together with the pellet weight used to determine the velocity. If you could say what sort of mecanical condition you consider it to be in that might help to compare like for like. For instance a resprung fully renovated example couldn't be compared side by side fairly with an example known to be in need of a new spring. I think it might be interesting to know how these vintage makes might perform compared to one another.

I have a third series Webley Mk 2 Service in .25 calibre which I would describe as being in good condition with a strong mainspring. The only thing I have replaced is the breech washer which had seen better days.

This particular example seems to prefer Milbro Rhino pellets and groups far better than I had expected at distances in 20 - 25yd range.

Pellet: Milbro Rhino .25
Weight: 20 grns
Av Muzzle Velocity: : 450 ft/sec
Av Muzzle Energy: 7ft'lbs

Hope this helps.

Brian

[trajectory]

Brian,
Thank you for going first & posting this information about your Webley. Hopefully there will be some more replies to get an overall impression about these vintage .25 calibre specimens & how they compare to one another. Its good to hear that you are pleased how yours groups, which might be more important than ft/lb. Did you try many other brands of pellet before settling on these? Atb Rod

[Abasmajor]

Brian,
Thank you for going first & posting this information about your Webley. Hopefully there will be some more replies to get an overall impression about these vintage .25 calibre specimens & how they compare to one another. Its good to hear that you are pleased how yours groups, which might be more important than ft/lb. Did you try many other brands of pellet before settling on these? Atb Rod

Hi,
I have tried several different .25 pellets over the years, but finally settled on the Rhinos as they appeared to perform the most consistently.
These early spring powered air rifles often failed to live up to their advertising claims with regard to power especially in the .25 calibre.
There are tales of the Webley Mk2 Service "Rook & Rabbit" rifle killing rabbits out to 50yds which would be frowned upon today even with the far more powerful air rifles shooters now have at there disposal.
As you are probably already aware, BSA quickly discontinued the .25 calibre for their early spring powered air rifles due to the relatively small difference between it and the .22 calibre rifles already in production.
Brian

[coburn]

I have a third series Webley Mk 2 Service in .25 calibre which I would describe as being in good condition with a strong mainspring. The only thing I have replaced is the breech washer which had seen better days.

This particular example seems to prefer Milbro Rhino pellets and groups far better than I had expected at distances in 20 - 25yd range.

Pellet: Milbro Rhino .25
Weight: 20 grns
Av Muzzle Velocity: : 450 ft/sec
Av Muzzle Energy: 7ft'lbs

Hope this helps.

Brian

By my calculations your Service has a bit more poke than you think. 450fps with a 20 grain pellet is just shy of 9ftlbs.

[trajectory]

I would agree with the figure of just under 9ft/lb.

The lower velocity & consequential trajectory of the .25 must have been anticipated by designers at the makers of these, so I wonder what sort of feelers they put out before introducing the calibre? On saying that 450 might not test a chronograph to the limit but its not a bad starting point to look at what this calibre was capable of. So are there any BSA owners out there who could offer some figures for comparison please?
Cheers

[Abasmajor]

By my calculations your Service has a bit more poke than you think. 450fps with a 20 grain pellet is just shy of 9ftlbs.

Apologies for the incorrect ME calculation which I would agree should have been 9ft/lbs. I thought it looked a bit on the low side when I first made the calculation

Brian

[micky2]

Hi here are some results that l took from my .25s that l had at the time in the 1990s. Webley service 301,294,182. Britannia 421,434,419. Improved Britannia 350.337,335. BSA 404,378,394. Millita 314,307,394, M&G 322,255. Apache pump up 487,7 pumps.483, 6pumps and 431, 5 pumps. l have a Gem that was doing over 400 but l cant find the results for that one. all were shot with Rhino pellets. and all the guns being in the condition that l bought them in. not taken apart to check them over. hope this helps.

[trajectory]

Hi here are some results that l took from my .25s that l had at the time in the 1990s. Webley service 301,294,182. Britannia 421,434,419. Improved Britannia 350.337,335. BSA 404,378,394. Millita 314,307,394, M&G 322,255. Apache pump up 487,7 pumps.483, 6pumps and 431, 5 pumps. l have a Gem that was doing over 400 but l cant find the results for that one. all were shot with Rhino pellets. and all the guns being in the condition that l bought them in. not taken apart to check them over. hope this helps.

That's great, thanks for adding these examples. It looks as if the Webley might have had something that caused the velocity to drop on the third shot but the others seem pretty consistent. Interesting to have a set of figures for a BSA too, it would be nice to have a few more values for examples of BSA's but it's especially good to hear how some of the less common ones performed, so many thanks got the Britannia figures & the M&G too. Didn't expect to see values come up for them, so a bit chuffed to see them here. The Apache seems a lively performer. Did you ever try round lead balls from it, just wounded how they might compare to Rhino pellets, cheers

[micky2]

That's great, thanks for adding these examples. It looks as if the Webley might have had something that caused the velocity to drop on the third shot but the others seem pretty consistent. Interesting to have a set of figures for a BSA too, it would be nice to have a few more values for examples of BSA's but it's especially good to hear how some of the less common ones performed, so many thanks got the Britannia figures & the M&G too. Didn't expect to see values come up for them, so a bit chuffed to see them here. The Apache seems a lively performer. Did you ever try round lead balls from it, just wounded how they might compare to Rhino pellets, cheers

Hi, you have just prompted my memory about the Apache, it was done with .25 balls. my mistake on that one.

[cinedux]

doesn't fit either my pistol or rifle! .24(No.4 shot) works a treat though!

[DAVALI]

DI’ve chronographed my 0.25 c1910 smoothbore Friedrich Langenham Millita air rifle, using modified 0.25 Rhino’s which I reduced in length (squashed) with a pair of home made pliers to, 0.240” long, the results were-
453.7
475.1
442.9
450.7
439.4= Ave. 452.36 which equals, ave, 8.635ft/pd.
At one time I shot a group at 18yds which measured edge to edge under 2”!, never repeated but, do have fun shooting (when we can) in our Vintage rifle competition.
Dave.

[micky2]

doesn't fit either my pistol or rifle! .24(No.4 shot) works a treat though!

Hi that must be what l used as they game in a bag with the rifle. l never did have much technical knowledge.

[trajectory]

Thanks Dave, I didn't expect that sort of performance from a Millita, don't know why really. Guess it was because of reading about how the new BSA's of the time were supposed to be so much better tham what had been available previously. Undoubtedly the nes BSA's had some advantages & incorporated many good features but perhaps it shows that some of the other makes had certain merits too. Perhaps more than I expected.