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Thread: The Webley Mercury pistol project: Part 3, and the last!

  1. #16
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    Amazing

    A great end to a fascinating series of reports.

    Very interesting hearing about the earlier problems with the the piston and the barrel...... some very admirable perseverance employed to see it through!

    Another lovely pistol and well worth the effort.


    Thanks for sharing,

    Matt

  2. #17
    ccdjg is online now Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
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    Quote Originally Posted by WebleyWombler View Post
    Given the time period at which the pistol was developed and the fact that the rectangular pellet tins were obsolete almost 15 years before, would a more contemporary tin such as the round, green , black and white tin not be more appropriate for the period?

    I agree with cringe in that the pellet tin looks incongruous when cased with the pistol.
    I quite agree that the rectangular green pellet tin is not true to the time period of the 1980 "Mercury" and will offend the purist Webley collector. In my defence, I can only say that I did not look at my project pistol as part of my Webley collection, and saw it as just another project to investigate obsolete British air pistol mechanisms. After all, my pistol differs from the originals in many ways, both from a materials point of view and how it is constructed. The case and fittings are for safe storage and just a bit of window dressing, and to me the rectangular tin is evocative of the late 1960's-1970 period when the design was first proposed, and I just like the look of the rectangular tin more than the round. So apologies, but I will be keeping the rectangular tin even though Troubledshooter has kindly offer to supply me with a more period round one.

    Cheers
    John

  3. #18
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    A brilliant piece of engineering/gunsmithing. Well done!

  4. #19
    ccdjg is online now Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
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    Quote Originally Posted by evert View Post
    The lettering looks really good! Can you tell us more about your etching technique? Are you using stencils?

    Thanks. I use a process that I developed by trial and error over a few years, as there was virtually no information out there when it comes to etching lettering on guns. I have described my process sketchily with a few pictures on this forum in some of my earlier projects, but unfortunately thanks to Photobucket, most the images from the earlier projects have been erased. But, thanks to Danny and his Gallery, they have been preserved there.

    Very briefly, I start off with light-sensitive blue plastic film that you can buy off fleabay for making printed circuits (see for example item 283855615274). A fiver will buy you enough film to letter a hundred guns or more. A piece of the blue film is stuck onto the gun surface with application of heat. You then compose your lettering or artwork on a computer and print it out (in black) onto transparent inkjet paper. The transparency is pressed tightly against the blue film and ultraviolet light is shone onto the transparency. When the blue film is then rinsed in sodium carbonate (washing soda) solution only the unexposed areas are washed off, leaving the gun surface coated with a blue film stencil, and the lettering areas show exposed metal. You can then subject the coated area to dilute acid so that the exposed metal is etched away to give the lettering in the gun surface (it is actually better to use a small electric current from a 2 volt torch battery to assist the action of the acid, as I have found that you get much faster etching and sharper lettering).

    It sounds simple, but in fact there are a lot of factors to consider and pitfalls to look out for. I would be happy to provide much fuller details if you want. Just PM me.
    Cheers,
    John

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by WebleyWombler View Post
    Given the time period at which the pistol was developed and the fact that the rectangular pellet tins were obsolete almost 15 years before, would a more contemporary tin such as the round, green , black and white tin not be more appropriate for the period?

    I agree with cringe in that the pellet tin looks incongruous when cased with the pistol.
    That's what I was thinking, I have nothing but admiration & respect for ccdjg - self tought skills , patience in researching & building a 'one off' pistol, even the presentation box is fantastic. so sorry for being a bit fussy, I am not a [purist Webley collector & I am not offended] as Webley Wombler says " incongruous" [I like that word] . Hope you continue with future projects . kind regards Al

  6. #21
    ccdjg is online now Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geezer View Post
    Quite extraordinary and very impressive.

    Trying to get my head round why you can’t de-cock all the way from full.
    Thanks for the kind comment. I also found the de-cocking problem not exactly obvious, which is why I nearly shot myself in the foot! The way to visualise it is like this. With a single-stroke cocking gun, when the gun is cocked and the piston held back by the sear, the barrel/cocking lever unit is free to move backwards and forwards. So you can use the cocking lever to take the weight off the sear while you pull the trigger, and the spring tension can then be slowly released.
    With the double-cocking system, when the gun is cocked to the first level and barrel has been returnd home, the barrel/cocking lever unit is not free to move backwards. The pawl will have already engaged with the second notch in the piston, so any attempt to pull the barrel back just results in further compression of the spring until it is cocked at the higher power level.

    I can't think of any simple way of getting round this problem. Anyone got any ideas?

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by ccdjg View Post
    It sounds simple, but in fact there are a lot of factors to consider and pitfalls to look out for. I would be happy to provide much fuller details if you want. Just PM me.
    Cheers,
    John
    Thank you very much, PM sent

  8. #23
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    Very much enjoyed reading about this build from scratch.
    Well done!

  9. #24
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    Excellent job and report!

  10. #25
    micky2 is offline The collector formerly known as micky
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    What a cracking job, l wish l had half of your capability.

  11. #26
    ccdjg is online now Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
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    I can now add a bit more to the Webley Mercury story, thanks largely to information provided by the current owner of the first prototype, to whom I am very grateful.

    The idea for the two-stage cocking pistol dates back to at least 1960, and originated from Webley designer Stanley Holder. There is an original drawing of the design, dated October 15, 1960, which bears his initials S.G.H. Manufacture of the pistol was actually in the Webley sales projections for the period 1963-68, and was intended that it would have been manufactured from aluminium forgings, along with Senior and Premier pistols. However, for some reason Webley abandoned the idea and this never happened. Just the one prototype has survived. Stanley Holder died in 1975.

    After a period of about 20 years, the design was revisited by the then Technical Director for Webley, Harold Resuggan, who took out a patent (dated 30 July, 1981) covering the Holder design. For some reason Resuggan was named as the sole inventor in the patent, and there is no mention of Stanley Holder, which seems rather unfair. Resuggan did make some amendments to Holder’s design, as can be seen from his one surviving prototype, but these design changes do not appear to have found their way into the patent.

    This is the only photograph of Harold Resuggan that I know of:




    Harold Resuggan was undoubtedly a skilled and talented designer in his own right, and had several Webley patents to his name, not least of which was for the Hurricane. On sabbatical from Webley, he visited Robert Beeman at his Santa Rosa, California, facility for an extended period and Beeman recounts “having a delightful time studying and firing his prototype pistol”. He describes him as a shy man, but formed a lifelong friendship with Beeman and Hans Weihrauch (then Head of HW) during his stay in the USA. In the event, Webley decided to stick to their traditional over-lever air pistol design, and went down the route of the Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest, abandoning the break-barrel Mercury for the second and last time.

  12. #27
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    Again, the information and knowledge you share with us is greatly appreciated!
    There is another picture of Harold Resuggan in the book "Luftgevær" (airrifles in Norwegian) by the Swedish author Anders Dahlmann.
    I'll try to make a scan and send you via e-mail.

  13. #28
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    Google links for Resuggan

    Last edited by Garvin; 29-09-2020 at 02:02 PM.
    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.

  14. #29
    ccdjg is online now Airgun Alchemist, Collector and Scribe
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    Quote Originally Posted by Garvin View Post

    This sounds like the Mercury:

    https://patents.justia.com/patent/4367723

    Or is it more like the Whiscombe?

    I looked it up Danny, and it is the US version of the British Mercury patent, identical in virtually every respect.

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by ccdjg View Post
    I looked it up Danny, and it is the US version of the British Mercury patent, identical in virtually every respect.
    Thanks, John. No reference to the Britannia Anglo Sure Shot rifle, which built-in the idea of high and low-power levels in a spring gun many years earlier!
    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.

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