Another Webley Wednesday - Rifles this time!

[laverdabru]

Off work again, on minimum 16 hours due to CV19. So decided to give some of the 50/60/70's rifles a wipe over with an oily rag, & have a plink between showers/torrential rain.
Apart from the Junior rifle, all were purchased from this site - & all a credit to their previous owners.

1950's Junior Rifle[B Was gifted this as a loft find, still in the original box. Think it's probably lighter than some of my Wobbley pistols Sparked my renewed interest in airguns a few years back, lovely little thing to plink with & introduce the g/sprogs to shooting.

Falcon .22[/B] Bought this as a renovated item from an AGBBS regular. Real quality feel, like a 8/10 size Mk 3 in break barrel - much as I love my Meteors of the time, the Webley is better made. & far better than the later Hawk.

Series 4 Mk 3 .22 Love the 'feel' of this. Bought from a Scottish gent, blueing 99%, woodwork 95%. Not that impressed by the accuracy - but it is getting on for 60 years old.

1972 Mk 3 Cheaper feel than the earlier one - but much more accurate.

[les allam]

Well done on giving some of your collection a airing.
They should be used after all.
I don't shoot my guns enough to be honest.
Les..

[laverdabru]

Yes, using them reminds me of why I got them in the first place. My late brother loved his Webley's, but never bought a Mk 3. Despite having newer guns, I much prefer the feel of the older ones.
Have a pair of HW35's, but prefer a modern Meteor & '70's AirSporter to deal with the pigeons.
Having said that, am considering a PCP for vermin control...

[Geezer]

The Falcon is a very nice, often overlooked, rifle.

Handling (stock shape) isn’t as good as it could be.

Trigger is a bit crude.

Finish, though, is excellent. A nice rifle.

I personally believe the Falcon’s parts were largely made by Milbro, but finished and assembled by Webley, but cannot prove that. Milbro made the Webley Junior, Ranger, and Jaguar. The internals of the Falcon have always looked very Milbro “Diana” to me.

[laverdabru]

Yes, nice to give the 'oldies' an airing.
Intrigued by the possible Milbro/Diana link. According to the Book of Thrale early Falcons used a rearsight identical to Original & Scottish Milbro Diana 23, 25 & 27. Mine is a much later model with the 'tangent' rearsight.

Handling & stock shape, as Geezer mentioned. This also interested me, so I got my 50's Webley Junior, late 50's or early 60's series 4 Mk 3, & late Falcon out for a comparison.

Hmm - the Falcon is only a couple of inches shorter than the Mk 3, & the stock is actually longer. The distance between the rear & front sight is about the same, so why does the MK 3's sights line up naturally to my eye line, whereas the Falcon doesn't?

Looking at the three rifles in a row, the pistol grip (if that's the word) on the 3 is closer to the vertical than the other two, with the Junior being the shallowest. I guess that this is because the Mk 3 was aimed (no pun intended!) at the adult shooter, & the Falcon at the teenage market, Junior at the lower age band. So possibly the angle of the grip was intended to meet the eye line of the intended shooter.

Agree it is an overlooked item, was surprised to see in the BoT only an estimated 10k had been made 1962-1971. Wonder how many Meteors were made in that period? And the Webley actually cost less when introduced. Don't get me wrong, I love the BSA's, (they breed, you know, sure I only had two) but the Falcon is closer to Mk 3 quality than the Meteor is to a Sporter.

ATB

Bru

[Hsing-ee]

Series 4 Mk 3 .22 Love the 'feel' of this. Bought from a Scottish gent, blueing 99%, woodwork 95%. Not that impressed by the accuracy - but it is getting on for 60 years old.

Have you checked the tap for trueness? You might need to lap it in a bit or shim it out, stop the pellets being shaved. BTDT did a great article on doing this to a Webley Tracker and the accuracy went from 'shotgun pattern' to 'really rather good'. First though, if it is that old the barrel could probably do with a scrub and recondition, 60 years-worth of burnt 3-In-1 doesn't half gum up the rifling.

[Geezer]

I think the Meteor may have been better marketed than the Falcon, looked (at the time) more modern, and it was very clever of BSA to offer them with scope rails and scopes. Even if the scopes were pretty awful.

[laverdabru]

Have you checked the tap for trueness? You might need to lap it in a bit or shim it out, stop the pellets being shaved. BTDT did a great article on doing this to a Webley Tracker and the accuracy went from 'shotgun pattern' to 'really rather good'. First though, if it is that old the barrel could probably do with a scrub and recondition, 60 years-worth of burnt 3-In-1 doesn't half gum up the rifling.

The tap on the series 4 seems better than my '70's Mk3.
A Good Point about barrel cleaning - I do do it on my most often used rifles (2014 Meteor, '70's A/Sporter, '80's HW35) but not on the older ones.

Thanks

Bru

[laverdabru]

I think the Meteor may have been better marketed than the Falcon, looked (at the time) more modern, and it was very clever of BSA to offer them with scope rails and scopes. Even if the scopes were pretty awful.

Yes, think the Meteor was one of the first airguns offered with scope rails, back in the late '50's. The Falcon (1962 on) had the infamous 3 spot weld rail, shared with the Mk 3.

Growing up in the 60'/70's I was aware of the Webley MK 3, & their pistols. And the AirSporter & Meteor rifles from BSA, and the odd Original & some Milbro Diana's. But the Falcon I'd no recollection of.

Early scopes - Jeez, they were bad. 1st one I can remember using was attached to an ASI Paratrooper (?) back in the early/mid '70's. Also, the Webley 1.5x20(?) Pistol scope I had attached to one of my Hurricanes.

The first scope I was impressed with was a Nikko Silver Crown 4x40 that came with an early HW77 I bought s/hand in the mid or late '80's. That is an outfit I really regret selling.

Bru

[Hsing-ee]

The tap on the series 4 seems better than my '70's Mk3.


Bru

BTDT tested his inaccurate Tracker by firing it into a great depth of loosely packed cotton waste .... I think. Then he could see if the pellet was entering the barrel off-centre. Once the tap was shimmed to get it central to the bore, the rifle became a capable performer.