Webley hurricane - British - Forend problems

[lampy165]

Hi
Just had an education on the forends for Hurricanes (British ones).
mine was split and very scruffy so I ordered a new one from Knibbs thought I had a right result getting a spanking new one,, But my gun is a glossy black bodying the new forend is like a matt almost grey finish and looks very odd when fitted.
I rang knibbs who said they are original Webley stock and that to send it back at own expense and they will look for a better black one.
however on receipt they said they are all the same even the Beeman ones and are matt.
They immediately refunded my purchase price and return postage so only out of pocket original postage., but no serviceable forend.
I posted to see if anyone else had one or knew if gloss black was the normal for British. Consensus was that the british ones were gloss black and Turkish ones were the matt colouring.
I tried the other possible suppliers but only proteK have the Beeman ones in and they are matt.
the good thing was Protek could provide the answer that the earlier British hurricanes were gloss black but later went to matt and then to turkey as matt so possible to have original OEM british hurricane spares which were the later matt ones.
SO there we have it and I still haven't got a serviceable gloss black forend (terribly painful condition that)
and will have to look for used one even if its got no lettering but will look reasonable on the gun.
I may well have to reorder the Knibbs one and put up with mismatch and pay their postage again for the privilege!!!
Any ideas chaps.
Lampy

[Modski66]

My Hurricane had a very scuffed and dull front end and grips which I restored to a high gloss using very fine grades of abrasive paper, then 'micromesh' followed by Brasso wadding (Duraglit). It might be a bit laborious, but I am guessing matt finish plastic could be polished to a shine with the above method.

As for the lettering, mine is the original style where it is 'formed' into the moulding, so it got a bit tricky in that region as I wanted to preserve them. A few years ago I did a similar job to a sorry looking Tempest, but it was the
later style with the tampo-printed lettering - no hope of saving them so it ended up smooth gloss black all over.