Webley Vulcan and Webley pellets. Confused.

[pjbingham]

Hi, I’m not sure if I’m over thinking this or getting something wrong but I’m a little confused regarding .22 pellets for the Webley Vulcan. As a teenager in the 80’s and early 90’s one of my dream air rifles (a dream I never achieved) was a Webley Vulcan. Fast forward 30 years and ive just got my first one but the bit that puzzles me is I’m reading that the .22 Vulcan barrel is 5.6 but looking back the Webley pellets available in my local gunshop at the time were the black tin ‘Specials’ which were sold as 5.5
I don’t get why Webley would have done that

[WebleyWombler]

Phil. I have generally found that 5.6 pellets perform ok in all Webley barrels but 5.5 only seem to do well in 12 groove barrels, Does your Vulcan have 12 or 7 grooves?

[Josie & John]

Hi Phil,

I'm not sure if some people read too much into the 5.5 / 5.6 mm calibre and pellet comparison. I have found that 5.5 mm Hobby and FTT pellets generally work in most 5.6 mm British bores that I own, often better than the old 'proper' Wasps we all remember with rose tinted specs. One exception is an early BSA Improved Model D I own that only seems to like 5.6 mm Marksman and groups like a shotgun with anything else.

Kind regards,

John

[Muskett]

Annoyingly in recent years even pellets that were specifically marketed as 5.6 for the older guns were often 5.5. Finding true 5.6 is hard whatever it says on the tin. In truth its whatever gets a result on the range.
The Vulcan really is a farmyard range gun, with its agricultural trigger. The MKI was a little power house, the MKIIs just looked better. The Omegas were the best of the evolution with new barrels.

I find RWS Superdomes in .177 work with nearly all 80s rifles. I think they don't do badly in .22 either. Heck my FWB 127 likes RWS Pointed!! A softer skirt will grab those grooves well enough. Hobbys I think have very thin skirts. Others can chip in here with their findings.
So long as you get good groups at 20m then a Vulcan is doing what it was designed to do. Trying to get it to do well at extended range, 35m, would take perserverance and might just end up as a hiding for nothing.

Part of the fun is trying to get these older guns to "behave", to at least do near to what we dreamed they could do. Not many did. Though we worked with what we got, and just stalked into range/capability of the combo we could afford.

When I bought all my childhood dream rifles a few years back, oh how disappointed I was. The BSF 55 was dreadful. A very few excellent and then it took several of the same to find one that "behaved". I sold most on again. I will get a Vulkan MK1 again in .22, as I have a soft spot for them. But i know its a 20m machine only.
I've also come to the conclusion that if the rifles are only really farmyard guns then having them in .22 isn't all that bad. This when I'm a crazy .177 fan and love tac drivers.

[Mr. Gen]

I love my vulcan but with the loose barrel, poor stock shape and heavy trigger, the pellets are the least of your accuracy issues

[Josie & John]

I think Webley pellets were just rebranded Wasps or at least made by Eley ?

The Webley Special is believed to have been made by several manufacturers at different times. These include Lanes, Milbro and Eley. The black 1980s tins were mostly made by Lanes, although I have tins of .177 Specials in black tins that are the same size as contemporary Eley Wasp tins. The pellets are indeed also identical to Eley Wasps. Eley went on to make the GP pellet for Webley (which was initially identical to the Wasp) and later on, manufacture of the GP was taken over by Milbro, when the design changed to a pellet similar to the Milbro Caledonian (the tin graphics also changed at this point). The Flying Scot was made by the same company that produced pellets under the Champion brand.

John M

[pjbingham]

Interesting stuff Gents thankyou. WebleyWombler- I had to go and check and it’s 12.
I’m trying a variety of pellets at the moment most of which are older. I’ve tried original wasps and the newer offerings and both are too big.
I’m used to having a variety of Airguns that like differing pellets I was more just thinking out loud why Webley would advertise their barrels as 5.6 but their pellets at 5.5 at the same point in time

[smallholder1]

I have a mk1 vulcan just refurbished the stock metal work fine and I use gamo pellets groups within an inch at 30 yards .....nice well made gun

[hwtyger]

Is the Vulcan barrel 5.6?? Never seen or read this. Does it say so on the barrel? Thought the only barrelchanges over the Vulcans lifetime were barrellength and thickness..
But as said, it doesnt matter. The Webley pistols do fine with standard pellets. I use 5.53 FTT in mine

[pjbingham]

Is the Vulcan barrel 5.6?? Never seen or read this. Does it say so on the barrel? Thought the only barrelchanges over the Vulcans lifetime were barrellength and thickness..
But as said, it doesnt matter. The Webley pistols do fine with standard pellets. I use 5.53 FTT in mine

Hi, when I got the Vulcan a couple of weeks ago I wasn’t sure what model or MK it was so I did a bit of digging and I saw mentioned a few times references to the barrels being 5.6 No it’s not marked on the barrel other than just saying .22 but I have a couple of Webley Tempests from a similar era and they do say 5.6 on their barrels.

[Muskett]

I don't think Webley invested in new barrel making machinery, just kept churning out on their old machines. So the barrels are accurate enough for the farmyard ranges and pellets available at the time. 1" at 30m is accurate for the time, and for 20m thats a solid hit on farmyard critters. Why would you need more when the farmyard dog would be onto anything in a flash that was hit?

Theoben started with Webley barrels, but fast switched to Anschutz. The latter had newer barrel making machines, so the barrels were more accurate.

And then time and progress, and cheap Jap scopes arrived and the consumer demanded more. So the HW77 arrived!
I think for the Omega, Webley made some changes, as it was already changed. Ownership and maybe had some investment???

[old goat]

I don't think Webley invested in new barrel making machinery, just kept churning out on their old machines. So the barrels are accurate enough for the farmyard ranges and pellets available at the time. 1" at 30m is accurate for the time, and for 20m thats a solid hit on farmyard critters. Why would you need more when the farmyard dog would be onto anything in a flash that was hit?

Theoben started with Webley barrels, but fast switched to Anschutz. The latter had newer barrel making machines, so the barrels were more accurate.

And then time and progress, and cheap Jap scopes arrived and the consumer demanded more. So the HW77 arrived!
I think for the Omega, Webley made some changes, as it was already changed. Ownership and maybe had some investment???

I got to visit the Webley factory, courtesy of one of the airgun mags, in the early eighties when the Omega was starting life, the barrels came pre drilled from Germany and Webley added the rifleing, so take your pick as to weather they are 5.5 or 5.6

[pjbingham]

Thanks everyone for the info so far. Old Goat, a trip round the Webley factory must have been a very interesting experience

[old goat]

Thanks everyone for the info so far. Old Goat, a trip round the Webley factory must have been a very interesting experience

Yes it was a long time ago, can't remember whether it was Airgun World or Airgunner who organized it but around seven of us where shown around the factory, Harold Resuggan was the man in charge then and he came over as very knowledgeable, they had an interesting tool room with lots of jigs testing the various bits, but I believe that most parts where bought in and a lot of the machinery on view was getting on a bit

[Josie & John]

Yes it was a long time ago, can't remember whether it was Airgun World or Airgunner who organized it but around seven of us where shown around the factory, Harold Resuggan was the man in charge then and he came over as very knowledgeable, they had an interesting tool room with lots of jigs testing the various bits, but I believe that most parts where bought in and a lot of the machinery on view was getting on a bit

Harold Resuggan was the man that designed the Webley Vulcan, among other models. He went on to become Webley's MD. I have a print of a schematic of the Vulcan and Tempest that was signed by Mr Resuggan that really ought to be framed and displayed.

Kind regards,

John