Webley Mk3 Scope Creep

[andrewM]

The thread relating to the excellent invention of a mounted scope rail for the BSA Standard (I have bought one of these for testing, when I find a minute) started me thinking about mounting a scope on the Webley Mk3. The problem with the Mk3 scope rail is that any scope attached to it suffers from scope creep caused by the recoil. However, would it not be possible simply to drill a hole or two in the scope rail of, say, 2-3mm depth, so that a scope stud from the mount could be inserted? That would prevent scope creep and make possible the use of a scope.

This sounds so simple that there must be a reason no one appears to have done this! Any thoughts?

Rgds
A

[keith66]

The scope rail on the Mk 3 was only spot welded in place & is thin, that means any dovetail clamp mount tries to wedge the rail away from the cylinder & the rail deforms slightly, so the mount goes loose & the shooter tightens it up wedging it more, until the spot welds break & the rail pops off.
Even if you drilled & tapped the rail & cylinder you have to rely on that tiny point to stop the scope moving.
Basically the standard rail is little more than an ornament!

[Mark Palmer]

How big a scope are you mounting on it? A 4x20 period "pencil" scope is about as big as you should go on one of these, preferably smaller!

[andrewM]

I did try a x20 scope on the Mk3 rail but even this succumbed to scope creep.

Whether a scope stud would do the trick is a good question and Keith is clearly sceptical. The Mk3 is pleasing to shoot with open sights (although these are not a good as the older BSA Standard) but I would be interested to know what sort of accuracy can be obtained with a scope.

Rgds
A

[AC99]

The earlier mk3 'dumbell' 'scope rails were only spot welded to the cylinder in three places and were prone to lift when the clamp was tightened. Later version had parallel sides and stronger but neither were satisfactory for securing a scope mount to as has been said above. It seems Webley introduced this innovation in an attempt to keep up with the competition but without giving too much serious thought about its practicality.

In fact Chris Thrale suggests "......it would be wise to rely on open sights alone!"
The original design of the mk3 did not take into account the desire of the shooter to use optical sights although the company offered a service for attaching a very robust PH aperture sight to the much more sturdy trigger block.