Webley Senior

[POLO]

Hi

Information required from BBS experts please.
What would be an expected power level for a Webley Senior .22", I have put my mates on my chrono and it gives 2.3 ft lbs with both Hobby and Superdomes. I seem to remember that 3.5 ft lbs would be about right. Also both these pellets seem a rather loose fit so what are recomended.
Thanks

Ian

[Rob M]

That does sound a little low. Is the spring old? What sort of a state is the piston head in? A clean and relube might sort it.

I would give Milbro Select a try pellet-wise, they're not quite as good as the old Wasps but better than a lot give them credit for.

[Rob M]

You might find this useful:

To service, first use a punch to push out the pins that hold the trigger parts in. Take note of the position of the trigger parts, note how the trigger spring fits behind the trigger guard. Slide off the trigger guard, unscrew the pivot that the barrel pivots on in the fore-end of the cylinder. This will free the barrel, and with the barrel free you can unscrew the fore-end plug until it and the spring come free as well. There shouldn't be much preload on the spring but it will push the plug out as the pin comes out. Slide the barrel linkage out of the cocking slot, and the pistol is mostly stripped.

Clean the parts as best you can. If you can't wash them with solvent, a good clean with rags should do, but do make sure the inside of the cylinder is as clean as possible.

Check the piston head for wear.

Lubes: rub Moly GN paste well into all the trigger parts, the inside of the cylinder, the inside and outside of the piston too. I find motorcycle Chain Wax aerosols good for spring lube, just spray it on quite liberally and you will find that it dampens out twang quite nicely. I put a little moly grease on the ends of the spring too. All the pivot points (like the one at the fore-end that the barrel hinges on) will benefit from Moly GN paste rubbed in. Cocking will also be a lot smoother if you apply GN paste to the cocking slot and in the small t-shaped link that goes through the slot. Also, put some GN paste on the fulcrum, this is the bump near the barrel-hinge that the cocking link slides over as you cock it.

The trigger is pretty easy to strip and reassemble and does benefit a lot from being treated with moly paste, you just need to push out the pins in the trigger guard first, then the pins that the trigger parts turn on, then all the trigger parts come out through the slot in the underside of the trigger housing, but do pay attention to their orientation and position, maybe draw a diagram, this will help when reassembling the trigger. Put Moly paste in the holes in the trigger parts and on the pins that they pivot on. The trigger may feel tight and heavy to start with but it will return to normal with a little use and will then improve still further!

These pistols really are improved a lot by modern lubricants. I know that Webley used to recommend just plain Webley Oil, but these pistols improve so much with GN paste, Chain Wax and a little grease too. I am sure that modern lubes like these will keep a Webley Overlever running nicely for a much longer time than oil alone, it will be more pleasant to shoot and cock as well.

One final word about the pins, it should be fairly obvious which side they were inserted from, you should try to remove and replace them from the same side that the original assembler of the pistol used, if you're lucky it will be obvious as on one side the holes around the pins will be flattened slightly, or the pins will be shiny where they have been tapped into place. pushing them out and replacing them from the same side saves wear on the holes and means that you don't have to peen the edges of the holes over to keep the pins secure. It's nothing to worry about as, serviced like this it should be years before you need to strip it again, it's about four years since I serviced my Tempest like this and it's still fine despite fairly regular use.

[Garry]

I use a blunted automatic centre punch on the lowest setting to start Webley pins off.

[beagle2]

I do not get all of this fuss about pellet size as I see it the first bit of the barrel on old Webley .22 barrels is a bit larger than the rest of the barrel. So all you need to do if you are worried about it is to push the pellet in a bit further only 6mm will do the trick. Something to try push a 5.6 wasp in the front of the barrel and then take a look down through the barrel frome the other end then do the same with a hobby 5.5 flat head and you will see no diference in the light showing through the grooves. Conclusion to this is use good quality 5.5 pellets but shuve them in a bit further.

[coburn]

The best mod for the Senior is to replace the phosphor bronze piston ring with a modern o ring available from motorfactors and hardware shops everywhere.

[POLO]

Hi

Thanks for info, will now strip pistol and see what condition its in. I have found a couple of springs in my gun drawer that I got from L. Wesley many years ago so it will be interesting to chrono the results.

Ian