The Webley & Scott Vulcan Air Rifle -- A Vox-Pop History

[Gareth W-B]

I still very much doubt the max total of 110 produced for the Vulcan SE.
You see them far too often for that. They were listed for sale from 1980 upto 1984. Thats way too long for 110 pieces.
It might be that the late Series 1 SE's were limited to 110 but I dont think the Series 2 were limited to 110.
Pitty its nowhere to trace exactly, as the webley bible isnt very clear about it either, the 110 sentence only speaks of the Series 1

Hi. Yes, the 'Special Edition' (SE) variants were limited to what we now know as the series one Vulcan, but sorry, to say there may have been more than 110 is quite quite wrong. Here is why. As stated, each version of the Vulcan (I, II, and III) came with a walnut stocked Deluxe version. They also all came as a Custom version, too ...

From the Series II Vulcan onwards, the aforementioned Custom Versions were also called the 'Special Export' model. This got abbreviated by the trade to SE.

This is where the confusion comes in, as the ORIGINAL Vulcan SE was the Special Edition model, and as stated in the opening post, ALL Special Edition examples have their own specific serial number range starting with a nine (9) and there were only ever 110 of these manufactured.

All the Vulcan Special Export variants have serial numbers which slot straight in to the running sequence of serial numbers, and run into their thousands. Hope this clarifies and helps: G.

.

[Gareth W-B]

^^^^^^^ ref the post as above ^^^^^^^

In view of the motivation behind me starting this thread (amalgamating many months of random post info from yours truly on the Vulcan, into one coherent post/thread opener) for ease of referencing and continued clarity, am going to copy the salient parts of the post immediately above to the relevant section of the opening post on this thread, so if you are reading this thread after the event, you haven't gone mad, your not experiencing de ja vu, and this isn't Groundhog Day. You are all okay.

[Gareth W-B]

.
For more info etc on the Special Edition Vulcan, please see page # 125 of Chris Thrale's most wonderful book Webley Air Rifles 1925 - 2005.

[I. J.]

What! No mention of the factories Vulcan gas ram? https://imgur.com/Q0SwjIY Shame on you.

ATB
Ian

[greenwayjames]

The secret behind the first full power Webley lay in the patented piston head used in the Vulcan. This was the work of the then technical director Harold Resuggan who later became MD. This was a composite head using PTFE with a recess and a soft buffer between it and the piston. The idea was that pressure would push the PTFE head towards the piston reducing the volume of the recess. A double whammy. To get the most from anew Vulcan it was best to dry fire the rifle a couple of times to size the PTFE head to the chamber.
Whether it workedor not is open to debate but certainly the Vulcan I bought was way more powerful that my MK3 and the pathetic output of the Hawk which used a composite piston ring.

[I. J.]

I did read, I dont know whether it was advertising bumf or not, that they had to modify the production of the later Mark 1s due to them becoming very close if not exceeeding the U.K. m.e. levels.
I do remember on the rare occasions I put mine (Mk 1 .177) over a chrono (which was at M/c Air Guns - not even all gun shops had a chrono in those days) it was very close to the legal limit.
Great rifles - pity about the trigger and barrel wobble.

ATB
Ian

[landymick]

Its worth mentioning that the lettering on the MK1 that is on top of the cylinder is a larger font than the MK11.

[Gareth W-B]

Its worth mentioning that the lettering on the MK1 that is on top of the cylinder is a larger font than the MK11.

Wow !!! So it is. What a wonderfully quirky extra Vulcan fact. Fantastic. Thanks for flagging it.

[Gareth W-B]

What! No mention of the factories Vulcan gas ram? https://imgur.com/Q0SwjIY Shame on you.

ATB
Ian

Show off !!! (thanks for showing us your legendary factory prototype my fine friend: appreciated ) ...

[Gareth W-B]

The secret behind the first full power Webley lay in the patented piston head used in the Vulcan. This was the work of the then technical director Harold Resuggan who later became MD. This was a composite head using PTFE with a recess and a soft buffer between it and the piston. The idea was that pressure would push the PTFE head towards the piston reducing the volume of the recess. A double whammy . To get the most from a new Vulcan it was best to dry fire the rifle a couple of times to size the PTFE head to the chamber.

Whether it worked or not is open to debate but certainly the Vulcan I bought was way more powerful than my MK3 and the pathetic output of the Hawk which used a composite piston ring.

Another mind boggling piece of extra info on the Vulcan to ad to the list. Thank you.

[dayglowfroggy]

How do I get the barrel pivot pin back through at the same time as push the barrel catch pin against the very stiff spring to expose the cut out ?

I was feeling pleased with myself having got the trigger back together ,though not actually tested yet since I cant get the barrel back on .

[Gareth W-B]

How do I get the barrel pivot pin back through at the same time as push the barrel catch pin against the very stiff spring to expose the cut out ?

Unless you have a mini clamp of some sort, in my experience, it's a two man job, so enlist a mate to help hold the barrel catch down against the spring (hope this helps ).

[dayglowfroggy]

That's a bummer ! But thanks for reply.

I struggled for about half an hour free hand and thought now is the time to get on the forum or come back with a fresh head.

OK THE EASY WAY TO GET THE BARREL LATCH PIN THROUGH.

Push the barrel plunger in on the corner of a work bench and stick your punch thru ( exact size is good here)

Then mark the punch with a scratch or blade pull it out about another 2-3 mil and cut it off on the scratch.

Push the off cut back all the way in so it doesn't protrude either side .

I held the barrel in a vice whilst doing all this and used a normal hacksaw for cutting the punch.

You now have a slightly shorter punch and a vulcan barrel pin tool .

The next bit is easy just line it all up and hammer the pin through.

So thats all good but the gun will not cock ! I seem to be coil bound the spring i used had about 40mm of pre load and now under full compression in would need the piston to go back at least another 10mm to latch on OH BUM !!

After the previous engineering triumph I decided taking it all apart again to chop the spring is tomorrows job.

[dayglowfroggy]

Anyone know how much pre load you can have on a vulcan ?

The spring I took out looks in perfect condition but there was no pre load at all and I have read in a few places that there should be ?

Cant say for certain that the spring I took out was an original.

I have used a spring that closely matches a titan number 8 ,the size often recommended for vulcans but would need different guides to a standard spring .

There was about 40mm pre load I was using a compressor so got it in without much fuss.

So I have had the guides made for this spring and on checking I can see the guides are not touching so it has to be the spring it looks completely compressed inside the piston .

[thisisdonald]

I slot the cocking Lever in and just kind of close the barrel as if the pin was fitted.. Then push the barrel into place so that the plunger depresses against the latch pin, then you can tap the pivot pin in no problem. I guess it must be a but of a knack, but I can do these with nothing but my wee hammer.