Quote Originally Posted by ggggr View Post
Something else came to mind. Those safety catches are difficult enough to use with a straight grip, with the grips being well clear of the catch. With those grips coming close to to the catch it would have been very difficult to use.
I still think if it was a factory prototype that it would have had wooden grips. They might have painted them silver but why make those alloy grips?

I have been mulling this over for a while and have come to a conclusion. Webley used their own special thread screws on all their pistols. If the screws holding this together are a known thread type eg BSF. BA. ME etc. then it is an amateur built piece. If they conform to Webley series standards, it was built by them as there is no chance that an amateur would possess the correct taps and dies.

Webley stampings are often not that deep and I have seen them mostly obliterated by a refinishing job.

The screws are the key as I can't see Webley engineers deviating from their normal working practices, even for a prototype.

Personally, I think its amateur, but would love to be proved wrong.