Originally Posted by
I. J.
The Service was just an over sized pistol. The design (transfer port etc) couldn't have been worse. O.K. so Webley made a loss with every one they produced - thats just bad marketing.
Agree about the Supertarget trigger though. Classic? Yes but that doesn't mean good.
I think Webley made a great job of utilising pistol patents to make firstly the Mark I rifle and then the Service. The rifle was made up to a quality rather than down to a price and is a classic example of British quality from the days when we made things. The design has many features that are unique to it and have always proved popular with contemporary users and later collectors.
We have a working bolt on a rifle that was loosely intended to resemble the Service rifle of the day, the quickest barrel change on any air rifle before or since, that I can think of and a choice of open or peep sight as standard. Considering the about turn air had to make upon discharge, performance was very good when compared to other contemporary designs. The barrel over cylinder design also reduced overall length, whilst retaining a very long barrel and the rifle could be taken down in seconds (a poacher's delight, had they been able to afford one!). The Service remains an accurate arm today and IMHO one of the best looking designs of air rifle ever built. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one Ian
John
Currently looking for Baikal Makarov pistols with the following prefixes to the serial number: 98, T01, T09, T21, T22
Prefer boxed or cased but will consider loose examples too.