I have a few nice Webley MK 3 rifles in to check over. On a couple of them it felt like someone had put a really heavy spring in as they were almost impossible to cock. On stripping I found the cocking lever was far too tight a fit in the two lugs under the tap unit and I had to take down their width quite a bit. This seems strange as you would expect old rifles like these to wear in that area, not get tighter. Has anyone found this problem before ?
Baz
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
Morning Baz.
Seems a bit odd. Even on a new one the underlever was not that stiff when I bought mine. Many of the components were hand fitted so I suppose someone might have swapped an underlever between rifles for some reason or another but if they did & it was that stiff you'd have thought they would have done something about it. Conversely if they had a very loose underlever I can't really think someone would have tried to close the flanges up......but then if they did I suppose they could have overdone things. But they are pretty solid so if a someone didn't quite understand what they were about I could see it being overdone & possibly marked as well but if there's no marks then it's still not to say someone had a go at closing them up. Opening them up a bit might not have been so easy. Maybe they thought it would "run in" rather than working on the insides of the flanges or the underlever who knows. Can't think Webley would have let them out the gate like that.
But there again is it binding on the flanges or is it the pivot thats tight?
Strange thing is the rifles are in almost mint condition, with no visible signs of being tampered with.
Anyway, fixed now and very smooth like a MK 3 should be.
Baz
BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER, DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
Hi Baz,
Webley used to fit very strong springs to the Mk 3 - especially the later variants. I initially thought someone had fitted Ox square section springs to several rifles I have owned but original springs were somewhat over powered.
John
I have noticed the same stiffness, but could not relate that to the tight fitting of the cocking arm. The relatively (compared to airsporters) shorter arm, with squared ribbed griparea combined with a newish/stronger spring, requires a bit of mussle and callus in my experience. Have a couple with softer springs wich are much more comfortable to use. So be cautious with grinding the cocking arm on good/crisp original copies. check te springs first.
Interesting - I have had a few Mk3s and the standard ones were all easy to cock.
I recently bought one of the later super targets (Anschutz sights). It was mint so I doubt it had ever been used - covered in dust and all of the initial lube turned to hard crud but it was immaculate underneath when cleaned. It was harder to cock than my previous ones but not impossibly so. I stripped cleaned and re-lubed it - guess what just the same as before.
I think that it was just never "run in" so still has that "as new" initial stiffness although it is possibly a bit stiffer than that.
With the others I can hold in one hand and just pull down the cocking lever with the other one. With this I have to put the stock against the top of my thigh and then cock it. (I really had to think of how to avoid any sexual innuendo - not sure I succeeded!).
Ive encountered heavy cocking on my .177 mk3 ST, but thats due to its long stroke I think.
The .22 is far easier to cock anyway. But both are tuned for short range targetwork.
Havent heard of mk3 cockinglink issues (too tight) but heard such issues on several modern springguns. Especially breakbarrel. With their barrel lockup being too tight. Fortunately, its often adjustable. Heard of some Diana ntec underlevers similar issues too though
ATB,
yana