Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

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Certus
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Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by Certus » Mon May 27, 2013 8:08 pm

Another couple of relatively rare pre-war English spring air pistols from my collection, both of which came quite close to matching the benchmark Webley pistols.

Firstly we have the Abasmajor produced by A.A. Brown & Sons (hence Abas) between 1946 and 1949. An underlever (trigger guard) cocking, tap loading pistol essentially produced in three variations which can be identified by the grips with the first and most desirable model having walnut grips, the second model ( my pistol) had smooth plastic grips and the final model had chequered plastic grips.

The first model had a small button at the base of the grip used to release the cocking lever which was discontinued on the subsequent models. The pistols were mainly blued but there were some produced with a black crackle finish presumably in an attempt to reduce production costs. All the pistols featured an intercepting sear which engaged on a series of ridges on the cocking lever thus preventing the underlever flying back if accidentally released. The uderlever also included a neat little pellet sizer (see picture) so presumably pellet skirts were not particularly consistent in those days.

A.A. Brown & Sons were established in 1930 at Whittall St in Birmingham and mainly concentrated on making sporting guns but towards the end of the thirties and during the war they were producers of weapon components and machine tools. After the war both work and the necessary materials to continue with their normal line of work dried up and the company were scratching around for things to enable them to survive. They were approached to assemble a number of components of an air pistol called “Anson’s Star” when Edwin Anson’s workshop was cleared after his death. This inspired them to produce an air pistol entirely of their own design which was marketed as the “Abasmajor”. Although work like this helped the company though a difficult period, they soon returned to their normal product line and the company remains a renowned manufacturer and customiser of high quality sporting guns.

One of only three English air pistols that use a tap loader, the Abas major comes quite close to matching the Webley in ease of use and accuracy but I have found it to be more awkward to cock with a slightly less refined trigger . Groups into about 3 inches using a single hand hold at 10 metres.

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Abas Major Left Side

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Underlever opened ready for cocking.

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Pellet sizer incorporated into cocking lever.


Next we have another of my personal favourite early English spring air pistols, the Accles & Shelvoke “Warrior”. Although produced by Accles & Shelvoke the pistol was the invention of Frank Clarke and Edwin Anson both major contributors to air pistol design during the pre war period. Accles & Shelvoke also went on to market an air pistol of their own design called the “Ackvoke more of which in a later post.
The “Warrior” is another concentric pistol produced between 1930 and 1939 this time cocked by a side lever. All steel construction with black vulcanite grip plates. It has a unique wrap around breech closure system and was made in .177 and more rarely in .22 calibre. Warriors were mainly produced with a blue finish but or very rarely available with a nickelled finish. The pistol was made in two main series easily distinguished by the recurved trigger guard used on the second series (my pistol) as opposed the smooth oval shape of the first series. Around 5000 of these nice little pistols were made and many can still be found in good condition due to the high quality of the materials used and sound construction.
The “Warrior” has an unfair reputation for being under powered especially in .22 calibre but I have found this not to be the case certainly in .177 calibre. It is a bit more awkward to cock than the Webley and does have a much harsher trigger. Having said that, provided it is lubricated correctly it can hold its own both in power and accuracy.
In spite of the heavy trigger I can usually group this pistol into about 3 inches at 10 metres using a one handed precision hold.
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The "Warrior"
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Interesting 1930s New Zealand advert for the "Warrior"

Regards

Brian
Last edited by Certus on Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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pmh
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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by pmh » Mon May 27, 2013 9:00 pm

Another excellent and interesting post.

Still good looking guns after all these years.

Kind regards,



Phil
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I now have so many airguns I've had to make a list, which is >>HERE<<
>>North Manchester Target Club<<

gab
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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by gab » Tue May 28, 2013 3:35 am

Thank you Certus. Very enjoyable reading.

Certus
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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by Certus » Tue May 28, 2013 2:37 pm

gab wrote:Thank you Certus. Very enjoyable reading.
Hello,

Glad you enjoyed the post. I thought I would complete the overview of early English non Webley spring air pistols with the Accles & Shelvoke "Ackvoke" and a bit about a couple early little pop-out pistols "The Briton" and the Lincoln "Scout". That would be about it for my non-Webley pistols but if it would be of interest I could run through the Webley pistols from 1924 to the mid 1970s when Webley turned to less traditional standards of design and manufacture and lost their interest for me.

Regards

Brian

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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by wmp50075 » Tue May 28, 2013 7:02 pm

certus,

i am very much looking forward to the webley pistol info you will be sharing with us.

andyL

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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by gab » Wed May 29, 2013 3:07 am

Certus, please move onto the Webleys.

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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by Certus » Wed May 29, 2013 3:12 pm

Hi andy & gab,

Thanks for the feedback. I will complete the early pre war non Webley posts with the Accles & Shelvoke "Ackvoke" and a couple of early little "pop-out" pistols then move on to the Webleys.

Regards

Brian

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Re: Abas Major & Accles & Shelvoke Warrior

Post by cinedux » Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:58 pm

Hello Brian,that little 1930's bit about the use of a Warrior to frighten off bad chaps actually came from Popular Mechanics! It isn't from a NZ paper. I've an ABAS with aluminium grips.Wonder who made them?Trevor

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