Webley Premiers on Parade

A place to discuss all things Webley. As this is probably the most collected airgun maker we felt it deserved a section of its own.
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Leonardj
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Webley Premiers on Parade

Post by Leonardj » Sun Oct 20, 2013 12:08 am

My modest collection of Webley Premiers is for all intents and purposes, complete. There are a couple of sub-variants that I am keeping an eye peeled for, but all the major variations are accounted for.

The Premier was introduced in 1964, and utilized what were thought to be the best features of it's predecessors, the Mark I, and the Senior. Over the course of their production, as engineering changes took place, the guns were marked to denote these changes, dividing the guns into six distinct series. To describe all the changes made from one series to the next would take considerable space, so I have chosen to highlight only what I consider to be the major points. For Further explanation, I suggest reading the Webley Air Pistols book, by Gordon Bruce, or the article "Webley Premier: End of an era" by John Milewski, as presented in the recent Airgun Collector e-magazine.**

This A Series Premier, complete with it's original box, and hang tag is in absolutely pristine condition, almost appearing as though it was never used.
The A Series utilized a leather piston seal similar to the Mark I. Four pins were used to fix the trigger guard and trigger components in place.

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This B Series Premier, also in it's original box, is likewise in very nice condition, but does show some signs of having been used, although very well cared for.
The B Series was the first utilization of a PTFE piston seal in a Webley air pistol.

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This C Series Premier resides in a reproduction box that I made up for it. The gun is in excellent condition, appearing to have been used, but again, well cared for.
The primary differences in the C Series over it's predecessor were in the trigger components, most notably, the trigger and sear, which were now made of sintered iron, rather than steel.

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This D Series Premier, complete with it's original box, came with both .177 and .22 cal barrels. The original sintered barrel latch was broken when I bought it, so the catch was replaced with a steel one from a Senior. Aside from that one detail, the gun is in very well preserved condition.
This Series saw the addition of a fifth pin in the trigger group, to limit trigger travel, and the introduction of a sintered iron barrel catch. This Series also saw the introduction of a rubber breech seal, to replace the leather one of previous versions.

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This E Series Premier, again, complete with it's original box, is probably the more desirable of the E Series Premiers, this one being the blued steel version, rather than the lacquered version. The gun is in excellent condition and appears little used, and well taken care of. I would still like to add a lacquered E Series to the collection if a suitably clean specimen can be found.
In this Series, the piston was modified in an attempt to extract more power from the gun, but most collectors question the success of this endeavor. This Series also saw the introduction of a cast barrel catch that had been reinforced in the areas that proved problematic in the previous sintered catch.

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The last of the Mark I Series Premiers, the F Series. This specimen, again in it's original box, is pristine, and appears to have never been shot. The small warning sticker that was apparently initially fastened to the gun, is now stuck to the bottom of the box. It warns the new owner to "1) Make sure the barrel is properly secured before firing", and "2) Do not fire without pellet in barrel".
This Series does not seem as well defined as the earlier ones, and seems for the most part to simply indicate a return to the blued steel finish from the lacquered finish seen on later E Series guns. A change in the number of grooves in the rifling of the barrel, from seven to twelve grooves has also been noted.

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The Premier Mark II, along with it's original box. Once again, a virtually unused specimen.
This was the introduction of the alloy frame, which would be carried over to the subsequent Hurricane, Typhoon, and Tempest models.

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** - For those who have not yet downloaded their copy of the Airgun Collector e-magazine, you can do so here:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/405945/t ... r+magazine" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by Leonardj on Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Certus
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Re: Webley Premiers on Parade

Post by Certus » Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:14 am

Hello Leonard,

Thanks for sharing the pictures and usefully describing the order and variation of Webley 'Premiers'. I also have an almost mint boxed 'A' Series which looks to have seen very little use and a slightly more worn 'B' Series which I shoot regularly.

Although I know the 'A'' Series are quite rare I believe the 'C' Series to be the rarest.

Regards

Brian

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Re: Webley Premiers on Parade

Post by zooma » Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:21 am

You have a superb collection of Webley Premiers - congratulations on finding them and building such a fine historical reference.

I have three boxed Premiers - two F and one E series but I have been unable to find any of the earlier examples unfortunately - and I would not say any of my boxed examples were as pristine as any of yours either so it is realy nice to see them pictured so clearly.

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us.
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Re: Webley Premiers on Parade

Post by pmh » Sun Oct 20, 2013 12:57 pm

Another excellent post.

I do like original boxes and packaging as the information on them is often just as valuable as the contents.

It's also interesting that the packaging remained the same for several variations, something which wouldn't happen these days.

Kind regards,



Phil
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micken
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Re: Webley Premiers on Parade

Post by micken » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:16 pm

Hi Leonard

Many thanks for sharing your photos and knowledge, very informative.

Mick

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