A Webley Mk III gets a bit of TLC.

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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A Webley Mk III gets a bit of TLC.

Post by Leonardj » Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:59 pm

Picked up this sweet Webley Mark III, Series 4 not too long ago, and while it seemed to be shooting quite strong, cocking and firing it felt, for the lack of a better term, "gummy". It's not often that you find a gun that is half a century old, that has never been opened up, but this is one of those rare cases where all appearances indicated this to be the case. Not one of the screws involved in the complete dis-assembly of the gun showed any signs of ever being touched.

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As the gun was dis-assembled, it was evident that the lubes were indeed caked up and dried out. Surprising that the gun was able to function as well as it did. The buildup of hardened gunk on the piston, and most of the other internal parts had to be scraped off, before a proper cleanup could be done. This "before" shot of the piston looks pretty bleak.

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However, after a thorough cleaning, it looks like new. The leather piston seal is still in remarkably good condition, and was re-used.

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The original mainspring was obviously fatigued, and badly canted. Compare it to the new mainspring in the top of the pic below. Both springs are the identical wire size, diameter, and number of coils.

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The only "blemish" on this otherwise fine specimen, was the poorly executed opening up of the rear sight notch. As seen in the pic, at 0.141" wide at the top, the notch has been opened up enough to drive a small truck through, and so little care was taken, that the sides were not even parallel. With the notch so wide, it was very difficult to get a proper sight picture.

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I broke out my "add on tool" and filled the oversized notch, then re-cut a "V" notch to the same dimensions as my other Mark III rifle sights. The sight picture is significantly improved.

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The gun is now shooting at a little over factory specification, using vintage Eley Wasp 5.6 MM pellets, and should be good for another half century of shooting enjoyment.

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pmh
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Re: A Webley Mk III gets a bit of TLC.

Post by pmh » Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:36 pm

Another find rifle restore to use.

I never normally like adjusting parts, buying a replacement to fettle instead do that the original is still available.

You were lucky to find an example that had been relatively untouched.

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<<

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zunmik
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Re: A Webley Mk III gets a bit of TLC.

Post by zunmik » Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:27 pm

Aah now that is a proper Webley I do like their fixed barrel rifles this one looks to be a particular fine example of this rifle you've done well to obtain this one, and to restore it to full working condition, nice one, M :) :handgestures-thumbupright:
WALTHER LP3],Etc[/b], G0JVB ex G6MUI.

bellringer
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Re: A Webley Mk III gets a bit of TLC.

Post by bellringer » Sun Nov 17, 2013 11:00 pm

Hi, nice rifle, if you PM me the serial No. & calibre I may be able to date the gun to the ''official'' date of production and possibly even who made it; .22 cal with 'A' prefix is the worst scenario because Webley used the 'A' prefix twice and .22 was much more common than .177 or variants, I can only go from No. 44370 to end of production but I will do my best. Regards bellringer.

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