Junior (mk1) questions

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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sstirley
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Joined:Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:07 pm
Junior (mk1) questions

Post by sstirley » Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:06 am

Hi all, new to the forum but not air pistols and rifles. I have an early Junior pistol (batch 258 - just like this one http://www.classicapa.com/download/file ... &mode=view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) with the fixed sights. Obviously with no adjustment it will only be accurate at certain ranges - is this a known value, or should I just experiment?

Also I have just replaced the breach seal (the pellets at least leave the barrel every time now!) but the power does not seem great. At 6 yards they will just penetrate regular cardboard fully. The cocking mechanism shows 3.5kg at the very end on a spring gauge, is this 'normal' or would a new main spring be a good idea? Not expecting the world from something almost 70 years old, but would like to get it back to its former glory.

Cheers, Simon

Certus
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Sharpshooter
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Re: Junior (mk1) questions

Post by Certus » Thu Aug 14, 2014 12:18 pm

sstirley wrote:Hi all, new to the forum but not air pistols and rifles. I have an early Junior pistol (batch 258 - just like this one http://www.classicapa.com/download/file ... &mode=view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) with the fixed sights. Obviously with no adjustment it will only be accurate at certain ranges - is this a known value, or should I just experiment?

Also I have just replaced the breach seal (the pellets at least leave the barrel every time now!) but the power does not seem great. At 6 yards they will just penetrate regular cardboard fully. The cocking mechanism shows 3.5kg at the very end on a spring gauge, is this 'normal' or would a new main spring be a good idea? Not expecting the world from something almost 70 years old, but would like to get it back to its former glory.

Cheers, Simon
Hi Simon and welcome to the forum.

As you may be aware, the first Juniors were made between 1938 -1939 and carried Ser Nos starting with the letter 'J'. Unfortunately, Webley discontinued the use of Ser Nos after the war and applied Batch Nos instead which aren't much help when determining actual manufacturing dates. Your Junior is certainly post-war and if it has the slightly extended grip plates as in the photograph, it would as your rightly say be an early post-war example. Other post- war Webley air pistols can be roughly dated as having been made before 1958 if the area code 'B4' is stamped on the frame following the address.

As its name suggests, the Junior was aimed at the younger shooter and was intended for use between 6yds -10yds. They can be quite accurate at 10 yds, but 6yds is probably more realistic. I'm not sure what the cocking force recorded on a strain gauge would be, but there should be reasonable resistance felt when cocking the pistol. As you have already done, the breech washer is the first thing to replace followed by the mainspring and finally the piston washer. The pistol should group and produce clean holes on a paper target especially with flat head pellets at the recommended ranges. I use RWS Hobby which seem to perform well in all of my older spring air pistols.

The Junior is not a power house, but should produce adequate power and accuracy within its limitations.

Hope this helps.

Brian

sstirley
Posts:2
Joined:Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:07 pm

Re: Junior (mk1) questions

Post by sstirley » Fri Aug 15, 2014 10:25 am

Hi Brian,

Thanks for that information. Best I can figure my Junior is around 1948-50, and actually in pretty good nick considering! I have just lubricated the piston washer which has improved the seal somewhat, definitely producing more power. Now I can get decent grouping at 6 yards - though it does still shoot to the left. There seems to be some play in the barrel catch seat (at the back) which probably allows it to be moved side-to-side slightly as it is re-catched. I will see if I can shim this at all to improve the aim.

Not too bad for an old pistol which I haven't used for nearly 20 years.

Cheers

Hamish
Posts:18
Joined:Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:06 pm

Re: Junior (mk1) questions

Post by Hamish » Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:44 am

As far as power goes, the Junior is not the greatest - I never managed to penetrate a pop can with mine at 20 feet or so.

Idle curiosity - is the barrel on your Mk I rifled? I've had several Juniors over the years but only one, sent from New Zealand, had a rifled barrel. Accuracy night be suspect if it is a smooth bore.

Cheers! Hamish.

Certus
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Re: Junior (mk1) questions

Post by Certus » Thu Aug 28, 2014 10:07 am

Hamish wrote:As far as power goes, the Junior is not the greatest - I never managed to penetrate a pop can with mine at 20 feet or so.

Idle curiosity - is the barrel on your Mk I rifled? I've had several Juniors over the years but only one, sent from New Zealand, had a rifled barrel. Accuracy night be suspect if it is a smooth bore.

Cheers! Hamish.
Hi Hamish,

All Juniors were smoothbore until the appearance of the Mk2 in 1976 except for some special order and export examples.

My Juniors easily perforate tin cans at 10 yds and I can't say I have noticed any difference in the accuracy of smooth (Mk1) or rifled ( Mk2) Juniors at this distance.

Regards

Brian

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