The first pistol was made by Lincoln Jeffries (Junior) & Co Ltd at Steelhouse Lane, Brirmingham between 1922 -1926 and called the “Scout”. It was made in .177 only and could be had in either a nickelled or blue finish. It was a rugged little pistol machined from steel and fitted with good quality hard rubber grips. Although designed for the low end of the market,this little pistol was typical of the high standards expected from such a respected company. Given the sturdy construction and the small numbers of examples seen the pistol must have only been available in very limited numbers.
The "Scout".
"Scout" Grips.
The second pistol is yet another Frank Clarke design called the “Briton” (first model) and was produced in Birmingham between 1925-1930.
Again of heavy steel construction the pistol was finished in either blue or rarely nickelled finish with black vulcanite grips. The smoothbore barrel was of .177 calibre only and the pistol was initially sold without a trigger guard although this was remedied in the later examples.
The "Briton".
"Briton" Grips
Until recently these little air pistols were ignored by collectors and often dismissed as toys. This has now changed and all early “push-barrel” pistols have become quite sought after. Most of us probably owned a mass produced Gat style air pistol in our youth which gave hours of fun with either darts or pellets. Some even came equipped with cork firing adaptors for indoor use. I have found them to be more accurate with pellets rather than darts but neither are much use beyond 10 or 12 feet.
Well that’s about it for the early non Webley spring air pistols so I will take a bit of a break before maybe posting something about the superb Webley range again using examples from my own collection.
Regards
Brian
