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