AFFORDABLE Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver

You should probably run away from that except for the personal interest value. Nobody wants firearms made in Pakistan. Iffy metalurgy at best. Plus their law doesn't allow any calibre larger than .32 for civilians.

Sunray, do you really believe this stuff????

You should look up POF industries. Pakistan produces ammunition and other ordnance for almost every nation in the world.

I agree, not everything that comes out of there is top notch but for the most part, they are every bit as advanced in the manufacture of firearms methods as anyone else.

Do you own or have you shot a POF No4 MkII Lee Enfield??? They are as good and in some ways, especially stock fit and finish than some others not made there. I am very impressed with mine.

Pakistani ordnance got a bad rep because of the crappy surplus ammunition they let out on the world surplus markets. From my understanding, like the Turkish releases this stuff was let go because it no longer performed well or at all and was strictly marketed for component break down.

Some unscrupulous surplus traders failed to inform the public that this was the case. Mind you, that should always be in the back of everyone's mind that buys surplus ammo. If you luck out and get good stuff or at least acceptable stuff, fine. If you get some of the bad stuff, well at least you can break even on the components. We are lucky here in Canada to have dealers like CanAm, Tradex, SFRC that are reasonably careful about what they buy for resale.

The days of Khyber Pass products being released onto the markets, without proof testing and inspection, are long gone. To bad actually, some of those basement shop firearms were real works of art and a true testament to how little equipment is really needed to produce a relatively safe firearm that will do the job.

I had the opportunity to purchase a 98% Fosberry out of an estate sale collection in Kamloops in 2000. It was way beyond my means at the time. Now, I wouldn't hesitate.

If those come onto the market for around $1000, I am in the market for one.
 
There is an original one for sale at the moment.

Found this one on sale -

htt p://www.simpsonltd.com/product_info.php?cPath=156_236&products_id=29756&osCsid=b6ddd58bc9d2962e96280a13233ce7df

Not cheap but not too bad.
 
Found this one on sale - ...Not cheap but not too bad.

$8,995.00.. If that's "not too bad", you're a richer man than I am, Gunga Din! Be sure to give us a range report:p
All joking aside, that probably isn't out of line for such a rare pistol.

:)
 
As to who used one, there was a Webley-Fosberry in The Maltese Falcon. It's mentioned in this article, which also has a short video of US gunwriter Garry James, shooting one- curiously with Russian subtitles!

:) Stuart
 
I gather that to find a functional original .455 Webley-Fosbery for as low as, say, $5000 would be a bargain! And the .38 version is even rarer, and correspondingly pricier ....

Sectional diagrams from the early 20th Century "Description & Instructions" provided with Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolvers -

At Rest, Half #### -

DescriptionampInstructions_atrest_halfcock_zps5dd28820.jpg


Recoiled, Full #### -

DescriptionampInstructions_recoiled_fullcock_zpsf09274a9.jpg
 
Sidearm of "Lawrence of Arabia"

This article presents pretty convincing evidence that, right from 1914, T.E. Lawrence (and also his brother Frank serving in the European Theater) used the Colt Government Model (i.e. Model 1911) most likely chambered in .45ACP, rather than the .455 Auto chambering acquired by the British War Department a bit later ....

http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/history/telawrence.htm

Note that this article confirms that he did carry a C.96 Mauser pistol when he was in the Middle East before the war, but apparently sold it (at a profit) when he left the area in late 1909 ....
 
...Has Canadian heritage to boot - Comes complete with Canadian marked leather holster and is engraved Glen C. Holland, Gordon Highlanders on right side of frame

That really should be in a Canadian military museum, along with Holland's war record. "Not bloody likely" as they say :(
 
- Comes complete with Canadian marked leather holster and is engraved Glen C. Holland, Gordon Highlanders on right side of frame

An online search for "Glen C. Holland Gordon Highlanders" comes up with a page from the London Gazette, 1 October 1915 mentioning a Glen C. Holland coming from a reserve battalion of The Gordon Highlanders. This would be the British regiment, not the Canadian 50th Gordons. The holster may not be original to the revolver. Be interesting to see what it goes for, it a beauty.

Marv
 
Interesting - I'll have to read up on it later.

I'd be far more interested in a Martini, though. .303 would be lovely, and appropriate. Can't say I'd be into a single shot .22. Too fiddly
 
The auction site reports that the "Glen C. Holland" Webley-Fosbery sold for $15,000.

The PHSADC repro could be a good opportunity for those interested, if turns out to be a quality product in the price range mentioned.
 
You should probably run away from that except for the personal interest value. Nobody wants firearms made in Pakistan. Iffy metalurgy at best. Plus their law doesn't allow any calibre larger than .32 for civilians.
BTT, & BTW, isn't that Sunray just a little ray of sunshine?
 
There is no doubt from the information already available that these revolvers are to be produced in the original calibers of .38 and .455. What civilians may legally own on a private basis in Pakistan is, of course, an entirely different issue from what can be lawfully manufactured there! There are all sorts of things which can be legally manufactured here in Canada that you or I as private citizens cannot legally acquire .....

Also very relevant: if a person has bothered to actually read the information available, they will be aware that Pakistan Hunting and Sporting Arms Development Company is in fact an organization of manufacturers under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade & Commerce of the Government of Pakistan!

(In any event, rather than relying on Sunray's assertions, I'd want to know precisely what (if anything) Pakistani law actually does specify in this regard, anyway, because as far as I am aware the .32 caliber maximum for center-fire handguns is the law in India, but not necessarily Pakistan .....)
 
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