Reality Bites - Buying Antiques in the US

jethunter

jethunter

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I've purchsed several antiques south of the border with varying degrees of success. A few have been accurately described but a fair number of disappointments. Today i got one of the disappointments.

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Described as "excellent Webley No.4 chambered in .476 Enfield, VG-exc bore and action, grips have been sanded". I've been looking for a good Webley Pryse .476 for a couple years.

It looked good right out of the box, beautiful in fact. Excellent blueing, probably a re-blue but well done, bore needs scrubbing but looks like it's as advertised. Then I noticed there is no extractor. And the cylinder has been skimmed. I tried some .45auto rim cases and they fit properly. Some yahoo has turned the cylinder for use with .45 auto rim and probably buggered the extractor mechanism in the process.

I paid $1500 and shipping for a gun that I'm probably going to sell now for half that because it doesn't have an extractor and I don't want a .45auto rim Webley Pryse.

That's the reality of buying antiques in the US. A few sellers provide excellent accurate descriptions. More sellers "cheat" a little bit and slightly over-rate in describing their stuff. And some sellers totally misrepresent their goods.

I have absolutely no recourse with the seller. Email reply I got back from him was: sorry but it is sold "as is". Which was never stated in his ad, or it would have raised some flags. Some days you win, some days you don't.
 
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Is the Extractor missing or just not poping up?
If its just not poping up its likely fixable.

That sucks if theres No extractor star at all tho.
I can see looking at it right away its been shaved for 45 acp by the metal removed from the back of the cylinder. The Gap is way to big for a normal No 4 webley 476.
Tho that can be hard to see if the guns turned a certin way in the Add pics.
 
Ouch... that sucks, man... sorry to hear about it, personally I'd be pissed beyond belief if I ended up with a deal like that.

:(

So, who's the prick who sold you this lemon? Also, isn't $1500 a bit expensive to begin with for a Pryse with sanded grips, a reblue and located in the States? Just wondering... as in the past, I've seen them selling cheaper on CGN (in a seemingly original condition to boot).
 
Could you not make one? (I have no mechanical knowledge of webleys)

I bought a rifle in 44-40 that had terrible accuracy. I thought it needed a new crown so I bought the tools and did the work but that did not fix it. Turns out the chamber had been drilled out to accept 410 shotgun shells or something. Another I bought had a jammed extractor, like it was replaced but oversize and never properly fitted. Wasn't difficult to fix once I got it apart but very annoying.
 
dingus said:
Is the Extractor missing or just not poping up?
If its just not poping up its likely fixable.

That sucks if theres No extractor star at all tho.
I can see looking at it right away its been shaved for 45 acp by the metal removed from the back of the cylinder. The Gap is way to big for a normal No 4 webley 476.
Tho that can be hard to see if the guns turned a certin way in the Add pics.
Click to expand...

No star at all, the entire mechanism right back to the hinge is missing.
 
762mm said:
Ouch... that sucks, man... sorry to hear about it, personally I'd be pissed beyond belief if I ended up with a deal like that.

:(

So, who's the prick who sold you this lemon? Also, isn't $1500 a bit expensive to begin with for a Pryse with sanded grips, a reblue and located in the States? Just wondering... as in the past, I've seen them selling cheaper on CGN (in a seemingly original condition to boot).
Click to expand...

The Belgian Pryse copies sell for $1000 stateside in top condition. Not the same thing as a real #4 in top condition. If you ever get a chance to look closely at both you'll see what I mean. There's just not many webley #4 left, anywhere. Whoever butchered this one should be horsewhipped.

EDIT: I'm not going public with the seller's details for a few days until I know for certain he isn't gonna be of some help. He just emailed me again and said he'd look for some parts for me. So maybe it's not over yet...
 
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That is a shame that you did not get what was expected, it looks to be a nice #4 otherwise. I suspect you could get most of your money back on EE, as it seems people want 45ACP/autorim Webleys. 45acp in a Webley is not my cup of tea but you can't argue much with what the folks on EE want. :)

Now I feel a little worked up as I am also anticipating some problems with what was described as an uber nice Schofield coming my way from the States. I guess there is always a degree of anxiety when you have a good chunk of change involved.
 
At least it's only the extractor arms that have been cut out. It should be possible to repair the extractor. It would never be collector grade though but might make a nice shooter...
 
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