Webley revolvers

[mooncoon]

I was shooting 3 different Webleys at the range this morning am came away wondering why the British did not adopt the Colt single action instead of the Webley except (for nationalistic pride). I have a Webley Pryse in excellent condition; made in the 1880s and unquestionably intended for black powder. The catch is that the barrel is held down by two small pins moved in and out by finger levers. It takes very little crud to jam these and make the gun difficult to open. I also have a Mark VI in excellent condition; again it takes very little crud to prevent the thumb lever from closing --- I had a bullet back out under recoild today, spilling powder in the cylinder. I had to put the gun under the tap (after unloading) in order to be able to open and close the gun. While the Mark VI was primarily or exclusively for smokeless, the earlier models using the same latch would have had the same problem and all of them in a battle condition would require very little sand, mud, or crud to jam them.
The third gun was a Model 5 which appears to be a partial clone of a Colt revolver. It is a solid frame gun and the only things that jam it are shells too long, primers not properly seated or the ejector rod slipping into the cylinder because of a weak spring.
At least from the perspective of not yet owning one, the single action army would seem to have the advantage of being solid frame with the draw backs of being slow to eject shells and being only single action.
Anyways should be good for a thread that has not been covered in here to my memory.

cheers mooncoon

 

[david doyle]

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[david doyle]

I can hardly wait for this thread to get going.

 

[dingus]

LOL Glad Davids back for this one.

OK i have shot alot of Webley ammo thru Webleys some Pretty hot stuff to and NEVER had any issue opening the action to reload. Ive bent Latch screws done things to the poor old guns that border on mollesting but they always have been good for me.

Im useing smokeless and try to not roll around in sand or mud ect before i go shooting tho.

But im sure they Frig up sometimes like Doug says tho!
The Pryse levers are very Strong really but yes if any dirt gets in there and they dont shut properly thats why theres two is my guess

The SAA Colt is a Fantastic gun im just getting into them alot and i do Love the guns simplicty! they are EX revolvers with half as many parts but are SA only. very Strong.
Like the Webley Army Express. BUT what i didnt like about my Army Express is theres NO stop notch so the Cylinder can roll around when the guns stuffed in your pants or Holster ect. Not really likeing that part.
The DA is nice and very smooth tho.

Good point David about cleaning a blockage from a SAA Colt thats a very Good point.
I still love the fast Reloading of the Webley.
Mine shoot 45 Schofieldwith Speedloaders.
There pretty sweet guns i think!

Also dont Forget they Had Speedloaders for 455 Webleys back in the 1800s so thats a BIG advantage to over a SAA Colt.

If some big Zullu is chargeing you you better have two SAAs or one Webley.

 

[david doyle]

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[mooncoon]

I think a great deal of my irritation with the Webleys is because I shoot black powder out of them. Smokeless would eliminate most of the problems. The Model 5 is a double action revolver for clearing David's trenches but just as slow to reload as a Colt; obviously you need two or three of them. The problem I am having with it is that the spring on the ejector rod is too weak and the rod keeps moving back into the cylinder. While it might seem a simple thing to fix, finding a spring with the right dimensions is difficult unless I made a new ejector rod.
It seems to me there is a tradeoff between clearing mud from the barrel + fast reloading versus being able to actually close and fire the gun after reloading. Ultimately I suspect the swing out cylinder of a Smith and Wesson would trump both the SAA and the Webley.
Of course another issue is how many times was a handgun reloaded during battle conditions? Did an officer empty his gun and rapidly reload and empty it again etc or was it more a symbol of authority?

cheers mooncoon

 

[DEZ]

I shoot Pyrodex or 777 in mine 50 rnds straight no problems I've also shot black but find the rifling a little too fine to keep a good group after more than a couple of rounds I've found my Smith will start to drag faster than the webley with real black . I've owned several Webleys and I'm afraid I love them . Try a black substitute like777 or pistol Pyrodex and you may be surprized

 

[david doyle]

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[mooncoon]

A small number of the model 5s were used by the Orange Free State in Africa.

Relative to using smokeless powder, black powder cartridge handgun competitions are just that; pyrodex and similar do not qualify. I do find it prudent to take a bottle of water along with me and pour it down the barrel every 10 shots and I also am convinced the reason for the funny long pointed nose on a webley bullet is because there is no "forcing cone" in the breach end of the barrel. Blunt nosed bullets just do not shoot well in the guns.

cheers mooncoon