New gun, Range Report Webley & Scott .32

[The Rabbi]

Think back to the dawn of the semi-auto era. Back before a certain crabby Mormon machinist designed a gun notable for being both inaccurate and unreliable while giving up nothing in terms of limited magazine capacity, difficulty of take-down, or high maintenance. But I digress.

The Webley and Scott was designed in 1908 and issued to the Metropolitan Police Dept, London. It is chambered in the .32acp (designed by said crabby designer who should have quit while he was ahead). The .32 was a standard pistol cartridge for both police and military even until after World War II in Europe and I believe still is in Japan.

The gun is very English and for us 100 years later very quirky. It is a single action blow back design. The safety is interesting. The lever sits horizontally with the frame and the legend "safe" is on the receiver. The gun is now safe. Swing the lever up to cover the word safe and the gun is ready to fire.

The spring is very tough and the slide hard to pull back. I don't know whether that is typical of this gun or not. The sights are nugatory. just a sharpened front bead and a rear gully.

Shooting this museum piece was interesting. The trigger pull was good, as you'd imagine a single-action. The amazing thing was the cycle: the gun cycles very quickly with minimal recoil. Accuracy was very good. This gun failed to feed the new cartridge in with disappointing regularity. I suspect the 100-year old magazine might be at fault. But extraction and ejection were flawless.

I also cannot find an obvious was to take the gun down for cleaning.

In all, a lot of fun for a historical curiosity. I'd recommend one.

[dcloudy777]

Right... hate for both the finest combat sidearm designed to date and its inventor, whose portfolio also happens to form the design basis of oh, somewhere around half of all current firearm systems.

But you're right, the Webley-Scott family of self-loading pistols does represent the pinnacle of British autopistol design... which is pretty much like being the most respected opera critic in Arkansas...

DanO

[The Rabbi]

Wow, some people are really thin-skinned...

[dcloudy777]

Not really Rabbi... just couldn't resist an opportunity to pick on you and the limeys in the same post...

DanO

[The Rabbi]

The English are a shotgunning nation, when they pay attention to guns at all. Even their police are often unarmed.

[Guest Len]

And they make some VERY fine shotguns when they set their minds to it.

The English are a shotgunning nation, when they pay attention to guns at all. Even their police are often unarmed.

[SkWaShDeM]

The English are a shotgunning nation, when they pay attention to guns at all. Even their police are often unarmed.

Something like 3/4 of them only get a night stick and flashlight is what I've heard.

And yes, England really has a thing for shotguns. They still make some of the best break action shotguns.