Skeletonised Mk6 Webley

[Peter Laidler]

A Webley Mk6 from the Weapons Collection at Warminster. Skeletonised by pre-war apprentices from the OLD Ordnance Corps apprentices training school at Hilsea in Portsmouth. The pistol was in poor condition but refurbished by current apprentices at ABRO (the now Army Base Repair Organisation that replaced Base Workshops). Note the bullet across the sectioned rear opening in the barrel. Note also the serial number SKN 5 just visible on the frame. This number is also on the barrel; and cylinder.

One other example is stamped on the underside of the butt 'RAOC Sch. 12' The perspex 'grip' is a new addition to replace the original and unrepairable broken one

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[Brit plumber]

Very nice Peter, it's another SKN I'd like to add to the collection. I have a bit of a thing for official SKN actions, the dealer examples are over sectioned in most cases and I prefer true SKN marked guns. So far I've got a No.4, Brens, Enfield No.2 and a Browning M2AC, I'm keeping an eye open for a STEN too.

Those ABRO guys should start a side line in Deac restoration, they'd make a mint!

[Peter Laidler]

As a matter of interest, you were usually well into yoiur apprenticeship before your little group got to do these sectioning tasks. They were really to show how deeply you really understood the internal intricacies of the mechanism. This is a little example that would relate to a Webley like this.

Told to section the pistol to illustrate the action of the cylinder pawl (the arm attached to the trigger that rotates the cylinder), it would be easy to section the complete (or almost.....) side of the pistol away only to find that the actual pawl would/could just slip off the trigger while you were explaining the action to the instructor afterwards. And if it COULD, then he'd make sure that it DID (as I found when I did this when I wrongly sectioned Bren butt buffer....... And Harry Weeks was not a forgiving nor understanding ogre!). Look carefully at this great example.

When the trigger is released, the LOWER part of the arm, connected to the trigger is secured behind the bottom part of the frame. But when the trigger is squeezed and the bottom part of the pawl is lifted out from behind that ledge, it is STILL secure within the action because the middle part of the pawl is STILL retained, this time behind the little ledge in the body behind the sectioned shield. These blokes were clever. You can even - just - see the hammer catch spring. Clever eh!