Webley & Scott - Webley & Scott Automatic Pistols

Webley & Scott Automatic Pistols

Webley's first autoloading pistol was an experimental pistol in .45 caliber produced in 1903; mass production began in 1906 with the .32 ACP (7.65 mm) model. This pistol had a 3.5" barrel and an 8-round magazine. A .25 (6.35 mm) version had a 3-inch barrel and a 6-round magazine. Ultimately pistols were produced in a range of bores from .22 inch to .455 inch, and included 9 mm models. Webley self-loaders were simple, single-action blowback pistols, designed by William Whiting. Production ceased in 1940.

In 1905, Webley had presented an auto-loading pistol for testing by the Small Arms Committee (SAC), a British military group charged with organizing trials and making recommendations of arms to the War Office. The SAC, which had begun testing automatics in 1900, was unimpressed by Webley's offering, preferring foreign automatics including the Colt. However no automatic was recommended over contemporary service revolvers, which were all Webleys at the time, and trials would continue until 1913.

In 1910 Webley offered a new automatic for testing, and in 1911 the Webley Self-Loading .455” Mark I was recommended by both the SAC and the Chief Inspector of Small Arms (CISA.) This pistol was adopted by the Royal Navy in early 1912 as the first automatic pistol officially in British service. Later the pistol was also adopted by the Royal Horse Artillery and was issued to members of the Royal Flying Corps.

The Webley&Scott pistol self-loading .455” had a 7-round magazine. It was a no small pistol, rugged and accurate at short range, but also heavy with an awkward grip angle. It was prone to jamming throughout most of its service career, owing largely to its cordite ammunition, which left residue that fouled the close tolerances of its diagonally locking breech. The problem was officially resolved in 1941 with the introduction of the Mark Iz (nitrocellulose) cartridge.

The first examples of the pistol had the safety on left side of the hammer, but later models moved the safety to the left side of the frame, where it could also lock the slide. A grip safety was provided on the military models. The pistol had dual ejectors. The slide stop was activated by the absence of a cartridge in the feedway, not by the magazine follower as in most automatics. A drift-adjustable rear sight had range-hashmarks in micrometers.

Although never officially adopted by the British Army, Webley self-loaders were widely used as a substitute-standard or personal weapons by British and Commonwealth forces in both World Wars. Versions were also marketed to colonial military and police forces and were widely adopted.

The M1906 Webley & Scott .32 ACP Self Loading Pistol was adopted by the London Metropolitan Police in 1911, and is sometimes referred to as the Webley MP for this reason. It officially replaced the bulldog revolvers then in use following the infamous Siege of Sidney Street in 1911.