Original Antique British Victorian Early Commercial Webley Mark III Revolver – Matching Serial 4584 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The British Webley Service revolvers are among the most recognizable revolver designs out there, and were in use well into the 20th Century, through WWII. The Webley Mark One was first produced in 1887 and continued production until 1894 when it was replaced with the Mark Two from 1894 until 1897. The series continued with the Mark three from 1897 to 1899, the Mark four from 1899 to 1913, the Mark five from 1913 to 1914 and finally the Webley Mark six from 1915 until 1919. The Mark Six was the revolver WRONGLY carried by Actor Michael Caine as Lt. Bromhead in the wonderful Movie “ZULU”.

This example is marked with serial number 4584 on the right side of the frame, with shortened number 584 on the rear of the cylinder and barrel. This is a very low number in Mark III production, before there were any military contracts. Webley & Scott did supply revolvers Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) between December 1895 and February 1898, which ended with Mark III revolvers under serial number 7000. More specifically, per some records these were all between 5154 and 6851, so 4584 was almost certainly produced in 1897. An additional British War Department purchase of serial numbers 8327 to 11121 was logged in February 1899, further securing that 4584 is certainly pre 1899 manufacture and Federally considered an ANTIQUE.

As improvements were made before the next model came out, they were indicated with “Stars” after the “mark number”, however this example is still in the original Mark III configuration that it was produced in. It is marked: –

WEBLEY
PATENTS

To the right of this is the Webley & Scott “Winged Bullet” logo over W & S.

The main changes from the Mark II to Mark III involved the cylinder cam and related parts, and otherwise it had the same external appearance. The British Military had plenty of Mark I and II revolvers, which were also later updated, so they did not order more in quantity until 1899. They ran into problems as Webley had started the Mark III serial number sequence over at 1, so they had Webley Service revolvers with duplicate serial numbers. To rectify this they restarted the Mark III sequence at around 75,000, where the previous examples had left off. Only the very earliest Mark III revolvers have the low serial numbers.

This revolver has the expected Birmingham CROWN / CROSSED SCEPTERS / B P C proof marks on the barrel and cylinder from manufacturing and inspection. For additional information see: THE WEBLEY SERVICE REVOLVER by Robert Maze, published in 2012. Pages 18-21.

The bore is in good condition, with a bright finish and visible lands and grooves. There is however wear to the grooves, so this revolver looks to have seen significant use while in service. The revolver has a nice aged blued with the expected wear of age. The grips are in good shape, with nice checkering, though there are cracks on the front “toe” on both side. There is also some wear and scratching consistent with use. Lanyard loop on this revolver is still present, and in good shape, bent slightly out of round.

The revolver cycles well in both single and double action, though it can be finicky at times if the cylinder gets stuck during rotation, and may need to have the cylinder moved by hand so that it can cycle. The arbor pin is definitely worn, which is why it sometimes sticks, even with lubrication. The revolver breaks open correctly, with the ejector protruding correctly. It does retract but gets stuck often, so it may need to be moved back and forth a bit to get it to snap in.

Many of these revolvers were later altered to take .45ACP in clips, however this example is still in the original configuration, unaltered. We very rarely see antique Webley revolvers that have not had this alteration.

A very nice example of a famous service revolver, federally considered an ANTIQUE. Ready to Display!

Specifications:

Years of Manufacture: 1897
Caliber: .455 Webley MkII
Ammunition Type: Centerfire Cartridge
Overall Length: 9 1/4 inches
Barrel Length: 4 inches
Action: External Hammer Double/Single Action
Feed System: 6 Shot Revolver