Webley Longspur

Webley Longspur is an early British percussion revolver, patented in 1853. The first revolver of the later famous British factory Webley&Son, it was an open frame, 5-shot, single action revolver. It was a solid and popular weapon at the time, although it faced heavy competition from already established, popular Colt's and Adams revolvers. 

Background
The first commercially available percussion revolvers were developed by Samuel Colt in 1834, and the serial production began in 1836, in his first factory in Paterson, New Jersey. In order to secure his invention and investment, he took legal patents for all the firearms with a revolving cylinder in the US, UK and France in 1836, which gave Colt a monopoly on the revolvers production until 1857 in the US, and until 1851 in Europe. Although sales were modest at first and his first company went bankrupt in 1843, Colt's percussion revolvers gained popularity during Mexican-American War (1847–1848) and California gold rush (1849), which led to the mass demand for both large holster revolvers for cavalry and small pocket revolvers for self-defense.

In 1851, Colt has successfully presented his revolvers at the Great Exhibition in London, and established his revolvers at the British market, even opening his own factory in London in 1853. However, as soon as the Colt's British patent had expired in 1851, British inventor Robert Adams patented his own, improved revolver design, self-cocking Adams revolver with double action trigger and solid frame, which provided faster rate of fire and more durability than Colt's single action, open frame revolvers. Adams' revolvers became so popular in the UK that by 1857 Colt was forced to close his factory in London.

At the time several other British gunsmiths had started production of their own percussion revolvers, competing with Colt and Adams on the British market. Among them were brothers James and Philip Webley, whose workshop in Birmingham was producing percussion rifles and pistols since 1835. Their first Webley Longspur cap-lock revolver was patented in 1853.

Open frame
Unlike the Adams revolvers, which had dominated the British market since 1851, James Webley's revolvers mostly did not have the solid, one-piece frame and barrel construction, but instead had a two-piece body with an open frame, similar to the Colt's revolvers at the time. In the early Webley revolvers, the front part of the frame and the barrel formed a separate part, attached to the rear part of the frame via the cylinder arbor, which was an integral part of the breech. In the earliest models, the cylinder arbor was attached to the revolver barrel by a transverse flat vedge (which passed through a hole in the front part under the barrel and on the arbor), similarly to the Colt's revolvers. In later models, the front part was screwed on the cylinder arbor (the thread on the arbor screwed into a corresponding longitudinal hole drilled in the front part of the frame, under the barrel). In addition, the lower part of the front frame was connected to the rear frame under the cylinder by a longitudinal thumbscrew, which could be screwed in or unscrewed manually, without any tools. Some later Weblies, however, had a closed frame strapped together at the top, giving them greater strength and durability than the Colt's of the time.

Single action
Webley revolvers were made with both single-action and double-action systems, although the early models were predominamtly single-action.

Loading lever
The earliest models of Webley revolver had a ramrod that was screwed perpendicularly into the handle of the gun. This was not a very practical option, so later models had an attached ramrod, with the two main types:


 * Adams rammer, loading lever patented by Robert Adams, mounted on the right side of the frame with a screw on the front end and secured below the cylinder by the side of the butt. It was a straight lever pivoting around the perpendicular pin on its front end (fixed on the frame in front and below the cylinder) with a short, perpendicular ramrod in the middle which faced downwards in the fixed position. When in use, the lever had to be rotated manually down and forward for 270°, until the lever was in front of the cylinder and the ramrod entered one of the chambers, driving the ball in. This one was mosty fitted on the earlier models.
 * Kerr rammer, loading lever patented by John Kerr, which was pivoted at the front of the frame and secured to the left side of the barrel. The lever had to be rotated upwards for 90° to drive the ramrod in the chamber.

Production
Although sturdy and reliable revolvers for their time, Webley Longspur faced heavy competition on the British market from the already established, popular brands of Colt Navy and Adams revolvers. In all, only about 2,000 of this early Webley revolvers were produced.

External sources

 * TAB Short: Webley-Bentley Percussion Revolver