Webley

The Webley Revolver (also known as the Webley Top-Break Revolver or Webley Self-Extracting Revolver) was a British top-break revolver produced by British commercial firearms company Webley and Scott. Revolvers of this style would serve as the standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the British Commonwealth from 1887 until 1963. Several models of Webley revolver would be produced, both before and during the pistol's time in military service. The various Webley revolvers would first be made solely by Webley & Scott. Later on, RSAF Enfield would also produce revolvers of this pattern. Webley and Scott began producing revolvers in 1853, with their first patented firearm being a single-action cap-and-ball revolver. Later on, they would produce rimfire revolvers and licensed copies of Smith and Wesson break-action revolvers. The first iteration of the Webley pattern of revolver came in the 1870's, and it was with these early models that the prominent features of Webley design would start to take shape. Like the Smith & Wesson top-break revolvers the company had worked on before, the Webley revolver had a hinged frame, allowing the revolver to be 'broken open' for reloading. To reload, the user presses a latch on the left-hand side of the grip, which removes the locking bar holding the two halves of the revolver together. The revolver is then hinged open, and as the revolver is opened up, the extractor forcefully ejects the spent casings from the cylinder to clear it for insertion of new cartridges. Webley & Scott produced several commercial models of revolver prior to the pistol being adopted for standard military use. The most popular commercial model of Webley revolver was the Webley-Government, or W.G., model revolver, and it is this model that is featured in Girls' Frontline. This was Webley's offering for British military officers looking for a suitable service-style sidearm, as it was common practice at the time for officers to procure their own sidearms. Many firearms companies offered variants of their pistols to cater to this market, and Webley was no exception. With its sturdy construction, relative ease of disassembly, powerful .455 cartridge, and swift reloads, the Webley-Government was the private purchase pistol of choice for many military officers of the period. Several other commercial revolver models would be produced, including the Webley Bulldog and the Webley RIC. However, despite the success of the W.G. model, Webley would become most well-known for its range of military service revolvers, which would see service across both World Wars and be used in conflicts across the globe. In 1887, the British Army was searching for a revolver to replace the largely unsatisfactory .476 Enfield Mk I & Mk II revolvers. Webley & Scott entered its Webley Self-Extracting Revolver for trials. The military was suitably impressed with the revolver (it was seen as a vast improvement over the Enfield revolvers then in service, and the American-designed Owen extraction system did not prove particularly satisfactory), and it was adopted on 8 November 1887 as the "Pistol, Webley, Mk I". The Webley military revolver went through a number of changes, culminating in the Mk VI, which was in production between 1915 and 1923. The Webley revolver wouldn't be completely phased out of service until 1963, when it would be replaced by the Browning Hi-Power. Despite this, many .38/200 caliber Webleys would circulate in British service until around 1970.