Webley Air Rifles
Webley & Scott is one of the oldest names in the gun industry with almost two centuries of production of some of the most famous firearms the world has ever seen - the Webely revolver, shotguns, and Webley rifles.
Webley was founded in the late 18th century by William Davies who originally made bullet moulds. In 1834 the company was taken over by his son-in-law, Philip Webley, and his brother James who began the production of percussion sporting guns. Two sons, Thomas and Henry, entered the family business during the 1860's.
Webley manufactured several types of pistols over the subsequent years, including single and double action percussion revolvers as well as pin-fire and center-fire revolvers. It is for the production of handguns, that Webley became famous. Webley's production originally consisted of hand-crafted firearms, although mass-production was later introduced to supply police and military buyers.
Following the dominant success of the pistol and shotgun markets, Webley decide to enter the air gun market in the early 1900's when the UK Firearms Act of 1920 required people to obtain a firearms certificate to purchase or possess a firearm. After several years of development, Webley released their first air pistol, the Mark I in 1924. Webley released their first air rifle (Mark I Air Rifle) two years later in 1926. The Webley Mark I air rifle set the standard for such guns.