Perennial Pistol!

Tim finley revisits one of the landmark airguns of his youth – the webley tempest.

The Webley Tempest was introduced in early 1979 as a super-compact, spring-powered air pistol. I bought one just two years after it came out; a wonderful .22 version, which by chance came back into my possession recently - check out my Dr Finley article on page 67 of this issue.

As we know, Webley sadly folded in 2007, but was resurrected thanks to Highland Outdoors. The latest Webley Tempest looks and feels exactly like the original, but with slightly differing materials and manufacturing techniques. It uses solid steel pins to hold the trigger parts in place rather than the rolled steel ones of the original. Other than that, if you did not have an original pistol to place beside it to compare, then only a collector would know which was which.

A very good owner’s manual is also provided, which goes into all the detail you would ever need, including a parts diagram. The new Tempest still has the proven Johnstone-Fearn system of the original Webley Premier, where the barrel lies above the air cylinder, instead of in front of it, which makes for a very compact air pistol.

COCKING