Buzzin' Dozen!

The editor gets an exciting exclusive on Webley’s re-vamped 12-shot Raider Classic.

I knew the Webley Raider 12 was on its way, but there’s always that little buzz of excitement when the delivery man finally rocks up and you scrawl something meaningless on that electronic pad of his. As I write, that event took place three weeks ago as a cheerful chap in a brown suit dropped off a pre-production prototype of the Raider 12. The initial buzz has evened into a dignified hum, but the excitement remains – which can never be a bad thing, really.

What’s to get excited about, then? Well, truth to tell, there’s nothing massively groundbreaking and not a thing to boggle the mind, drop the jaw, or widen the eyes. Yet, the Webley Raider 12 Classic is a genuinely pulse quickening rifle, and it’s my job to tell you why.

STOCK LINES

Take a lingering look at this Raider 12, and if you prefer clean lines and an uncluttered approach, you’ll perhaps begin to understand where the sedate buzz’ette comes from. Nothing sticks out, jars the eye, or unduly interrupts an appreciative fondle, as you run your hands over the ambidextrous Turkish walnut stock. It’s not a stalwart sporter design, at least not by old-school standards, but it’s no semi-match, targetised hunting gun, either.

Panels of stippling, at the grip and beneath the fore end, do a surprisingly efficient job of tacking the rifle to the shooter, although a thumb groove at the rear of the grip would have helped to consolidate the hold. The production rifles will have ‘WEBLEY’ writ large within the fore end stippling, but the rest is how the finished item will look, feel and handle.

SCOPE HEIGHT