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Mine indeed.

Webley replaced the classic Mk 3 underlever taploader with the Osprey sidelever about 1975. The 1984 Tracker was a modified Osprey (improved piston seal and vastly better styling) accompanied by the long-barreled Viscount. Mine is technically a "Barnett Spitfire," US import of an early Tracker (Webley sold Barnett crossbows in the UK then).

The compact action is about 9 FPE in .177. Tap alignment can be a tricky...early ones have no real spring guide (!)...and the lever safety ratchet and short barrel make it noisy. But it's outrageously sturdy and attractive with some clever design details, and the metal polish and blueing shame German guns of the day. Same trigger as the Vulcan barrel-cocker. Maybe more popular outside the UK, especially Scandinavia.
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Several interesting short-run versions were made, including lovely checkered walnut stocks. The walnut Viscount is one of the best-looking air rifles ever made.
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MDriskill said:
Yes, sir - it is.

Webley replaced the uber-classic Mk 3 underlever taploader with the Osprey sidelever about 1975. The Tracker was a modified Osprey (improved piston seal and vastly better styling) introduced about 1984; also a long-barreled version called the Viscount. Mine is technically a "Barnett Spitfire," an early Tracker imported as part of a trade deal that sent Barnett crossbows to the UK.

The compact action maxes out about 9 FPE in .177. It can be a tricky performer, and the lever has a noisy safety ratchet; but it's outragously sturdy and elegantly styled, with some clever design details. The metal polish and blueing shame many contemporary German guns. Same trigger as the Vulcan barrel-cocker. They were very popular outside of the UK, especially Scandinavia. Several interesting short-run versions were made, including lovely checkered walnut stocks.
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That is my next side lever.
 
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Have any used a hiLift jack? That is how I would wish to cock the ram. Multiple strokes. Much larger piston tube volume to overcome any loss of efficiency with a transfer port. Much more swept volume to compete with PCPs in the .25 caliber and 30+ fpe range.

I know that no such thing will ever be made :(. PCPs are great, effortless power, no recoil, expensive, require all manner of fuss and bother to supply high pressure air. A multi-stroke spring rifle like a multi-pump air rifle. I could not possible pump my 392 Steroids in a single pump, it takes 8-12 or more strokes to achieve maximum power (about 24 fpe for the .22). I wish for spring/gas ram rifle that would require a mechanism not unlike a jack to compress the spring and like a multi-pump rifle it too would not need to be fully compressed for plinking but for hunting it would be fully compressed.
 
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MDriskill said:
That is VERY interesting! I'd love to know more details of its design.
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Should come up eventually if you Google Wray air rifle, I stumbled across it whilst doing some research for a reverse firing monotube springer action I was building to trial (basically the Crosman barrel runs within the comp tube, piston fires towards shoulder, piston seals OD to cylinder/ ID to barrel via bronze bearings and Orings, and is probe fed)-

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If I recall on the Wray gun the guy built it after getting annoyed by the stagnant springer industry. He trialed various piston diameters/ strokes to find the optimum at sub 12, and it was sad it had very little recoil. It had a rotating piston but no latch rod (IIR) and somehow he made it 2 stage, and I think it was described as match grade.

Production numbers were low (something like 6 I think) as basically he got fed up with the repetitive nature of hand building them.....its not always wise to mix business with pleasure....
 
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JamieUK said:
Should come up eventually if you Google Wray air rifle, I stumbled across it whilst doing some research for a reverse firing monotube springer action I was building to trial (basically the Crosman barrel runs within the comp tube, piston fires towards shoulder, piston seals OD to cylinder/ ID to barrel via bronze bearings and Orings, and is probe fed)-

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That is Very Interesting!…Were you able to prove your design? I researched the ”Wray” gun on the internet. Not too much info, but some great photos…allowing me to surmise the inner workings. Thanks for getting my imagination working again. John
 
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JohnTaylor said:
That is Very Interesting!…Were you able to prove your design? I researched the ”Wray” gun on the internet. Not too much info, but some great photos…allowing me to surmise the inner workings. Thanks for getting my imagination working again. John
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If you have an hour or two spare (and haven't already) there's a couple of 'vintage airgun' gallery websites that have a few rifles like the Wray (small run/ custom builds) that are worth checking out 👍

Yes had the concept action up and running, efficiency was in the late 50's with a light spring and minimum recoil. It came about after daydreaming about transfer port dimensions (I'm sad like that)....

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Basically, the Crosman barrel is fixed at the muzzle end, and floating at the breech/ probe end, and can be adjusted in or out to open or restrict the port. The barrel is held central by the piston as it traveks down the comp tube. The probe would load a pellet into the leade (same as a pcp) but retract and cam back slighlty when locked to allow for flow.

A pellet receives the majority of its energy from the compressed air whilst the piston is still moving. You need a transfer port of course to act as a restriction to allow pressure to build at all, but that restriction also prevents flow so.....I wanted to see how wide/ short you could go (and in this concept you can 'sort of' go 8mm wide (the diameter of the Crosman barrel) by as little as 0.1mm, upwards, in length.

Ultimately this was just about testing the compression tube/ barrel/ TP arrangement. I made a basic trigger release, and cocking sled using chain and an underlever from a 77 (piston latches at front end and cocks from rear)....

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.....but they could never really be used in a full working model. One day though, when life is different, I'll design a chassis/ proper trigger arrangement, and take this further......
 
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JamieUK said:
If you have an hour or two spare (and haven't already) there's a couple of 'vintage airgun' gallery websites that have a few rifles like the Wray (small run/ custom builds) that are worth checking out 👍

Yes had the concept action up and running, efficiency was in the late 50's with a light spring and minimum recoil. It came about after daydreaming about transfer port dimensions (I'm sad like that)....

View attachment 531155

Basically, the Crosman barrel is fixed at the muzzle end, and floating at the breech/ probe end, and can be adjusted in or out to open or restrict the port. The barrel is held central by the piston as it traveks down the comp tube. The probe would load a pellet into the leade (same as a pcp) but retract and cam back slighlty when locked to allow for flow.

A pellet receives the majority of its energy from the compressed air whilst the piston is still moving. You need a transfer port of course to act as a restriction to allow pressure to build at all, but that restriction also prevents flow so.....I wanted to see how wide/ short you could go (and in this concept you can 'sort of' go 8mm wide (the diameter of the Crosman barrel) by as little as 0.1mm, upwards, in length.

Ultimately this was just about testing the compression tube/ barrel/ TP arrangement. I made a basic trigger release, and cocking sled using chain and an underlever from a 77 (piston latches at front end and cocks from rear)....

View attachment 531151

.....but they could never really be used in a full working model. One day though, when life is different, I'll design a chassis/ proper trigger arrangement, and take this further......
Click to expand...
Ingenious!…Very clever!…I love seeing other’s ideas on how to solve problems. Thanks again for sharing! Will check out vintage websites for more solutions to this. John
 
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