Beeman Tempest San Rafael in .177

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The gun looks great! Glad you are happy with it...again I love the darn things. A few comments:

+ The crack under the fore end is very common on early guns. The plastic sleeve was molded so that it "grips" the action too tightly, creating stress. The sleeve was later modified to fix this. The crack will likely remain stable, but should it fail a replacement piece is a permanent solution.

+ I'm in a minority - but I prefer the Tempest without a trigger shoe. I have fairly small hands and the wide shoe causes me to push the gun sideways when firing; I get a cleaner straight pull, and better consistency, with the original blade.

+ To cock the gun, I favor the traditional method shown in Webley's literature. If you are right handed, hold the gun out in front of you with a normal hold on the grip. Grab the barrel with your left hand palm down, thumb near the muzzle. This makes efficient use of the muscles in both arms and chest.

+ Probably not an issue given the condition of your gun - but a common mod on "Tempicanes" is to lighten the trigger by filing back the sear engagement. Which works great but may ELIMINATE THE SAFTETY FUNCTION. To test: cock the gun; apply the safety; pull the trigger back as far as it will go; push off the safety. An un-modified gun will be fine, but a short sear may FIRE without touching the trigger. (I have a modified Hurricane which fails this test...great pull, safe for ME to use, but not one I'd hand off to a newbie.)

Have fun!
 
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MDriskill thanks for your comments and input. What strikes me most about this gun is the quality of construction and design. The pistol is built to last which was the mindset of those people who designed and manufactured it. I worked in the rail transit industry in the signal division. I repaired, calibrated and tested devices that operated mechanically and controlled electrically. These devices permitted the safe operation of multiple trains on the same track so all associated equipment had to be capable of consistent, dependable, durable operation for extensive periods of time. The reason I find it noteworthy to mention this is this pistol reminds me of those relays and other devices I spent so many years working on. The equipment I handled was designed and manufactured in the 1940's to 1950's. Back then and prior to that railroad equipment had a life expectancy of 75 years. 

I apologize for being so long winded, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this gun is built to give the owner a lifetime of service... a mindset that's rapidly disappearing in today's world. 
 
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Ha...certainly no need for apologies, I can more than hold my own in the "long-winded" arena, LOL. Your work sounds most interesting! I am an architect and like to think I have a eye for well-designed things; the Webley airguns of the 70's - 80's - 90's are favorites!

You might enjoy having a copy of the book "Webley Air Pistols," by Gordon Bruce. VERY good, IMHO one of best airgun monographs extant. Detailed history of all their classics, with many photos, fine "exploded" drawing of each model, and more. Interesting things I learned about the UK-made Tempest there:

+ The frames are cast two at a time in a special mold. The air cylinder is actually a steel sleeve with the alloy cast around it.

+ The guns are all "born" as Hurricanes. To make a Tempest they cut the "tail" off, then drill and tap for the sights. The only other diff between the two is the front barrel shroud; the barrels are the same length.

+ The trigger, sear, and the two cocking links are high-strength solid steel extrusions made in Germany (though on late UK-made guns the trigger is sintered metal I think; with a wider, ribbed, more curved face).
 
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Here in England, i grew up with them as a boy, and owned many of the former variants...

What is now so rare and costly, was once back then very easy to get hold of. Once owning all the variants at one time or another.

You might be interested in my findings. This basic one is the most important to me. It is to achieve as close as you can to 500 fps. In this way, we get the pellet out of the short barrel before the tricky recoil starts.....this is key and probably why the latest Turkish variant of Tempest is described as being more accurate, despite its limits and fits not being quite as good as the English built former model...its simply faster...They all have the potential and their own little differences to get to this velocity but it is important. Forget what they tell you about it being just a pistol and not important....it really is with the springer pistol....

Another interesting point is TPs.... They are all different. The Early Senior variant has an angled port running up to the cylinder. This is a better idea than having the port turn through 90 degrees as this reduces efficiency, but it was a more difficult machining operation.....The Senior can make 490/ 500 fps territory due to this....but the Tempest has access to its less efficient port. Look to the area infront of the rearsight and you will notice a small screw. This gives access to the port and allows modification that other models cannot get...

I recently mixed up a Turkish and English variant for a club shooter who wanted the best of both worlds ....proved very interesting.. putting the nice matt forend shroud and grips of the Turkish version onto the much better built body of the English version, with its better quality fit of the barrel location, polished chamber and longer guide rod. The bonus of the Turkish model, is its barrel, rifled to a true 4.5mm in micro groove , making it very tolerant of modern European pellets..

Me...I would stick with finding out an English/Beeman variant (as the model in this post) ...sticking with Hobby pellets which suit the barrel and maybe purchasing some wood grips....Its a better built gun..
 
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Steveoo, you certainly know your way around a Webley. I don't own a chrograph presently but will be getting one soon. I can't believe my good fortune with the purchase of this pistol, I'm usually not this lucky. Sounds like good advice on the hobby's. I have been using a homemade seating tool to get the pellet a little further in the breech. I appreciate all the good advice and comments you and all the other members here have given me.
 
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Anytime buddy...

The Hobby is a weird one as you would normally expect it to be too small for the English 4.6mm barrel but its always had a bigger skirt than its listing...The reason for this was a decision by RWS when making this cheaper version of its top class match pellets. Knowing that it did not have quite the consistency of its more expensive pellets, they gave it a slightly over size skirt to allow some measure of moulding to fit, to reduce the error potential. This then suiting the naughty barrel of the Old Tempest. Failing that you would need to try and get your hands on some Imperial pellets..

 
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FWIW, I've found several of RWS's older designs have quite large skirts, often measuring 0.185 up to 0.190" ( Hobby, Superdome, Meisterkugeln. Super point, Super Hollowpoint), where most pellets run 0.180 to 0.183. They can be quite hard to thumb-seat flush in a tight breech, but can be great in a more tapered leade. 

One example is older Weihrauch HW 55's, where they actually flared the breech with a tapered mandrel! I gave up even testing other pellet brands in those LOL. 

The tapered breech in the Tempest (and Webley's rifles of the day like the Vulcan), might have been influenced by Cardew's famous book, "The Airgun from Trigger to Target," which suggested such. Yes it can be frustrating with some modern ammo, but makes the guns tolerant of many pellets, and assures you will never have an oversized skirt protruding to be fouled when closing the barrel. 
 
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Yes the Superdome is also worth a punt for the same reason....I would not bother with the pointed as they do not group too well, but the reason I suggested the Hobby is also one of lighter weight/speed..

The Tempest (English version) has a huge leade and big diameter which conspire against you ....many of the European pellets dropping in almost out of sight, but the leade is a good feature for the right pellet..agreed.
 
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