The Hurricane was introduced in 1977, and was the successor to the famous all-steel Webley pistols made since the 1920's - the Mk 1, Mk 2, Senior, Junior, and Premier. It was a "clean sheet of paper" design sharing no parts with the older guns, and was accompanied by a junior pistol called the Typhoon. The Hurricane was initially a slow seller, prompting Webley to issue the smaller Tempest in 1979; the two guns are indentical except for the shorter muzzle shroud and shorter rear end on the Tempest. The Tempest is cuter, LOL, but the extra weight, length, and superior sights of the Hurricane are advantages.
The body is heavy cast aluminum, but this encloses a steel cylinder wall and steel piston. The fore end cover, safety lever, trigger guard, and grips are plastic, but the piston seal is PTFE and the cocking links, trigger, and sear are high-strength steel extrusions made in Germany. These guns are extremely durable and IMHO superior in power and ergonomics to the old Webleys, if lacking their hand-hewn charm.
Webley pistol trivia:
+ The guns all come out of the casting frame as Hurricanes. It requires more work to make the cheaper Tempest - milling the tail off the frame, drilling for the simpler rear sight, and fitting a shorter muzzle shroud.
+ These pistols were named after aircraft. During WW2 Webley made parts for the famous Hawker Hurricane, Typhoon, and Tempest fighter planes.
Hurricane and Tempest with aftermarket grips...
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