What to do with an old .22 Webley Tracker

[dgeesaman]

A friend picked up this springer at an auction for just a handful of dollars because nobody was bidding on it, then gave it to me.

I shot it some at 20y and got 3" groups. Anyway I tore it down hoping to find a very bad O-ring, piston seal, or broken mainspring but I did not find anything like that. Just old, dusty, and a little rusty on the outside, and the mainspring was bent some toward the back. The tube was nice and shiny inside.

I don't intend to keep it.
Option 1: sell it (give it away) for parts or a project
Option 2: buy a rebuild kit ($70) and see if I get get it shooting usefully well before passing it along. Would make a solid kids gun, around 9 ft-lb. It would be very frustrating though if the issue was not resolved by the rebuild.

Just searching for opinions and experiences here.

 

[Hw9720]

I will pay postage.

tim

 

[Sqwirl57]

Sounds like a fun project to me. If I were you I'd clean it up real good, replace the seals and spring and see what happens.

 

[KWK]

Did you clean the barrel? A dirty barrel can throw them off that bad. Even if it looks clean.

 

[dgeesaman]

Honestly not sure how to do that unless it is disassembled. The rotating pellet loading port blocks everything but now that it’s apart I should be able to do at least a pull through.

 

[MDriskill]

Besides the things already mentioned, those guns are notorious for tap alignment problems, which can usually be fixed with careful shimming. Eyeball the open tap to see if it's aligned with the hole in the receiver. You can also shoot into something soft (wadded-up rag works great) and see if it's "shaving" pellets.

Tap-loader barrels have to be cleaned from the muzzle - even with the tap out, there's not room to clean from the breech. I use felt cleaning pellets and a plastic rod. Open the tap, push the cleaner in until you feel it hit the tap, then close the tap and give the cleaner a final little nudge to push it into the tap. Open the tap again and tweezer the cleaner out (easier with tap removed of course, the cleaner just falls into the open space).

Please post pics of it? The Tracker is one of my fave Webleys - elegant styling, fantastically solid construction, and top-quality metal finish. If you really want to sell it I'll get in line behind Hw9720 (seriously). Pic is an early one labeled as a "Barnett Spitfire."

 

[dgeesaman]

Thanks Mike. (Do I remember that correctly from the Yellow Forum?)

I have someone local lined up to take over this project. The construction is definitely sturdy. The blued metal needs some help but the stock is in good shape.

If I was a betting man Id place my money on good results after a proper scope, thorough cleaning, and re-lube. Not even sure if it really needs seals and a spring.

 

[KWK]

Look closely at the seal It might have gotten nicked on the way out. I have successfully R&R'ed a seal in my Stingray. It shoots fine. I had to make a new guide as the old one ("Spring Tamer") had snapped. If your gun has a lot of vibration when fired I would definitely install a tight fitting delrin guide. I don't know what to do with the trigger other than carefully polish the sear (if qualified) and lightly apply some moly.
Did you rub the blue with fine steel wool and oil? That's about all you can do with that.
Neat little gun.

 

[MDriskill]

Looks pretty good! You got a rare-ish version with the open front sight; the majority of Trackers had a muzzle weight there. The holes at the breech will take the mostly synthetic adjustable rear sight used on the Vulcan rifle, Hurricane pistol, and other Webleys of that era.

As KWK noted, the spring guide on these is weird. Early ones had no true guide at all, later ones had the "spring tamer" which was a plastic gizmo that just floated free inside the spring. I'm not familiar with tuning kits available for these but if someome makes a real guide that would probably be a plus.

Parts diagram here:

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-qovxruj8ue/images/stencil/original/t/24548__55410.original.png

 

[KWK]

A stripped Tracker

Webley Tracker DL dissasembly

Som jag berättat i tidigare inlägg så blev det inte mindre än två Trackers i skåpet när den värsta samlar-lågan brann. Men med den senaste ...

airandpowder.blogspot.com

Yes, a funny looking guide. Not like later "Spring Tamers".

 

[MDriskill]

Great link, thanks!

Apologies if I used the "spring tamer" term incorrectly. The thing added to later Trackers, whatever it's called, is the white plastic gizmo inside the spring.

 

[KWK]

Great link, thanks!

Apologies if I used the "spring tamer" term incorrectly. The thing added to later Trackers, whatever it's called, is the white plastic gizmo inside the spring.

Looks just like the later Tamers with the base snapped off. Same “eye of a needle “ design. Apparently it does float in there like you said.

 

[MDriskill]

Cool. Take a look at the diagram I linked above. The guide doesn't really have a base, but there is a separate protective disk of some sort, and a top hat sort of thing on the front of the spring.

My Tracker is an early one, actually a US-import "Barnett Spitfire." These don't have the floating guide. Fun gun but you haven't heard "spring twang" until you've shot it, LOL...!

 

[Flintsack]

Good save! Car wax first, car polish second they work really well to remove rust Without doing any damage. Polish has more grit I really don’t use it unless it’s absolutely necessary. I have used Zymol for 20 years