Webley WG internals/trigger assembly view

[u/567432Gains]

I am making this post because I decided to take apart and deep clean the inside of my 1892 Webley WG (Webley Government or to some people Webley Green) revolver.

After taking it apart, giving each piece my individual attention, I went to put it back together only to have more difficulty than I do with other firearms.

I began searching for pictures of the inside or instructions on how to reassemble it properly but I was shocked to find after extensive searching, that for the Webley WG, no pictures or videos exist (that I could find at least). So here are some pictures so the next person who does what I did today (take apart something without actually knowing how to reassemble it) does not have to spend 5 hours messing around only to call a gun smith and drive to his home on the spot. I did manage to figure everything out on my own till the last part as detailed below.

The most annoying part was the actual spring bars, because the amount of force required to get them into place does require tools. If you try to do it by hand, it will A) not work, and B) feel sooooo wrong given that it’s an antique. I hope this helps someone out one day. If the pictures are not good enough and you find yourself needing help, feel free to reach out to me on Reddit and if I see it in time I’ll send you more pictures closer to the inside. I honestly just don’t wanna disassemble it again after all the work that went into it over the last couple days from general cleaning to trying to reassemble it.

Cheers and I hope it helps someone.

Edit* I’ll add a video at someone point to this post that shows me doing a full re-assembly (and possibly a disassembly) just so that it’s clear to anyone that has one. There are a couple parts further in that are very small along with a special way of making stuff actually fit. Also, for the little cylinder latch thing that turns the cylinder, you will note a bit of bent sheet metal in my picture that pushes on it. I believe it is after market, you may have a little bit of metal that looks closer to paperclip configuration on yours.

[u/outline8668]

I can't tell by your pictures, is your cylinder bolt intact or broken in half like most of them? I've had mine apart numerous times I thought it was all pretty easy to work with the only annoying part is the spring for the frame latch.

https://www.milsurps.com/threads/455-476-webley-wg-detail-photos-of-cylinder-stop-screws-and-springs.34059/

[u/567432Gains → u/outline8668]

Just commenting again because I genuinely want an answer to this from you, I wanna learn what it is.

[u/outline8668 → u/567432Gains]

The piece in the picture with the tape measure. Usually they are broken in half right where the screw fastens it to the frame. Mine was I had to fabricate the rear portion of it..I was able to make the piece out of a tine from a fork and silver solder it on.

Also the rounded part that pops up to engage the notches in the cylinder tends to wear down allowing the cylinder to freewheel. Your gun is in much much better shape than mine so perhaps not an issue for you.

Also the bolt spring (the u-shaped piece on the picture) was missing on mine I had to make a new one out of a piece of guitar wire.

[u/567432Gains → u/outline8668]

The cylinder bolt (the part that you say breaks at the screw) is in tact just fine on mine, although the cylinder does have a litttttttle bit more play then I would like so it may need replacing soon.

The bolt spring on mine appears to be a replacement, as the originals (I think, not certain) were wire like yours and mine is what looks like a tiny bit of sheet metal. I say this because the sheet metal is a tiny bit too big (just the smallest little bit) and because of that the side plate seems to sit a little bit to high. It’s not noticeable unless you are reallllly looking for it.

[u/outline8668 → u/567432Gains]

As long as it fits and works. There's no replacing these. They are not available and they were hand fitted to the gun. The bolt also has nothing to do with cylinder lockup, that is done by the hand and a lug on the upper rear of the trigger. The bolt stops the cylinder from freewheeling when the gun is not cocked and prevents the hand from counter rotating the cylinder as you release the trigger and the hand retracts.

Mine also has a little bit of cylinder play. That has not stopped me from shooting it. The fact your gun has some play and is in 100x nicer shape than mine makes me wonder if that's just normal for these. On mine it seems like the hand has worn down a hair which after 130 or 140 years isn't a big deal. I thought about building it up a little with some silver solder and see how it holds but it still shoots pretty good as is.