Webley MkIV
Calibre .38 S&W
Serial No: 113047
Price: £400

Suitable for Section 7.3 (Heritage Pistols)

Can be Deactivated to order - £120 takes Approx 8 Weeks

Excellent Condition

British WW2 Issue

To speed up war time manufacture the general high quality polished finish on these revolvers was dropped.

This example bears the mark 'War Finish', which was intended to alert those seeing it to the fact that they could expect a superior standard of finish on peacetime Webley products.

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Brief History of the Webley MkIV In British Service

At the end of the First World War, the British military decided that the .455 calibre gun and cartridge was too large for modern military use.
After numerous tests and extensive trials decided that a pistol in .38 calibre firing a 200-grain bullet would be just as effective as the
.455 for stopping an enemy.

Webley & Scott immediately tendered the .38/200 calibre Webley Mk IV revolver, which as well as being nearly identical in appearance to the .455 calibre Mk VI revolver (albeit scaled down for the smaller cartridge), was based on their .38 calibre Webley Mk III pistol, designed for the police and civilian markets.

The British Government took the design to the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, which came up with a revolver that was externally
very similar looking to the .38/200 calibre Webley Mk IV, but was internally different enough that no parts from the Webley could be used in the Enfield and vice versa.

The Enfield-designed pistol was quickly accepted under the designation Pistol, Revolver, No. 2 Mk I, and was adopted in 1932.

Webley & Scott sued the British Government over the incident, claiming £2250 as "costs involved in the research and design" of the revolver.
This was contested by RSAF Enfield, which quite firmly stated that the Enfield No. 2 Mk I was designed by Captain Boys (the Assistant Superintendent of Design, later of Boys Anti-Tank Rifle fame) with assistance from Webley & Scott, and not the other way around.
Accordingly, their claim was denied.

By way of compensation, the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors eventually awarded Webley & Scott £1250 for their work.

Webley put the Mk IV .38 into production for commercial sale. The expansion of the armed forces during the Second World War resulted in a shortage of pistols.
As a consequence around 126,000 Webley Mk IV .38 revolvers were purchased by the Ministry of Supply from 1940 onwards.

This example bears the mark 'War Finish', which was intended to alert those seeing it to the fact that they could expect a superior standard of finish on peacetime Webley products.