Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! The Webley 1904 was an experimental early semi-automatic pistol designed by John Whiting for Webley & Scott in .455 caliber. It utilized a short recoil locking system with a massive falling block breechbolt, making it extremely large and heavy. This Webley 1904 prototype was one of the first British military semi-auto pistols tested, showing promise initially. However, issues soon arose including sensitivity to dirt, excessive recoil, and ejecting cases at the shooter’s face. Testing was discontinued in 1905. Though innovative with features like its grip safety and lever recoil buffer, the 1904 proved too unrefined. Webley & Scott ultimately redesigned it into the successful blowback-operated Model 1912. Only a handful of 1904 prototypes like this example survive. Despite its flaws, the 1904 represents an important step in the development of Webley & Scott’s later pistols.
“This is a very rare example of one of the early prototype type designed Model 1904 semi-automatic pistol as manufactured by W&S. This rare pistol has the very large style frame that uses the Whiting designed vertical locking mechanism. John Whiting had been brought into the Webley & Scott firm by Henry Webley after his successful development of the Gabbett-Fairfaz designed MARS pistol. Obviously the intent was to have Whiting develop a new semi-automatic type pistol for both commercial and military sales. This exact pistol is shown and described on pages 500-504 of the book “Handguns of the World” by Dr. Ezell. It is a very large, heavy design that had some interesting features. It was a blow-back operated type design with a massive breach bolt with lightning cuts on the sides and the vertical locking block that engages the lower sides of the breech bolt. It has a large ring hammer with a detachable magazine and a bottom release mechanism located on the underside of the butt of the pistol. The pistol weighs just over 3.04 lbs unloaded and was the very first British Military semi-automatic pistol tested.”
Lot 1407: Webley & Scott Model 1904 Semi-Automatic. (n.d.-b). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved February 16, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/69/1407/webley-scott-model-1904-semiautomatic.
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