WEBLEY EAGLE

My first ever air rifle was a Webley Eclipse underlever, which I begged my mum to buy me over almost 40 years ago after shooting my best friend’s Weihrauch HW77 in his back garden. Things have moved on somewhat since those hazy childhood shooting sessions, and while Webley has produced some great PCP rifles in recent years, notably the Raider, this latest model is packed full of features that you’d expect to find on a much more expensive rifle.

AN ELEGANT STOCK Right off the bat, you begin to get a feel of quality with the Eagle thanks to the elegantly crafted Turkish walnut stock. It’s an ambidextrous thumbhole design with plenty of etching on the pistol grip, and there are further grips etched into either side of the forend just in front of the synthetic trigger guard, which incidentally, is where the point of balance is on this rifle. I think because it has a large, metal air bottle, it’s a tad weighty down that end, but I found the balance point to be extremely comfortable when shooting it freehand. The forend of the stock is almost flat with just the slightest bevel to it and as you move back towards the trigger guard it is gently curved upwards, which makes it very comfortable to hold or rest on your palm in all manner of holds. I also love the way they have recessed the fill port so it sits flush with the base of the stock. There’s a synthetic fill port cover held on by magnets that simply pulls off to reveal a male Foster probe fitting. The short female attachment that you connect to the end of your whip is in the little bag of goodies supplied with the rifle.

While I’m on the subject, you also get an Allen key to adjust the trigger and a couple of spare O-rings supplied too, along with a Webley silencer. I am a little intrigued as to why the stock is only fitted with a single sling stud towards the butt of the stock, though. There wasn’t another one attached to the forend or supplied with it, instead there is a female screw thread up front embedded into the stock. I’m assuming that you can add attachments here, whether that be another sling stud or a rail to attach a bipod. The dark walnut stock is finished off with a rubber butt pad at the rear end, and some lovely etching throughout with the words “Webley” and “Eagle” on the right-hand-side.

REGULATOR AND BOTTLE This rifle is regulated and it delivers a solid performance with just 9fps variation throughout the shots I put over the chronograph. The “Webley” branded manometer is colour coded and very easy to read, so you’ll be able to see at a quick glance just how much air you have left to shoot with. I’ve already mentioned the 420cc metal air bottle, and Webley states that this gives you around 240 shots in .22 with around 160 in .177, but I think I got closer to 200 with the .177 rifle sent to me for review.

SOLID BLOCK AND SIDELEVER The Eagle features a solid alloy block construction, and the biathlon-style sidelever on the right-hand-side. It’s a short-stroke lever, barely pulling back past 90 degrees, and the operation is silky smooth. As you would expect, the very last few millimetres of pull to cock the rifle requires a little extra grunt, but it’s easy enough. The 30mm-long drop handle is fixed and it has etched lines that rotate around it for added grip. On top of the block you’ll find a split Picatinny rail, with ample room to attach any optics you choose, be it glass, digital day/night or thermal.

Moving on to the barrel. It’s a free-floating design and slightly longer than average at 41cm (16.1in). The end is 0.5in UNF threaded to take the supplied Webley silencer, which does an excellent job of suppressing the bark that it gives without the silencer attached. If you’re buying this rifle for hunting, then you don’t need to worry, it really is reasonably quiet.

NICE TRIGGER I quite like this trigger unit. It’s a two-stage unit and the first stage is set quite short, coming to an abrupt halt after just a couple of millimetres. There’s the tiniest bit of creep before a crisp release, but none of that bothered me in the slightest during the countless hours I had on the range — you’re getting a lot of quality rifle here for just a few pounds over £500. The trigger blade is nice and wide, too, with a flat profile almost like a match trigger with slight bevelled edges top and bottom. You can adjust both the height and angle of the trigger blade to get the perfect position via a tiny Allen screw with the corresponding key supplied.

Let’s talk about the manual safety button. I’ve never been a fan of having safety buttons or levers inside the trigger guard, let alone on the trigger itself, which is where it is on this particular rifle. Immediately above the trigger blade attached to the stem that the blade sits on, you’ll find a small push on/off safety button. It works really well and is easy enough to use.

ROTARY MAGAZINES On the right-hand-side of the block you’ll find the loading port for Webley’s multi-shot magazine, which incidentally provides 12 shots for .22 and 14 in .177 caliber. These self-indexing magazines are really easy to load and are the clear Perspex cover type. Simply rotate the top clear cover all the way round until it stops, then flip it over and drop a pellet into the hole skirt first. This will lock the spring in place and you can then flip it back over so that the clear cover is on the top and just drop your pellets in as usual while turning the cover anticlockwise to its return point.

You get two magazines supplied with each rifle, and once loaded they’re really easy to insert. You have to insert them from the right-hand-side, using the protruding lip moulded into the back of the magazine to line it up with the recessed groove in the block. It’s not fiddly at all, in fact it’s a very solid way of inserting the magazine. Once you’ve pushed it all the way in it is held in place via a magnet, not that I could see this magazine falling out without it.

VERY ACCURATE I spent hours on my local club range with the Eagle, spread over numerous days with varying weather conditions from icy cold to relatively mild with a stiff breeze. I’m very impressed indeed with how accurate it is, and I was nailing 5p-sized groups on paper out to just over 40 yards easily from the bench. I also pushed my luck further and got right into the swing of things smashing the spinners and knockdowns out at 50 metres.

I lost track of time on numerous occasions, but I knew I’d been having fun during two of the sessions when I had to refill the rifle. I’d have no problem taking this little gem out in the field to control a few rabbits or pigeons, it’s a rock-solid performer from a very well-known brand that is close to my heart. For a smidge over £500, you really can’t go wrong with this Webley.