Webley Stingray

Forgive me for babbling on about the old children’s TV show Stingray, but it was a classic and I loved it; and I feel the same way about the old Webley Stingray air rifle… and I suspect that I’m not the only one! So I was pleased to get a chance to test this new Mk2 version, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised.

There are a lot of budget priced air rifles around these days and some are better than others, but the new Webley Stingray Mk2 is certainly right up there at the top of the tree. No longer made in Birmingham, the new Stingray Mk2 is nevertheless a very fine looking air rifle, shod in Turkish walnut and finely blued along with some snazzy looking checkering and a threaded muzzle for a sound moderator. Best of all is the smooth cocking and firing cycle from the Powr-Lok spring system and the trigger is now well worthy of the Webley name.

Build & Barrel

The old Stingrays had a rounded curved stock profile, whilst the Mk2 has a fuller, more angular look which I like. It feels very comfortable to hold and naturally sits in the shoulder well for an instinctive pointing position.
The Turkish walnut is particularly good as it gives a good depth of colour and grain and gives the Stingray a better overall feel that sometimes synthetic stocks lack (some of them also have a very hollow feeling). I like the way the forend projects past the barrel hinge joint hiding this functional but not so pretty area. The forend is narrow but deep and has three panels of checkering cut in a zig-zag pattern, again nice looking and practical for a multitude of grip options.

The pistol grip is full and nicely raked and again has simple zig-zag checkering for extra grip. There is also a well-profiled ambidextrous cheekpiece too and the recoil pad is vented and also has a white spacer. The only thing I would change is the matt lacquered finish – it’s practical, true, but oil is so much better and would really enhance the walnut beneath. A small gripe but an easy fix if required.

The barrel too has a few surprises; for a start those open sights are very good. The rear sight is ramped with central adjusting wheel with clearly defined clicks for both windage and elevation. The twin Day- Glogreen dots really show up and align perfectly with the tunnel fore sight red dot. You may never use them but they are there if you need them.

Better still is that the muzzle comes threaded, ½ inch UNF, so you can fit any such threaded moderators and not a ‘manufacturer’s special’, which is nice. It is also well-protected by a knurled end cap. Overall length of the barrel is 17.75 inches with a barrel profile of 0.630 inch at the muzzle and 0.633 inch at the receiver end. The receiver and the barrel are well-blued and there is an adjustable locking barrel pin to take out any slack from this union. The detent locking system was very positive on this Stingray and a good rap is needed to unlock and expose the black rubber o-ringed barrel breech end.

The air chamber has the same good bluing and has dovetails of eight inches length and 11.05mm with a built in recoil arrestor with several positions achievable.

Trigger and Safety

Stingrays of old (and early Webley Hawks) were never known for their good triggers but thankfully this new Stingray has a very good unit. The Quattro trigger is very good, adjustable for weight and length of pull by accessing the small Allen keys set into the trigger blade bottom and trigger block.

It’s a bit fiddly and you have to trial and error it, but the trigger broke very cleanly at 3.2lbs on this one. The trigger blade is gold-anodised and smooth with a distinctive long profile initially and then straight section for your finger. It certainly helps with the Stingray’s accuracy.

The safety is automatically activated as the Stingray is cocked. A long central bar protrudes rearward from the air chamber end cap when cocked, hiding a small red dot to indicate safe. All you need to do is a small movement from your firing hand’s thumb to push it back in again with its smooth flared end and the Stingray is ready to shoot. You can reset if you like by simply pulling it out again; very handy.

Field Test

I chose a selection of pellets to test over the chronograph and also test for accuracy at a reasonable spring rifle hunting distance of 25 yards. Because the open sights are so ‘vivid’ it was a sin not to use them and a couple of friends all agreed that they lined up very quickly and instinctively. At 25 yards Premiers grouped 1.5 inches and was good fun knocking down silhouette sheep!

Fitting a scope gets the best from the Stingray and as always a good ‘run-in’ process is best for any springer to get the action running smoothly and all the internals working in harmony. First shots on cocking were a bit ‘wheezy’ but after 25 or so shots the Stingray was purring like a kitten thanks to that Powr-Lok spring.

In fact it was smooth to cock and the firing cycle muted with very little spring noise. The Quattro trigger is so much better than the old Stingrays and certainly contributes to the good accuracy. Best accuracy came from the Webley Lazapells (which wasn`t rigged, honestly!), sometimes it just happens that way. Velocity was good at 586.3fps for a very healthy 11.64 ft/lbs and the Stingray was putting five pellets into 0.65 inches at 25 yards.

Hot on the Lazapells heals were the FTT`s and Accupell at 565.8fps and 592.9fps for 10.49 ft/lbs and 11.24 ft/ lbs respectively. Both shot five pellets into the target at 25 yards at 0.85 inches. Highest energy were the Logun Penetrators with the 15.6gr pellet travelling at 578.5fps for 11.60 ft/ lbs energy and accuracy was good at 0.95 inches.

Conclusion

Despite my soft spot for the old Webley Stingray model, in truth this newer version has a lot to like about it. Firstly, the stock is very good for the price – walnut always looks nice and gives this springer a bit more heft to dampen any recoil. The power was spot on and accuracy with a variety of pellets was good. Throw into the mix some snazzy checkering, good open sights and the ability to screw a sound moderator directly to the barrel and you have yourself a very competent, well-priced hunting or plinking air rifle.

My thanks to C H Weston’s of Brighton (01273 326338) for supplying the test rifle

PRICE: SRP £230.49
IMPORTER: Highland Outdoors, 0845 0990252,  highlandoutdoors.co.uk