Might as well enjoy a little gun eye candy while we're at it...

Beautiful. If it were mine, I'd leave it as it is. History is history, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I too would tend to leave it be. Unless, you want to try my approach.

I resurrected one some time ago which was pretty tacky and decided to prepare the metal back to bright bare metal - and then applied a series of many applications of cold blue ....... 44/40.

Degreasing had to be total and with patience and intermediate polishings got an OK finish. Nowhere near as good as hot blue but if gun kept wiped down with CLP it lasts very well.

I had to get a new mainspring and ''make do'' with a Brownells locking lever spring - which is nowhere as nice as the original ''V'' spring.

It has a problem whereby it can be over-cocked on SA - and then has to freed off and try again - but otherwise it performs fine and DA is no problem, other than heavy!!

If you do go ahead at all - make sure you have a comprehensive set of gunsmith's screwdrivers and find best fits - it's a pity to marr the screws. Reassembly is quite tricky re the action.

Leave it as is but protect it.

I would suggest stripping the revolver down and soaking it in a 50/50 mixture of Kerosene and Transmission Fluid. That will remove all the stuff that's on it now and eliminate any rust that is hiding on and in the revolver. They wipe it down, reassemble and coat with a light film of Remington Gun Oil...

That's a beautiful old revolver made even better because it was your Grandfather's...

Coat it with RIG.

AND DO NOT DESTROY IT WITH COLD BLUE OR OTHERWISE REFINISHING IT!

as tempting as it is to restore it to 'arsenal' condition and slick her up to shoot ...DO NOT DO IT...

if you make your own Ed's Red...buffer it a bit and soak the gun for a while to loosen and lift any crap in the inner workings and surface corrosion; if you don't do Ed's Red...ArchAngel's mix sounds effective enough to clean with and delicate enough to not ruin the metal and remaining finish

after cleaning & wiping down, find a preservative type gun oil and put it all over the surface and into the inner workings; place it in a large enough ziplock bag or a silicone type storage cloth; find a nice, quiet place to store it & check on it once in a while

Why not shoot it? Proper ammo is available and any good gunsmith could confirm that it is in safe condition.

As for refinish, it's your gun, of course, but I'd opt to leave it in original condition. Refinishing would only destroy the resale value (not that you intend to sell it) and reduce the authenticity of a proud old firearm.

I should add - (and still agree, leave it alone!)

My refinishing was somewhat thru desperation as it was in very bad shape compared to yours ... too bad really and so it presented a welcome project. I feel that with the care that went in to improving it, it certainly did not devalue it - probably a bit the opposite IMO.

Really nice guns here, a credit to the Webley folks may they rest in peace...as I assume they don't make these fine old BT revolvers anymore because they're history.

Chris, your refinish job is classic, you did real good my friend.

I only wish I could find one of these gems in a .45 acp mode that would shoot auto rim cartridges.

Heck! I'd take in .455 if possible, can always load that caliber as well.

Jim

Instead of oil or grease, I reccomend wiping down every surface area with either car wax or better yet Renaissance Wax.

Do what they do in museums to preserve classic weaponry.

P95Carry, is there a .pdf or manual or something that I could obtain that would detail the stripping process and/or a list of the tools necessary for the job?

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Sage - sorry late reply - for some reason I got no email notification. No - I had no info on the gun but somewhat freewheeled thru the process ... taking care all the way.

As said tho it was (for me) quite tricky getting action back properly. Not impossible - just darned tricky. I never found or really looked for a PDF but something tells me that in all cyber space someone must have something. Main priority IMO is a grade A set of gun screwdrivers (Brownells I use).

Chris, your refinish job is classic, you did real good my friend.

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Hi Jim - thanks - well it does not bear too tight a scrutiny but have to say it looks way better than it once did, so I don't feel I ''ruined'' anything by the process. I do wish tho I could find an original ''V'' spring for the lever locking ... the Brownells one is horrible, but works!

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To add - CWL, just saw your post. Yes wax works well and in fact ''Boeshield" is a good product to use - acting rather like a wax. That said, mine has sat in the safe with its CLP wipedown and keeps well - I wipe again after handling too.

Your gun has not been converted to 45acp, as most coming into the US were. Please don't refinish it.

My own Webley was a conversion job, and I got a few hundred rounds of 45 autorim to avoid having to use full moon clips. It was refinished. Just a shooter now, although it hasn't been fired in years.