Top break fans - new from India

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cool gun.

Given the monopoly and the fact that you are probably only buying one in your lifetime (in India), the price is not outrageous.
 
Last edited:
IOF has been making those guns for years. They either have not been interested in importing them or not able before but it will be at least interesting if that changes. I don’t think I’ll be a buyer at $1000+ but I certainly welcome more of my favorite style of handgun on the U.S. market.
 
I have read about the Hindoo thirty two for some time, this is not a new product.

I wish I had bought one of the last run of real Webleys, 250 revolvers polished up and cased. But $250 seemed like a lot for a Webley at the time.
 
So... these are being imported now ? Cool. A better option than an NAA mini revolver.
 
I am a big fan of double action top break revolvers and a huge fan of Webley's but that price is ridiculous for a 32 S&W Long unless the fit and finish rivals pre-war (The Great War) Webley. I can get a serviceable Mark VI in 455 Webley for that price. I am dubious at best. :cool: Someone wake me up when they get to the US. :D
 
I am a big fan of double action top break revolvers and a huge fan of Webley's but that price is ridiculous for a 32 S&W Long unless the fit and finish rivals pre-war (The Great War) Webley. I can get a serviceable Mark VI in 455 Webley for that price. I am dubious at best. :cool: Someone wake me up when they get to the US. :D

I'll wake you up. *After* I buy one first
 
I'm with NIGHTLORD40K as the retail price of these Indian Webleys is up in the stratosphere for what you're getting. I could maybe see it in .380 or .38 S&W and priced at between $500 and $600 but at $1300+; I'd pass.
 
I'm with NIGHTLORD40K as the retail price of these Indian Webleys is up in the stratosphere for what you're getting. I could maybe see it in .380 or .38 S&W and priced at between $500 and $600 but at $1300+; I'd pass.
Unless it was genuine old world quality.
 
This small Indian Webley is not new. They have been making that revolver there for a long time. I bought a used Indian Ordnance Factory Inglis-style High Power a few years back, so I looked up the pistols they were making at that time. It was this Webley style 32 Long revolver, the High Power, and a 32 ACP automatic called the Ashani. The Ashani is a mix of the FN 1910 (recoil spring wrapped around the barrel) and Colt 1903 (internal hammer fired).

As I understand it, India outlawed the importation of foreign pistols for civilian purchase back in the 1970's, so the only guns Indian civilians can buy are the Ashani and the Webley, or the dwindling supply of foreign guns imported before the ban. Because of that, factory can charge Indian shooters an outrageous price for these guns.

What would be new would be if the Indians decided to export these guns to the US. Presumably the free market price would be much lower. The Webley revolver and the Ashani automatic would sell only on novelty value, IMO. The Inglis High Power copy would have been a good thing, but they seemed to have stopped making it (see below).

Mine is excellent; it is accurate and has very good trigger pull despite still having the magazine safety installed. It is possible the previous owner tuned it up, but I can't tell. There are no signs I can see just by field-stripping.

This is a link to the website of the civilian arms division of the Indian Ordnance Factory Board: https://ofb.gov.in/product/products/category/civil-trade---arms-details

They seem to be making several varieties of Webley 32 revolver, two versions of the Ashani, and an S&W 22 J-frame size revolver in 22 LR, as well as some rifles and shotguns.

All this is meaningless, of course, unless they are going to export them to the US. As far as I know, all they ever exported here was one batch of about 400 (give or take 100) of the Inglis High Power copies about 20-odd years ago. BTW, the High Power copy is no longer shown on their military weapons website..

PS - If you do a search on YouTube for India Revolver Shooting, you get a variety of videos about the Webley 32, the more modern style 22, and airsoft pistols.
 
Last edited:
That price could be a stretch for the average American worker. From what I’ve seen the average India worker would not earn what an American worker would. Must be aimed at India’s upper class.
 
That price could be a stretch for the average American worker. From what I’ve seen the average India worker would not earn what an American worker would. Must be aimed at India’s upper class.
Most certainly. Only those who can afford it deserve protection, according to most of the un-free world
 
Ridiculous price. Nobody in India or the US is going to spend that much for a Webley.
 
Given the horrible sex crimes that occur in India against women, they will serve a purpose. Esp. since they don't have our options.
 
The average pay for an engineer in India is about $15K annually, so this revolver would be a month's salary for them. And it's hard to even make that much money there; there's much fewer job opportunities for engineers in India than there is in the US.

Anyway, as the equivalent of a middle-class month's salary, this revolver in India is equivalent to a custom Wilson Combat 1911 or a Schmidt & Bender scope here in the US. It's not a utilitarian carry pistol, it's in total luxury good territory. Google says that the income needed to be "top 1%" in India is $77K a year; that's about the least amount of income I'd want before dropping $1300 on a handgun.
 
Last edited:
Ridiculous price. Nobody in India or the US is going to spend that much for a Webley.

At that price, if it was a faithful reproduction of a Webley Mark VI in 455 Webley, using today's modern steels, my credit card would come out so fast as to take your arm off if it got between me and the credit card machine. :D For a pocket 32.... meh... :scrutiny:
 
Sorry, but that top-break doesn't do it for me. Something along the lines of a Schofield, though, in .357 Mag, well then..........
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top