The 'Wray' underlever carbine

Topic starter 10/09/2023 17:08:51

Then well-known forum member Adrian (draftsmann) said on the airgunbbs.com about this rifle:

In [Airgun World] October 1991 I found an article about an unusual spring air rifle built by a gent called Tony Wray of Hull.

This rifle was like a modern interpretation of the Webley Service Mk2 in that the piston travelled "backwards" towards the shooter. Unlike the old Webley it had a fixed barrel above the cylinder, and was cocked by an underlever. The nature of the design resulted in a carbine length gun - some 33 inches - and no forend or forestock - just a stylishly angular buttstock reminiscent of the ASI Statical of the late 70s/early 80s.

The article spoke of these rifles being built to order by Mr Wray.

Another BBS member, Bill, replied:

At the time in question Tony was a member of the Hull & Dist FTC. I remember both seeing and trying the Wray gun. As was said an underlever moved the piston towards the muzzle end of the rifle. Quite how the trigger mechanism worked I don't know, but on pulling the trigger, the piston travelled towards the stock end of the rifle giving very little recoil. I saw Tony a few times during the development stages but he just disappeared from the scene and no more was heard about the Wray gun, which I thought at the time was a very commercial design.