Webley-Vickers 50:80?

O

oldbillthundercheif

Moderator
Somebody mentioned this pistol in another thread, but I can't find any info on it. Some doofus writer used it in one of his books so all I get is literature in my websearches.

Any information about this mysterious beast would be greatly appreciated.
 
I think it was joke. Many moons ago there was a kit to adapt a VW engine to a BMW motorcycle and it was called a Webley-Vickers.
 
James Thurber wrote a very short story about a day-dreaming nebbish named Walter Mitty who was about as boring and mild-mannered as it is possible to be but who fantasized about himself as a rugged man-of-action. He clearly didn't know much about all things manly, so his fantasies contained numerous factual errors. Every gun in every one of his daydreams was a Webley-Vickers 50:80 and every machine went pocketa-pocketa-pocketa.


The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
 
James Thurber wrote that

James Thurber's character Walter Mittyn in 'The secret life of Walter Mitty' published in 1841 meatnions the Wbley-Vickers 50-80, nowhere else have I found an article on this pistol (revolver) I'm sure he made it up.
 
For some writers, such an error would be a sign of ignorance, but in that case I think it was a deliberate joke.

Jim
 
Oooh, I know, I know...

The WebleyVickers 50-80 machine pistol was a"prop" in an old comic magazine from the late 60's-early 70's about motorcycles. There was a big, blonde biker on a chopped Harley, with his busty bimbo girl friend, who had a series of encounters with "the Old Poop", a crusty character on a 1928 Indian motorcycle, who shows up and makes the younger tough guy look foolish, beating him in cycle races and such. The Old Poop carries that gun, which looks like a Mauser C96, which he describes several times as being able to "fire 200 rounds a minute, and stop a charging bull elephant. That's 200 charging bull elephants a minute." Eventually, the Old Poop rides off with the girl, leaving Big Biker in the dust.
 
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