“My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary.”
These lines by HW Longfellow aptly summed up my state of mind as I stood on the pavement outside the dingy building X on that cold, windy and rainy autumn morning in Birmingham. My just finished encounter with a petty bureaucrat with the attitude of a “little junkyard dog” (to borrow a phrase from the film “Clear and Present Danger”), left me a great deal gloomier than when I set forth (bleary eyed for want of sleep but bushy tailed in spirits) earlier in the morning. “What do I do, what do I do?” I pondered. Before we proceed further, allow me to provide a little background to my quandary.
As some of you are aware, I had the good fortune to have visited the Holy Trinity, H&H, Purdey and Boss, of the gun making world and share those experiences with you. However, it has been quite sometime I embarked upon a similar expedition. I planned and planned about visiting Dickson-Macnaughton, David Mackay Brown, Churchill etc. Then one day, as I was discussing the .318 WR cartridge with our much Revd.Grumpus Rumpus, it struck me how stupid I have been about not visiting the grand old firm Westely Richards situated right in my neighbourhood, Birmingham. I planned to visit them later in the day after my appointment with the aforesaid bureaucrat. The bitterness post the encounter made me reconsider the planned visit. I did not want to go to one of the best known fine gun makers in a negative mindset. Then I decided, what the heck, it can only get better than what preceded.
It was a bit of an effort to find 130 Pritchett Street on the New Town Row as I was walking. A bit of consulting with the GPS on my N96 and a friendly taxi driver puts me in the right direction. As I neared my destination, a sense of thrill and anticipation began to overtake my sullenness.
( I badly screwed up with the quality of pictures as I forgot to check the auto focus of my camera and it played havoc with the pictures and I lost quite a few good ones
)Street view
The first thing I encountered, as I reached the entrance, was a massive skull of an African elephant welcoming you with a Jurassic era-esque prognosis to what is about to unfold within.
Steven Harridence, the show room manager, welcomed me warmly and took me into the main showroom. He very kindly tells me to feel free to explore the place and ask for anything that I may need. It is a beautifully and meticulously appointed place to reflect the rich history and traditions of the firm. WR has a strong connection with the Indian subcontinent and Africa with hunting and later with the revival and rejuvenation of the firm and it is reflected in the wonderful images of an era long gone, preserved in picture frames for posterity.
But the most striking were the pair of tusks the size of a wooly mammoth’s!
Do you want to guess how tall they were? I stood underneath them and raised my hand and I could not touch the tips! I later came to know that they measure 150 lb, a way of measuring ivory. Technicalities aside, when you stand underneath them, the feelings that overtake you are awe and reverence for the beast that bore them. Imagine standing at ten paces from such a behemoth in the wilderness.
Also on the walls mounted were various African game.
When you stand closer to these wall mounts, you are filled with a respect for these magnificent beasts. For someone like me who has never seen an African Cape Buffalo closely or hunted them, the true menacing beauty of their symmetry becomes appreciable and you will understand what it means to get close and hunt them!
Hippo legs!
Then comes the most important question of the tools required to take up the challenge of hunting these beasts.
The Gun Room
As I stood there taking in the artistic splendour of the marriage between wood and steel, Steven called the Gun Room manager Anthony Tregear and introduced him to me. Anthony is just 37 and already has a lot of safari experience under his belt including hunting dangerous game in various African countries and that is reflected in his practical understanding and appreciation of gun designing, calibres and ballistics and conservation. Anthony, between arranging for a shoot for some very important customers later in the day, took a few hours of his time to pick every gun that caught my fancy and discuss it with me and take me around the work shop floor.
Stacks of beautifully arranged shotguns
S In the department of shotguns and double rifles the WR guns can be divided into three types- Their beautiful droplock action, boxlock and sidelock-SXS and Ovundo models.
The gorgeous droplocks. I had the opportunity to take the locks out and examine. The way they were finished is immaculate to say the least.I could hold a 20 Bore O/U between my thumb and index finger at the hinge and it would stand rock solid.That's how well balanced it was!
The Ovundos
Another shameful example of my stupidity in not checking the focus of the camera. I cannot tell you how sorry I am when I found this out.The engraving is so delicately exquisite, I dearly wanted to capture it but failed.
Next come the rifles, bolt action and double rifles-. Most of the rifles are meant for African dangerous game and that is reflected in the calibres-.375 H&H .416 Rigby,.416 Remington,.404 Jefferey,.500 Jeffery,.505 Gibbs etc. Each rifle is a masterpiece, individually built to the customer’s specifications and tastes. On the double rifles, see how beautifully the actions are finished ,especially the elegant curvatures of the side bolsters and the engraving.
Posing with a .416 Rigby.
Again, this time posing with a .577 Holland and Holland.That’s 145,000 GBP or $ 236000!
Tucked nicely into a corner next to a beautifully engraved .416 Rigby, is the exquisitely elegant Hartmann und Weiss chambered in 6.5X55 rimmed cartridge based on a falling block action. As many of you would know, H & W are inarguably among the world’s best gun makers. Photos cannot do any amount of justice to the sheer quality of the build. It can only be appreciated when you hold it in your hands and shoot it. Incredible!The ultimate stalking rifle.
John, this is just for you!
After that, Anthony enquired if I would like to take a look at the shop floor. Keeping with the evolution of fine gun making, there is an element of CNC machining involved and even the Big Three are no exceptions. However, the machining is restricted to a bare essential minimum and most of the work is done in house by the artisans/craftsmen. It was very heartening to see the age range beginning from early twenties which means that this traditional craftsmanship is going to survive. Another touching aspect was, the pleasure that these gifted yet humble artisans displayed when someone has taken the interest to come see them working and appreciate their creations.
Barrel work under progress
Locks being made
Stocks in the process of drying
Nothing made in the shop floor would pass without the master gunsmith approving it. This is a finished action that was waiting for the inspection. My ineptitude and the lighting ruined the photograph but you can still discern the quality of the engraving here.
And the genius creating such sublime wizardry in metal is a rather unassuming gentleman, Rush.
Next,Anthony led me to “The White Room” where all the guns in varying stages of making are stored. Also kept are the guns awaiting service and repairs. There a quite a few sets of guns and rifles being built and it’s fascinating to observe them in different stages of construction.
What you see here are a set of shotguns in the gauges 8, 12, 28 and .410 all built on scaled actions. That Eight Bore in the white costs just 45,000GBP or $70,000!
This is a .500 Jeffery rifle under construction
Actions and barrels and stocks awaiting finishing
A set of Double Rifles under construction
Now that we have finished the tour, let me now take you to the pièce de résistance.
There it was, standing proudly and robustly, throwing the gauntlet to the onlooker to come and pick it up, the .700/.577 Nitro Express Westely Richards! When I picked up the .577 HH,I thought “hmm, not so bad as I thought. Quite manageable”. When I picked the artillery piece, my eyes went wide and Anthony sagely observed, “It’s a big old thing, isn’t it?” It was a typical British understatement. Immense is the word. It weighs 18lb and has 25” barrels. I am in no way puny and used to a lot of physical labour. When I hefted it, I could not hold it aloft for more than a few seconds and hold it true onto an aiming point. It is not for the faint of heart and those in want of thews and sinews! The 900 grains bullet delivers 10280 lb energy! There are only two rifles chambered for this cartridge, both WR droplocks.
The one in The White Room
And the one in the Gun Room
The cartridge
The rifle in detail
My face tells it all!
I am not keen on hunting elephants though I understand and approve their hunting from a conservation aspect. But, if I must face up to the mammoth that bore those 150lb tusks, I want to get within ten paces close to it, stand and shoot.. When I do that, I want this cannon in my hands. The tusker deserves no less.
In the end I can confidently say that, Westely Richards guns being made at the moment can match easily the best being produced by H&H,Purdey and Boss. You need to see the quality first hand. The engraving is world class, the wood to metal finish is second to none and the craftsmanship is uncompromising.
The day might have started disastrously, but it ended with an amazingly educative experience. Steven and Anthony went out of their way to make it possible. Thank you.
Best-
Vikram
