Photo courtesy Anderson Wheeler
The 007 series has included a wide range of firearms, with the go-to gun for Britain’s most famous secret agent being the Walther PPK. Most have been the typical guns of the day, with Glocks and Uzis and the like making appearances. But when the team behind 2012’s James Bond film Skyfall wanted a gentleman’s gun for Daniel Craig to shoot, something with both oomph and awe, they changed directions and brought in master gunmaker Anderson Wheeler and its double.
The London company’s featured gun is an Express Double Rifle, a sidelock ejector in .500 Nitro Express—it can be had in calibers from .375 H&H up to .600 NE. The gun comes with 24- or 26-inch barrels, a quarter rib with the traditional African folding leaf rear sights, a two-millimeter silver front sight, and a flip-up four-millimeter ivory bead, the so-called “moon sight” commonly found on double rifles for shooting in low- or no-light scenarios.
Anderson Wheeler began as a luxury safari company in East Africa’s Nairobi. It didn’t make the move to London until 2006, when it was registered as a gun and rifle maker in the United Kingdom. Though its main product changed, its objective did not. The company is focused on being a luxury brand, not just a gun shop.
Under that luxury brand comes five different sections of the company: luxury travel, field and expedition outfitters, art and collectibles, fly rod and reel making, and, of course, guns.
Anderson Wheeler creates elegant big-bore bolt-action and double rifles, along with shotguns and revolvers. Guns are offered in two grades: best and field.
Best features the finest materials available, each individually handcrafted by English artisans. Double rifles are built on H&H-based Anderson Wheeler actions; bolts on M 98 Mauser actions. Best grades take between 12 and 18 months to complete following the order placement.
Field grades come with European Union-imported barrels proofed in London. They are stocked and finished to classic British style, then personalized to fit the customer. Stock guns are available, with custom orders taking six to 10 months to complete.
Prices vary; James Bond Lifestyle puts the cost of the Skyfall rifle, which can also be special-ordered, at $24,500.
The rifle features prominently in the film. In the final scenes of the movie, 007 makes a tactical retreat to his childhood home, the titular Skyfall estate. He plans to use his late father’s extensive firearms collection to defend himself and his MI6 boss, M, from a rogue former agent, but finds the guns already sold and the house ready to be vacated following 007’s recent “death.”
The house’s faithful keeper had kept one gun from being sold, however: the Anderson Wheeler double Bond’s father used for hunting. Bond then proceeds to shoot any and everyone with it before running out of ammo and abandoning it for a Heckler & Koch rifle.
With today’s opening of the new 007 film, Spectre, we hope more authentic guns will show up like the Anderson Wheeler.
Watch as the Fieldsports Channel interviews Stuart Anderson Wheeler about the 007 double and how it came to be featured in the film.