The Illustrated Gun

The Illustrated Gun

From exquisitely decorated pistols to firearms adorned with precious materials, the world of fine firearms has provided ample opportunity for artistic expression throughout the centuries. In the past, every royal palace in Europe featured a cabinet d’arms  displaying...
Woodward/Purdey

Woodward/Purdey

The change from side-by-sides to over-and-unders is unquestionably the biggest shift in game guns during our current era. The undeniable success of the superimposed shotgun at all manner of competition has led most of us who pursue wild birds to believe we’ll bag more...
Holland & Holland: Masters of the Double Rifle

Holland & Holland: Masters of the Double Rifle

In the annals of “Best” firearms, Holland & Holland holds an unambiguous place: builder of the world’s finest double rifles. For more than a century, dangerous game hunters have prepared for their great unknowns by trekking to Mayfair in London’s West End. Their...
Fanzoj: 450 Years of Gunmaking in Ferlach

Fanzoj: 450 Years of Gunmaking in Ferlach

Show me a gun and I’ll tell you where it’s from,” is a cliché accommodating more than an element of truth. A sleek sidelock side-by-side with understated fine scroll engraving is likely from London while an over/under accented with fabulous bulino game scenes is...
Rigby for Rifles

Rigby for Rifles

From its Dublin origins, London base and forays to California, plus a traditional client base in Africa, John Rigby & Co. represent an important component of the ever-deepening connectivity that defines the modern world.

The Guns of Royals

The Guns of Royals

Doug Tate explores some of the guns used by royalty when activities such as going on safari were a rite of passage for this class.

Great Writers and Their Guns

Great Writers and Their Guns

If the thought that literary liberals once hungered for London doubles doesn’t fill you with doubt, then read on. Russian author Ivan Turgenev, whose efforts to free the serfs produced the Sportsman’s Sketches, bought a Joseph Lang gun. Ernest Hemingway acquired a...
The Guns Of The Celebrities

The Guns Of The Celebrities

In 1939, before the U.S. entered World War II, movie star Robert Montgomery enlisted in London for American field service and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation. In a break from helping British heroes, he acquired a pair of guns from James Purdey...