The Africa and India .600NE Rifles.

These were the Africa and India themed .600 NE double sidelock ejectors, which would prove to be Simon’s swan song.

Westley Richards, under Simon’s father, Walter Clode, had done very well in the vintage market buying guns back from India’s maharajahs during the 1970s and ‘80s and Simon was very well acquainted with the best of the double rifles made in the heyday of such production, which was the 1920s and early ‘30s.

He knew which were the best iterations of each particular rifle style and before beginning this project was careful to model the actions and barrels on a vintage Webley & Scott sidelock double .600 NE; one which met Simon’s ideal criteria for shape, proportion, balance and weight.

While rebuilding Westley Richards into the modern forward-looking company that it is today, Walter Clode had commissioned the iconic ‘Boutet Gun’, with ground-breaking engraving and inlay by the Brown Brothers.

For Simon, this pair of .600s would be his Boutet Gun.

Each rifle was built on a theme. One is Africa, the other India. Simon did not take the safe option of handing the engraving job to a well-known or famous name engraver. Instead, he put his trust in a man who was then unknown; a Lithuanian, now resident in US, called Paul Lantuch. Paul has, in the years that followed, engraved some of Westley Richards’ most incredible and distinctive rifles and shotguns.

The India Rifle was the first to be completed. It features a full array of the engraver’s skills. Deep, carved scrolls on the barrels, carved fences with gold inlay, relief-engraved gold scenes of tiger hunting from atop an elephant on the lock plates and incredible detail, with surprising human and animal figures in action on every surface.

Gold animals, diamonds and other precious stones were inlaid into the stock and the quality and artistry of the India Rifle surpassed anything made in England for a century.

Following the India Rifle, came the Africa rifle, twinned in concept but quite distinct in itself. Inlaid and sculpted gold is the predominant technique applied, with hunting scenes, animal portraits and human figures depicted on the locks, action, furniture and stock.

These two rifles really put Paul Lantuch at the centre of discussions on exhibition-quality engraving and effectively launched his career as a gun engraver.

The rifles themselves, as with every Westley Richards project, are very carefully specified. No matter that they are very unlikely to be used for hunting dangerous game, they have to be utterly capable of everything a professional hunter’s workhorse may be expected to handle.

As noted earlier, the actions were carefully made to mirror the dimensions of a vintage Webley & Scott .600 NE, which Simon had thought perfect. However, for the lever-work, the trademark Westley Richards ‘Model C’ dolls head and bolted top-lever was incorporated. All steel parts were colour-case-hardened by the St. Ledger's, just a quarter of a mile from the Westley Richards factory.

This incredible pair of rifles stands as a fitting epitaph to Simon’s career at Westley Richards. As the gun trade gathered to mourn his passing in December 2016, the Africa and India rifles rose from the finishing shop to affirm to the world what greatness he had achieved during his 29-year tenure at this 200 year old company.

Current Managing Director, Trigger, has been very respectful of everything Simon achieved and has continued his quest to keep Westley Richards at the pinnacle of modern bespoke gun and rifle making.

This pair of .600s represents the best of Simon’s legacy and acts as a benchmark for the company when taking on ever more ambitious and impressive commissions. To grow, we have to make ever-better products and to do so we have to live up to the standards set by past masters.

Those standards, as these photographs demonstrate, are sky-high.