Westley Richards Sporting Rifle

[varsity07840]

I own a Westley Richards percussion sporting rifle that I understand is sometimes refered to as a stalking rifle. In architecture it is almost a dead ringer for the Purdy rifle written about by Ross Seyfried in his
articles in Black Powder Hunting, except that is does not have Forsythe rifling.
I contacted W/R relative to how common these rifles are but they were no help.
Here are the specs.

Percussion, patent breech, platinum vent and wedding band
.64 cal(18 bore), 1.1" @ the breech 30" barrel 10 narrow lands & grooves 1/60 +or- twist
Walnut half stock round patch box horn nose cap single barrel key
Checkered wrist, engraved lock & furniture.

I love shooting this rifle but I've always been curious about its history and how many may have been made.

All comments appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Duane

[nord]

Duane -

Not that someone here won't be able to help, but I suspect you might do better at <Antiqueguns.com>. Bill Curtis will likely be the best source of information on this piece as he's our resident Brit on that board.

Best of Luck,

[keweenaw]

WR records are simply by serial number and not sorted by type of firearm so figuring out how many were made would be difficult.  If you're willing to pay their fee, they'll find the original record for you which will give the date of manufacture and original owner.  Rifles like this are generally uncommon and a gut level guess would be in the low hundreds made.  Westley was known more for  shotguns than for rifles unlike Rigby,  Henry, etc. who were primarily rifle makers and whose stalking rifles are much more frequently encountered.

Tom

[T*O*F]

There are two different Richards firms who made guns.  How your gun is signed will decide which one made it.  Both were started by William Richards' (two different people) and both had several Westleys and Williams associated with them.

Westley Richards & Co. Birmingham, C.I.B. survives today.

The other Richards firm, W. Richards, Liverpool and Preston survived to at least 1943, when J.L. Brown took over management of the firm.  How long it continued after that I am unaware.  They may still be in business today also.

If your gun is signed Westley Richards, it is the Birmingham firm.
If it is signed W. Richards, it is the Liverpool firm.

[varsity07840]

The barrel is marked:

Westley Richards 170 New Bond  St London

Duane