Game & Gun Gazette
Chasing Perfection
Just 22 years after launching the “Admiral Nelson Gun,” English gunmaker Peter Victor Nelson (the admiral’s namesake but no relation) has navigated its mate safely to port. Though not identical to the first, the second gun—once again engraved by Phil Coggan—is intended to create a pair.
Engraved on a theme of the Battle of Trafalgar, the first gun features the Admiral’s flagship Victory engaging the French ship Redoutable on the right lockplate and the fateful moment when Nelson’s spine was severed by a French musket ball on the left. Both scenes are set within a rope-work border, and the imagery continues with the Victory’s figurehead decorating the toplever and sculpted rigging and stacked arms enhancing the fences. The safety is carved in the form of one of the Victory’s deck mortars. The first gun was intended as an exhibition piece, and Nelson sailed it around to shoots and shows, where it scuttled the competition.
The second gun was three years in the making, and, like the first, is dedicated to Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson. Considered a rum sort by his enemies, Nelson was so great a hero that a grateful nation cleared a London slum and erected a column in his memory. The new gun, like the old, boasts the prime Peter Nelson virtues of extraordinary attention to detail and finish, or what the Christie’s auction house referred to as “a particularly fine adherence to the principles of Best English gunmaking.”
Phil Coggan has re-floated Napoleonic naval themes for the second of the pair—this time the Battle of the Nile, where Nelson destroyed a French fleet anchored near Alexandria and stranded Napoleon’s Army in Egypt. “I had the happiness to command a Band of Brothers . . .” Nelson wrote, forever popularizing Shakespeare’s famous line from Henry V. I had a chance to ask Coggan about the engraving. “[It] is identical to the first, with the exception of the safety, scenes and toplever oval. This one is based around the battle of the Nile. The left scene is of the battle, the right shows Nelson on deck getting that eye injury, and the bottom has a portrait of a younger Nelson. It also has a different carved ship’s mortar for the safety catch and a different crest on the toplever. I decided to carve a different mortar on the safety just to add more interest. The engraving on the toplever is copied from a plate that was made and engraved to commemorate the Battle of the Nile. It was meant to be presented to Nelson but never was.”
I can attest to the guns being virtually identical, as I steered the pair around the West Wycombe shooting ground one blustery weekend this past year. Both are side-by-side 12-bore Purdey/Beesley self-openers. The barrel and stock lengths as well as weight and handling dynamics are exactly what one would expect from a pair. I even suggested the guns be cased together. They really did float my boat, and I consider them a “victory” for English gunmaking. I asked Nelson if the guns were for sale, and his response was enigmatic. “Everything is for sale, but not right now.”
Nelson began an apprenticeship with James Purdey & Sons in 1953, working as an actioner. He left in 1971 to work with Hartmann & Weiss (see p. 56) in Hamburg, and he didn’t cross the transom of his own workshop until 1989. Nelson still works from his home, in Penn, Buckinghamshire. Looking at these magnificent guns, one can’t help but think that they perfectly bookend a career. Let’s hope not. The British gun trade needs Nelson the way the British nation needed his namesake.
For more information on Peter Nelson guns, e-mail Press@PVNelson.com. —Douglas Tate
Knotsmith Custom Lanyards
When it comes to bird hunting, most of us enjoy the finer aspects of our sport. From guns, to attire, to the gear we carry afield, we pride ourselves on having the nicest and best we can afford. It only makes sense, therefore, that we would want to complete our hunting ensembles with an accessory of fitting quality: a custom-braided lanyard from Knotsmith.
A practical indulgence or a gift for the hunter who has everything, a Knotsmith lanyard tells the world that the wearer takes pride in his appearance and values every detail of the wingshooting life. It can be made as simply or extravagantly as desired, with every piece fashioned with care and showing the same attention to quality.
Larry Smith has been making custom lanyards in north-central Texas for more than 20 years. He crafts each by hand, using kangaroo-leather lace herringbone-braided over nylon-cord cores. The combination is strong enough so that a whistle or whatever other tools are attached won’t flop about as you walk or ride.
Knotsmith lanyards are customized to individual specifications. A T2 (Type 2) Lanyard is the standard platform and is available with a round or flat neck. It comes with either a fixed neck loop or a slide for adjusting length. Fixed or detachable call loops can be added to the T2—and most of the other models—for carrying duck (or turkey, or predator . . .) calls. The T3 Leash/Lanyard is based on the T2, but it has a bolt snap that can be opened to become a 32" leash. The T4 Lead/Lanyard can be converted from a standard lanyard to a slip lead with a 5" hand loop and a 29" head loop with adjustable slide. The T5 Utility Lanyard is designed for carrying pistols, range finders or transmitters, and there is even a fly-fishing lanyard for carrying clippers, forceps and so on. (Braided dog collars are also available, with optional brass nameplates.)
The possibilities to customize are endless. Leather colors include tan, chocolate, black, natural, burgundy, green and red, and you can have color accents in the lanyard body and knots. Slides are typically braided, but they also can be had of wood or antler. Accessories include a variety of swivels, snaps and clips; brass compasses by True Nord or Marbles; brass, aluminum or plastic flush/covey counters; Acme Thunderer or Fox 40 Classic whistles; and a quail call. (There is even an “SSM Package,” which includes a brass compass, two brass flush counters, brass swivels and a brass whistle—so named for a review and ads that have appeared in Shooting Sportsman.)
This past summer I was generously gifted a Knotsmith lanyard, and it immediately became one of my most prized possessions. My T2FN-C features a flat braided neck, a slide knot, two brass flush counters and a brass swivel with an Acme Thunderer whistle. The piece is truly a work of art that is not only beautiful but also a pleasure to wear.
Prices for these lanyards are not cheap (as described, my T2 costs $465); then again, they are one-off heirlooms likely to be passed to the next generation. And who else among your hunting partners can boast of having a bespoke lanyard?
For more information, contact Larry Smith at Knotsmith, 214-893-9003; http://knotsmith.com. —Ralph P. Stuart
In the Field
Pick an evening after a hunt when the dog is sleeping, the birds have been cleaned and the shotgun has been wiped down and racked. Or any old time, really, when you have a stretch of solitude in which to ponder and absorb the images in Nancy Whitehead’s new book, In the Field: A Photographer’s Journey with Sporting Dogs.
This coffee-table hardcover contains 96 pages of insight and passion. Insight into the scenes and places where upland birds and waterfowl are hunted, plus the passion displayed by dogs seeking quail, grouse, woodcock, pheasants and ducks. Another passion is that of the photographer working to succinctly capture both the landscape and the canines’ hunting ways.
The book has three sections. “Portraits” goes in close on dogs—some in hunting mode, others reposing against natural backgrounds. “On the Water” captures the magic of mornings when the marsh melts into sky, the excitement of ducks flushing and dogs fetching. The final section, “In the Field,” shows dogs, hunters and game in Eastern and Western settings.
Whitehead photographed English and red setters; English and German shorthaired pointers; springer spaniels; and golden, Chesapeake and Labrador retrievers. The images are sharp and nicely composed. The light is varied: softened by mist, made harsh by cloudless skies, or raking in sideways to highlight golden grass or the feathering on a setter’s tail. Almost all of the photos are in color, with a few in black & white. (A close-up of a pointer, chiseled head against a dark background, appears to be black & white. Whitehead chose this powerful shot for the dust jacket.)
Scattered throughout the book are short quotations from sporting writers such as Charlie Metz and Robert Caras, along with observations about life, nature and art by writers and artists as diverse as Emily Dickinson, Ernest Hemingway, Claude Monet and Ansel Adams (“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence”). The book includes a thoughtful foreword by Charles Gaines.
I found many images at which to marvel, including several that have run in SSM. A memorable one catches a woodcock flying past the nose of a staunch pointer, whose eyes are locked on the brown-and-black bird.
Then there’s a Lab swimming in mist-softened water, completing a retrieve on a wigeon. The dog’s eyes are on its owner, who is out of the picture, as the photographer, in the same boat or blind, snags this moment of concentration and loyalty.
Many of the photos become more than the sum of their parts. They grab the viewer and put him or her right there, in much the same way that vivid prose distills the hunting experience. This may be the best collection of hunting dog photos I’ve ever seen.
The book is offered by Wudcahk Publishing for $38 (plus $6.95 shipping). To order, visit www.sportingdogphotography.com. —Charles Fergus
A Gun for the Ages
If you were wondering whether the game gun has gone global, consider this: I just met an American who ordered a bespoke gun in Scotland that he had engraved in Italy with themes found on a wooden church door in Western Norway.
It’s easy to understand why anyone would want what is perhaps the only luxury item produced in a place notorious for thrift: a Scottish round-action shotgun. A new David McKay Brown over/under—trim as an adder—would make the perfect gun for me, but why would anyone want the motifs from a wooden church door as decoration?
“My ancestry is Viking [Norwegian], and thus my fascination with the Viking era,” said the client. “My research of Viking-era art and symbolism included the runic era. The universe of surviving examples is actually very limited. Among them, the Urnes church doors are recognized as extraordinary in their depiction of a period style, advanced evolution of design for the period, completeness, and state of preservation.”
I have to admit to total ignorance of this form of decoration, so I researched the carvings on the doors of the Urnes church, in Luster, Norway. I found the following on Wikipedia: “A common interpretation of this scene is that it portrays the eternal fight between good and evil. The animal is widely believed to be a stylized lion. In Christian iconography the lion is a symbol of Christ, fighting the evil symbolized by the snake, a common representation of Satan.
“On the other hand, it is possible that the decoration of the earlier church featured some scenes from Norse mythology, a likely reason for its premature reconstruction in the 12th Century. In this context, the animal may be interpreted as Ní∂höggr eating the roots of Yggdrsil. The intertwined snakes and dragons represent the end of the world according to the Norse legend of Ragnarök.”
However, that’s not the patron’s view. “There are several interpretations of what the Urnes design represents in Viking mythology. Whatever the interpretation, what is clear is that it is a primal struggle for survival. The attractions to this particular design were threefold: the relevance that this primal combat bears to the act of hunting; an imaginative interpretation that the primary figures could be hunting dogs with mythically stylized quarry in their mouths; and finally how perfectly this design might be mated to a David McKay Brown ‘Celtic Saber’ [his triggerplate O/U], both as to high art form and the relevance of the historical intertwining of the Vikings and Celts, including their art and symbolism.” In keeping with the theme, McKay Brown’s name is rendered in runic characters—totally appropriate, as this was the alphabet used at Urnes.
I wondered what kind of challenge the engraving had presented to the Italian firm Creative Art, and I received the following from principal Giacomo Fausti via the delighted client: “I’m very happy you like the engraving. You don’t know how many times I had doubts about it; to follow your desire was a challenge for us, too. The outcome is amazing as a work of art.”
Collaborations between four nations rarely work, but this seems to have been an exception. —Douglas Tate
William Powell’s Continental Guns
In the past five or six years, Britain’s bespoke gunmakers have woken up to the fact that they need to be sensitive to the customer who requires an affordable gun while looking for the reassurance of dealing with a long-established name. The upshot has been that many fine-gun makers throughout the UK now carry less-expensive Continental guns branded with their own names.
This trend can be traced to 1984, when Birmingham’s William Powell—perhaps best known in the US for the company’s extensive catalog of shooting clothing and accoutrements—introduced the Heritage Series at the Dallas SHOT Show. Powell’s was the first Brit firm to realize that the quality of guns being produced by the emerging Italian trade, coupled with unbeatable value, represented the future of a global gun trade. So successful was its Anglo-Italian range that four years later, in 1988, Powell’s added a Spanish master craftsman to its ranks, and the Heritage No. 2 sidelock was born. Now William Powell has produced a new brochure re-launching its Spanish sidelocks in the form of four new models and introducing two new Italian over/unders.
With a subhead reading “Incredibly Reliable – Exceptional Value,” the catalog lists four side-by-side sidelocks, including the Monarch (about $5,300 cased), with a traditional square action, bouquet & scroll engraving, and a color-case hardened finish; the Eclipse ($7,750), with a rounded body, open scroll engraving and a coin finish; and the Zenith ($14,000) assisted self-opener with acanthus engraving and a coin finish. The fourth sidelock is a heavier high-pheasant gun called the Linhope ($10,250). Named after a steep, high valley in Northumberland and built on a larger frame, the gun is designed to absorb the recoil of heavier loads. It comes with bouquet & scroll engraving and a coin finish. All of the guns are made by Arrieta, in Eibar.
The two new over/unders are the Phoenix ($6,950), which is a triggerplate gun with the appearance of a round-bodied boxlock, and the Pegasus ($15,100), which is similarly constructed but with sideplates. Both are made by Battista Rizzini of Gardone, Val Trompia.
Powell’s is eager to point out that the O/Us are not simply re-badged Rizzinis. Rather they are the brainchild of Powell owner Mark Osborne, with input from Peter Powell and Mike Yardley. Osborne, you may recall, bought the company from Peter Powell and his brother just last year. Yardley is the gun reviewer for the British magazine The Field.
It is slightly ironic that Birmingham, having once supplied Britain’s finest gunmakers with reliable guns of good value, now has produced a gunmaker that is sourcing its second-level guns in the Val Trompia. Clearly then, Gardone is the new Birmingham.
For more information, contact William Powell, 01144-1295-701701; www.william-powell.co.uk. —Douglas Tate
A Taste of Africa
My wife, Barbara, is not an experienced rifle shot, so this past year when she drew a Maine moose permit, I thought it would be helpful to order her a set of shooting sticks. To my great pleasure, in the process of tracking down the best sticks available, I discovered a company that caters to not only discriminating big-game hunters but also wingshooters looking to outfit themselves for the field and home.
In 2002 Jim and Elisabeth Morando began making African Shooting Sticks based on a tripod design they had used while honeymooning in Zimbabwe. They formed the company Sporting Wood Creations to market the product, and business grew quickly. Today the premium sticks are made from imported or domestic hardwoods and have padded tops of leather, zebra skin or Cape buffalo. They come in various lengths and are fitted with aluminum takedown connectors. Bipods, monopods and entry-level sticks have been added to the line as well.
In time the Morandos began offering other products that would bring the African experience home. Items like British campaign furniture; plains-game rugs; tusk canes; and collectibles such as spears, shields, knives and jewelry. Then this past year they expanded further with practical safari gear, including a full line of clothing, TurtleSkin pants and chaps, Tuffpack gun cases, and Swarovski optics.
The shift in focus from shooting sticks to a broader range of products prompted a company name change to African Sporting Creations. This more accurately reflected the Morandos’ vision of becoming a full-service provider for the safari experience.
But you don’t have to be heading to the Dark Continent to appreciate the items offered. One product line sure to interest shooters everywhere is a set of Cape buffalo soft cases for shotguns, double rifles or scoped rifles. Made of tanned Cape buffalo hide, each case has double-stitched wrap-around handles, high-density foam, a full suede lining, protective flaps for the gun’s stock and muzzle, and a sturdy YKK zipper. Adding to the character of the cases is the odd blemish from tooth, claw or thorn—evidence that the hides’ former wearers actually roamed the plains of Africa. Prices range from $399 for the side-by-side case to $349 for the over/under.
Looking to attract attention at the range? How about shell carriers made of saddle leather with zebra-hide accents? The line includes a shell bag ($249) that will hold 100 rounds, a shell pouch ($109) that will hold a single box, and a “Spair Pair” two-shell carrier ($39). Set yourself up with one of these, and even if you don’t go straight on the 5 Stand course, you’re sure to be the envy of the squad.
And for the hunter who appreciates functionality as well as style, there is footwear from the Courteney Boot Co., in Zimbabwe. Made entirely of genuine game skin, each boot is unique and carries its own serial number. The Selous ($285) is the top of the line—smart looking, with Cape buffalo uppers and a padded impala collar surrounding the ankle and lower calf. The rubber “tyre” tread sole is durable and provides all-terrain traction. This boot would be suitable for bird hunting on the prairie or a casual day at the office.
So many ways to weave the fabric of Africa into everyday life.
For more information on safari-related products, contact African Sporting Creations, 423-975-7626; www.sportingwoodcreations.com. —Ralph P. Stuart
