Part II of my visit to the Holland & Holland factory in London last month.

Having ran ahead of normal production stages to see my rifle, we stepped backwards to visit the assembly floor. This is where most of the gunsmithing takes place.

Barrels with action components in containers waiting to be assembled and fitted.

Of great interest was the time consuming process of smoking and filing for perfect barrel to action fit.

Next, the engraving area. Although H&H often employ the services of independent engravers they do have 3 full-time engravers in-house. The quality of their work is fabulous.

Creating gold inlayed lettering is far more complicated than I thought.

Next a quite sad moment when we saw the very last action engraved for H&H by the late and great Philippe Grifnée.

Finally, demonstrating their skill as a true bespoke gun-maker, we were shown a triple barrelled side by side (by side?) shotgun, 2 years in the making with a single selective trigger actions. The complexity of this work boggles the mind and after 2 years in build completion date and final price are as yet unknown.

The overriding impression during the factory visit was not only the craftsmanship of the gun-makers but the sheer number of hours dedicated to each task. Time at Holland & Holland is measured in weeks and months, not hours and days, and it shows in their final product. No less than 1,000 man hours will be invested in my Royal Double Rifle, and now I have a full appreciation of why it takes so long to produce such a fine gun.

I hope you enjoyed the reports