#OPENLIEROX GUN MAKER HOW TO#

Like many others, I pressed my nose against the cabinets and enjoyed a quiet daydream before the price tag jolted me back to reality. The next stop was that proud old aristocrat on South Audley Street, James Purdey & Sons, which remains on the must-see list for sporting visitors to the Capital. They know that they are getting the very highest quality from us, but they will have to pay that little bit extra too. We are ideally situated to attract the money-makers and international visitors in London. You have to be aggressive to survive in this industry, he said. They want to take a gun off the peg and there is no other shop in the country that has the same range of Berettas to choose from as the Gallery. Tim is confident about the Gallerys plans for the future. We may be the oldest gun manufacturer in the world, but we try to attract the many newcomers to the sport. We have deliberately toned down the Englishness of it, not least because we are a family-owned Italian brand, he said, showing me round the rows of brightly lit guns in their polished cabinets. Gunroom manager Tim King was keen to stress that the Gallery aims to be a contrast to the traditional London gunshop. They dont feel like they are in a supermarket or a museum, but rather a friendly country gunshop in the centre of London.Īt the other end of St Jamess Street is the shiny Beretta Gallery, the Italian manufacturers showpiece in this country. They like the smell of Rangoon oil and having a quiet chat with an expert without any pressure to purchase. Our customers enjoy the sleepy cosiness of the shop. You cant drag it into the 21st century it would lose much of its appeal. I have to remind myself that it is very difficult to improve the gunshop business. They could have lunch at Boodles, cocktails at the Carlton Club and order a gun at William Evans all in the same afternoon.Īlastair often dreams up new ideas that might modernise the business, but then is quick to rein back this exuberance. The boxlock ejectors were especially popular with officers in the British military.

A customer can buy a London gun here at a country price. We have never tried to be like Purdey or Holland & Holland, and we have never gone for the very top end of the market. Why is it that William Evans has survived throughout the generations, while so many other famous gunshops were swallowed up or subsided? I think it lies in the original ethos of the business, he said. Perhaps it is also our weakness, in that we sacrifice potential profit by concentrating on customer satisfaction. Our strength is that clients know they will get so much more than a new gun or annual service. It is wonderful to see the reaction on peoples faces when you show them the original handwritten entry of when their great-grandfather first bought a gun, he explained, placing a mug of coffee on the great oak table which acts as workbench and presentation platform. Gunroom manager Alastair Phillips is perhaps most at home in the inner sanctum of the shop, surrounded by musty leather-bound ledgers dating back to 1883. Reclining opposite the ancient hatters Lock & Co and the wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd, its cool, friendly interior was a tonic against the impersonal bustle of the morning commute. Starting at Piccadilly Circus, I skirted round Pall Mall, passing the sporting clothing specialists Farlows towards St Jamess Palace, arriving at William Evans at 8.30am. Recently, I went for a jaunt round the centre of London to visit the survivors and gain an insight into the current market forces affecting these famous names. One at a time, however, the shops merged, folded or moved out. Between the Wars, sporting shops were a far more common sight in the Capital, with proud gunsmiths boasting some of the most prestigious addresses in the Golden Mile. The face of shooting has changed dramatically over the past century, but perhaps no more markedly so than in the centre of London.

Want to buy a single issue of Shooting Times, Sporting Gun or Airgun Shooter?.

Choosing the right bullets for deer stalking.British deer: A guide to identifying the six species found here and where to stalk them.Country hotels offering shooting facilities.

#OPENLIEROX GUN MAKER HOW TO#

How to choose the right cartridge for your shotgun.How to choose the perfect airgun pellets for your rifle.How to deal with eye dominance when shooting.Shotgun certificate – how to get one and how to renew one.Sign up to the Shooting Times newsletter.

Openlierox gun maker