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There is a really good page on Wikipedia, which exhaustively lists every firearm James
Bond has ever used. It's a roll call of groovy guns from the SPAS-12 through the Dragunov,
Glock, and Heckler & Koch to the better known Uzi and AK47. There is only one sporting gun,
however - the Holland & Holland Royal used in the film Moonraker.
But now there's another. And I am in London to meet its creator.
Stuart that is probably the best advertising you could get in the world isn't it?
I think we were very, very lucky to be featured in the Bond film. It is one of those things
you never really expect it to happen, I mean watching Bond when I was younger and then
suddenly. I never even dreamed ever to have a gun in a Bond film. It is incredibly exciting
and at times I still have to pinch myself a bit about things. We will see, I haven't
seen the movie yet. From what I understand it is used for a long duration during it when
he is defending Skyfall itself which is his father's estate. So it is going to be really
exciting and I look forward to seeing it on the big screen.
Now come on you must have paid them a couple million £ to get the rifle in there.
Absolutely 3 to 4 million. No actually what happened was, again we were very lucky. One
of the armourers came to the store. He was looking around Mayfair because obviously there
are Purdys, Hollands, William Evans, William & Son, Beretta. So there are number of gun
makers here and they came by and they were looking around and said do you do double rifles,
we said we did. One of the gentlemen came down and had a look, went back and had a few
more meetings with a few other people and eventually they came through and said we would
be really interested in doing some work with that. There is no other way to put it that
is what happened really.
Did you feel like you were being cast.
I don't know whether I felt like I had been cast, but it was definitely, I don't know
what I felt. It was more let's wait and see if it actually happens first. I think that
is what it came down to and when Greg Williams book Skyfall, Bond on Set, which is the filming
of Skyfall came out and there is Daniel Craig sitting on the front cover holding the 500
Nitro next to an Aston Martin DB5 that was very exciting and from that it is .. we have
had a lot of people enquiring. A lot of people knew about us before, but we have been known
more as the professional's choice. We make guns to be used in the field. These are guns
that if you have got a professional hunting career you want something that is reliable
and accurate. That has been our market so far. But I think the Bond film brought to
a lot of people's attention the fact that we are out there, we are affordable and at
the same time we do have a reliable gun on the market.
So, Bond is back. Skyfall is in cinemas now. The story goes that the much-loved gun expert
and Shooting Times columnist Geoffrey Boothroyd wrote to Ian Fleming in the 1950s suggesting
that the Beretta 418 Bond had in Dr No was a bit flimsy and suggesting the Smith & Wesson
Centennial Airweight as long as it came with the Berns Martin triple draw holster. Fleming,
who had little interest in guns, said yes but should Bond use an automatic? Boothroyd
reluctantly suggested the super-light Walther Polizeipistole Kurz, originally built in 1929,
and now known universally as the Walther PPK. Imagine Geoffrey's horror when Bond turned
up in From Russia with Love with a Walther PPK drawn from a Berns-Martin holster. However,
imagine his delight when he learned that Q's real name is Major Boothroyd.
If you are watching this on YouTube, click on the link to see the trailer for Skyfall.
And if you want to have a look at some delicious double rifles, go to AndersonWheeler.co.uk
The British Government may not have a love affair with guns, but Bond does and Bond works
for the British Government.
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