KEEPING GUNMAKING ALIVE

Westley Richards celebrated its bicentennial in 2012 – that’s over 200 years of some of the finest English gunmaking, in constant production, since 1812. The gravitas of that history needs hardly be explained to anyone with a knowledge of the firearms industry. But the company continues to set trends, with its apprenticeship programme offering a route into the traditional art of gunmaking that nowadays is very hard to find.

“Skilled gunmakers are in very short supply in this country – overall, it’s probably noticed by every shooter that getting guns repaired is very difficult,” says managing director Simon Clode. “It’s because no one’s been introducing younger blood into the business over the years. So there is a need for the training we offer. There’s a need to keep people’s guns working.”

Once part of a thriving Birmingham gunmaking scene, Westley Richards is now one of the few companies that still offers an apprenticeship in this craft. The firm moved to new premises in 2008 and Simon says the intervening period has been hard – but, with an apprenticeship taking five years, the scheme is now bearing fruits with the first graduates now three years into their full careers.

“Apprentices tend to do two years’ general training, gaining skills and understanding, maturing and learning to use lathes safely, refining their machining skills,” Simon says. “After that, in discussion they say ‘I’d like to do this or that.’ They might shine in woodwork and go on to do stocking – or they might shine in barrel work or bolt rifle work or whatever it might be. We make quite a wide portfolio of guns, so whatever they’re best at, they’ll focus in on.”

Some don’t make the grade. They get turned loose after a year or two. In an era when most guns are made in a factory through fully automated CNC machining processes, to flourish in this traditional craft you’ve got to have passion and patience. “It’s like any job. Jobs are boring after a while! It’s whether you can maintain your focus and maintain the quality through all that repetition.

“You don’t see the fruits of your labour for a long time, with guns taking up to two years to make from start to finish. But once you get into the flow of it, you’ll be working on parts for many different guns, and eventually every month you’re seeing two guns come to completion – guns you were a part of. Then there’s a constant reward drip-fed into it. You’re actually seeing guns coming through the engraver and hardening, and being completed and cased and given to the client. And you think, ‘Wow, that one’s special,’ and you’ll learn from it all.”

Keeping the scheme light, Westley Richards has 15 or 16 in its team currently. Most are below 30 and from the local area. Those who started at age 16 when Westley first moved are now 24 with steady, lucrative jobs. “The average age of our team is very young, and they’re very enthusiastic,” Simon says. “It’s the opposite of how you think it might go –our customers come in and see a lot of young people, and they think it’s great. They like to see the young blood, and the enthusiasm and the attention they give their work.”