Stewart Granger - Wesley Richards aficionado

[skydiver386]

Watching a few old Hollywood African Safari movies brought up Stewart Granger. I'm certainly not the most knowledgeable on the subject of Double Rifles, but quality and craftsmanship are things all of us can appreciate.

Stewart Granger’s .577 hand detachable lock double rifle, made in 1921 for Count Alfred Potocki author of one of the rarest books on hunting, Sport in Somaliland. Gun 17754.

 

[skydiver386]

Granger’s guns were inlaid with the animals he had shot with his gun, rhino, buffalo, elephant, and the ‘c’ denoted that the animal had charged him.

 

[skydiver386]

Malcolm Lyell, then manager of the Westley Richards London shop, recalled of Granger as customer: “Soon after the 2nd World War he bought an estate near Haslemere and purchased a pair of Westley Richards best single trigger guns. In 1950, he came to tell me that he and Deborah Kerr were going to star in the film King Solomon’s Mines. He said ‘when I’m off set with Deborah, I want to get in among the buffalo.’ So I fitted out Jimmy with a best quality Westley Richards single trigger .577 double rifle, a .375 Holland and Holland Magnum magazine rifle, as well as a .240. He was a big man and very powerful. He handled that big .577 as if it were a .22! He used the rifles in Kenya, Uganda and the Congo, while on location and went back to East Africa in the years afterwards.”

 

[Saul]

I can trace my dream of hunting Africa directly back to when I first saw King Solomon’s Mines.

 

[PerH]

Interestingly the 8 bore he uses at first in Kong Solomon belonged to Jan Viljoen , the legendary SA hunter , explorer and politician .

 

[rookhawk]

For those of you that own heirloom quality guns that you never intend to sell, I have a question. Why not pay a couple grand to inlay the stock with your kill records so the kiddos and grandkiddos can add to the tallys? I really love they did that on the Granger gun.

 

[skydiver386]

For those of you that own heirloom quality guns that you never intend to sell, I have a question. Why not pay a couple grand to inlay the stock with your kill records so the kiddos and grandkiddos can add to the tallys? I really love they did that on the Granger gun.

I'd seen that done by some overpaid Hillbillies on cheap firearms, but on Stewart Grangers rifle it was done with a touch of class.

 

[rookhawk]

I'd seen that done by some overpaid Hillbillies on cheap firearms, but on Stewart Grangers rifle it was done with a touch of class.

I've seen it on the floorplate of a Griffin & Howe that went through a few generations of a family. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd seen in awhile. No collector will dock you value on a gun that tells a story like that. Do it. There is no downside.

 

[Rare Breed]

Where are Stewart Grangers rifles now please?

 

[skydiver386]

Where are Stewart Grangers rifles now please?

Probably in Krish's gun safe.

 

[skydiver386]

Last available information is that his firearms were purchased by a private collector in Dallas, Tx.

His niece is Bunny Campione, an appraiser on Antiques Roadshow.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

When you shoot a ele that charges and one that doesn’t do you adds a non charging that or just leave it?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I absolutely loved that guy, growing up. Mom & dad took me to watch “King Solomon’s Mines (1950) when I was seven years old at the Dacca Club Cinema Hall. And I immediately knew that I wanted to be a hunter as soon as I could fire a gun. I watched “Harry Black & The Tiger” a few years afterwards. And saw “The Last Safari” in 1969 after returning home upon graduating from the University of Peshawar (where I was studying”Principles of Forestry” since 1967). Stewart Granger was a real man and not one of those modern Hollywood Soy Boy types who make millions of Dollars wielding firearms in their films… only to publicly advocate for gun control in real life (like Mark Wahlberg).

Stewart Granger owned the following firearms in his life:
- A Pair of 12 gauge 3” Magnum Westley Richards single trigger droplock ejectors
- A 1921 made Westley Richards .577 Nitro Express single trigger droplock ejector (made for Count Potocki)
- A .375 Magnum Holland & Holland Pattern 14 Enfield Deluxe
- A .240 Holland & Holland Apex Mauser Model 98 Deluxe (this one he never used after one safari)

He sold the .577 Nitro Express to Holland & Holland after Kynoch stopped manufacturing ammunition for this caliber in 1969. He eventually had Holland & Holland build him a second .375 Magnum in 1970… this time on a commercial FN Mauser Model 98 action and sighted in for the 300Gr Winchester Super Speed Silver Tip factory load (which was unfortunately the only 300Gr soft point factory load that was being manufactured for this caliber at the time).

He was close friends with living legend Tony Sanchez Arino. His white hunter was Eric Rungren on more than one safari.