Here we shall focus on some of our classic product lines, which have supported the British sportsman in the field since before the death of Queen Victoria. Some are new designs but others remain largely unchanged since they were featured in our 1912 catalogue.
Every shooting man or woman needs three essentials for a day out with a gun: A slip to secure the gun between drives or protect it getting in and out of vehicles at the start and end of the day, a cartridge bag to carry sufficient ammunition for the day, or at least for the next drive, and a cartridge belt to spread the load on a walked-up day or to provide instant access to cartridges during a drive.
These three basics: the slip, the bag and the belt are ones no shooting man or woman can do without for long. Anyone starting out in the sport needs to invest in one of each and will invariably call on each in turn when the moment arises.
That being the case, it makes no sense not to buy the very best examples of these items when investing in new shooting kit. Compared to the cost of guns and the cost of shooting itself, the sums required are relatively small but this is an area where the pleasure of ownership and the assurance of longevity justifies spending wisely once, rather than less wisely, often.
The Perfecta Cartridge Bag
There are other options, each designed for a specialist purpose but the basic cartridge bag at Westley Richards is the Perfecta.
This design has changed little in a century. Old survivors attest to the fact that it has been popular for that long and is capable of being used for that long. Sized to hold seventy-five twelve-bore cartridges, it is the ideal all-rounder.
The structure is in-built, imparted by the combination of a bark-tanned Italian leather outer and a pig-suede lining, entirely hand stitched in our Birmingham factory. The Perfecta still sets the standards by which other cartridge bags are judged.
The Deeley Gun Slip
The best gun slips protect your valuable shotgun, hide it from prying eyes, enable convenient carriage and may be stowed away with ease when not required.
An all-rounder should be sturdy enough to impart protection from light impact and rubbing (like in a gun bus container), flexible enough to fold, light enough to make for carefree carriage on the shoulder across muddy fields or over heather moorland, and rugged enough to withstand the rain, snow, mud and misuse inevitably encountered while being used for outdoor winter sports, season after season.
Decades of experience proves that natural sheep-wool fleece provides far superior protection, long-term, than do synthetics. So, that is what we use at the heart of our slips. They have full-length, top quality plastic zips. Plastic because it will not scratch the gun, full-length so the wet slip may be fully opened and air dried after use.
Double-lined leather end caps provide cushioning for the delicate muzzles, the grade of natural cow hide we choose for the slip body is the ideal balance of strength and suppleness, with weight also a key consideration. For a lighter version, our canvas-bodied slips offer even greater portability.
Our unique brass hardware is guaranteed the strongest in the business and perfectly finished, with subtle branding cues. The straps, handles and zip-pulls are finest saddle grade cow hide, naturally tanned and dyed for long-lasting performance and looks.
The Cartridge Belt
Cartridge belts have gone a little out of fashion on city-slicker driven shoots but every true countryman appreciates the value of spreading the weight of twenty-five cartridges around the waist when walking-up grouse or hopping from covert to covert in search of woodcock. A cartridge belt eliminates the need to sling a heavy bag over the shoulder. It provides one-handed access to a cartridge immediately one is needed and it won’t catch on fences, put strain on your shoulder or interfere with your swing.
Unlike reliance on big hip pockets, a belt will not weigh down on your shoulders and when the conditions are warm, it provides a carefree alternative to stuffed pockets, which are a nuisance, especially when movement is required. Westley Richards cartridge belts are available in full Italian bark-tanned leather or a combination of this and top-quality webbing canvas, with a number of colour combination options.
The canvas belt is the lightest weight, while the full leather version offers the full luxury of a model which has stood the test of time. Like our cartridge bags, these belts are based on templates with their origins in the early 1900s. We have found that open loops with a robust leather stop-strip is the best pattern for a cartridge belt, delivering the ideal balance of weight, stability and ease of extraction.
Like all our field goods, these bags, belts and slips represent the culmination of over two centuries of trial and consolidation. They are all hand-made in Birmingham, many made to order by an individual craftsperson, working at a traditional bench and applying construction techniques as old as those of our gun-makers.
As such, they make the ultimate choice of gift for the sportsman in your life. Each can be customised with leather initialling, identifying it forevermore with the proud new owner.
The Scotch Bag
There is one other shooting bag few sportsmen will regret buying. It is another 1912 veteran design, which has survived to this day by constantly reasserting its usefulness. The Scotch Bag is a classic field bag, with a shoulder strap for hands-free carry, a washable lining, internal pocket and a hemp mesh net on the front outer, which allows freshly shot game to cool while being carried.
Made from a tough, tightly-woven British cotton canvas, with Italian bark-tanned leather trim and straps, our unique brass hardware and hanging loops for four game birds, this is the essential day bag for the hill, the gun bus or the hide. It is the ideal size to cope with all basic needs, without being cumbersome. The design has not remained a best seller for a century without good reason.
The Scotch Bag has recently developed the status of design classic and fashion icon, with trendy young things re-purposing it for university or everyday city use. However, it remains, at heart, the quintessential field bag for the true game shot. The combined cost of these four basic requirements for every game shooter is remarkably modest, given that they are, without doubt, the best examples of their type available today, at any price.
The £2,500 investment required for all four items listed here represents barely more than the cost of good day on a Cotswolds driven pheasant shoot, yet they will continue to serve and give pleasure for decades after the shoot has faded into distant memory.
Westley Richards has been outfitting its clients with timeless fine leather goods for as long as it has been building custom rifles and bespoke guns for them. Whether it be a heirloom quality gun slip to carry your droplock shotgun to the peg or an exhibition-grade gun case to store your prized double barrel rifle, Westley Richards sporting leather goods has you covered. Made in our leather factory in Birmingham side by side with the gunmaking, the company offers a range of leather hunting and shooting accessories, including ammo wallets, gun slips, rifle slings, cartridge bags, cartridge belts, gun cleaning kits, shooting gloves and hip flasks. The ideal partner to our high quality safari wear and country clothing.
