More Than A Century Of Elegance: Westley Richards’ “Federal” Model .410

(l.) Whether on Kenya guinea fowl or Kentucky doves, the author’s Westley Richards .410-bore “Federal” model is an enjoyable gun to shoot. A 1920s Westley Richards catalog listing the .410 shotgun acknowledges the same sentiment: “Westley Richards .410 Shot Gun and its Cartridge. Several years later, when I was invited on a South Georgia quail hunt, I thought of taking the little Westley Richards .410. During the mid-1980s, the late Simon Clode, then Westley Richards’ chairman and managing director, had the firm build a dozen .410 shotguns with hand-detachable locks—the design that made Westley Richards famous. No one is certain how many fixed-lock Federal model .410s still exist, but besides mine, Westley Richards knows of only one other.