Thread: Ever wondered why H&H takes years to make a gun?

Originally Posted by Cordite

@Carlsen Highway

Sorry for any offense taken, and it's true that, as @Scouser referred to, we ALL spend a lot of time (if not money) on things others may find unworthwhile.

You mention social class no offense taken as you don't know my background. But back to these guns which is more interesting . . . isn't social class what owning a H&H is about? Most gun makers are like watch makers. They don't just sell lead throwers or timekeepers -- they also sell a particular image, and the H&H image happens to be "Upper Class".

Cordite, there was no offence taken.
Isn't social class what owning a Holland and Holland about? Its a more interesting question than at first it seems.

What a buyer is doing is buying a perception of quality.
While there were upper class people in the world who owned guns made by legendary makers, the legendary makers did not become legendary simply because upper class aristocrats bought their guns. There are associations with that kind of past world I grant you, but the reason why that is is because of the guns high level of quality and bespoke fitting, which is why they were purchased by that part of society in the first place.

Today, these guns are symbols of a level of craftsmanship that is mostly in the past. ONe must consider them in context; for a community that is fed material goods by businesses that are based on affordable mass-produced factory items, it is hard for us to recall that in years past there was no such options. In 1909 the firearms offered in the commonwealth were of two kinds - cheap or poor quality, or those based on sporterised service rifles, or high quality makers with famous names, like Westley RIchards, Holland and Holland, Thomas Bland, John Rigby&Sons, Fraser of Edinborough and so forth. There was very little middle ground in those days, and we are spoilt for choice today by comparison. One didn't have to be upper class to want to buy a Holland and Holland in those days. All one had to want was a quality gun. They demonstrate custom quality of the highest tier, and associations with traditional shooting and hunting. (But I grant you, shooting and hunting in England in years past was indeed a pastime conducted by an upper class and the wealthy, so they have the aura of that past era. )

Today, is owning a H&H gun only to try and buy some image of being feaux upper class? I dont deny that H&H try and sell guns bases on associations with an upper class image. Certainly that is modern marketing, aimed at modern wealthy people and reinforces the notion of quality and desireability with past ideas of class. (Many of them American buyers, I believe, who have a fascination for the English upper classes)

But really the answer is no, it doesn't mean that you have pretensions of being upper class just because you want a Holland and Holland, just an appreciation for quality, a love of old school rifles and historical tradition.
Unless you do, of course.