Next comes the time-honoured method of soft soldering the ribs that join the barrels using pure tin fluxed with rosin, a non-corrosive substance. The bores are reamed and lapped to bring their diameter to within four thousandths of an inch of the finished size. The actioners take 8 weeks to complete their part of the task, comprising the bolting mechanism, lock work and ejectors. The action is the heart of the gun, incorporating the Holland & Holland self-opening mechanism and the hand detachable locks so easily removed for inspection after a rainy day in the field.

The actioners commence their task by jointing the barrels into the action to tolerances as minute as the thickness of smoke from an oil lamp. The telltale spread of carbon deposit reveals the slightest irregularity in the jointing, and any high spots are painstakingly removed before the assembly is sent to the London Proof House for demanding testing and critical inspection.

The guns and rifles will be embellished by our engravers who adorn the gun with the client's chosen style of engraving, perhaps our own 'Royal Scroll', based on a William Morris pattern, or customised with a design especially commissioned by the owner - often elaborate and imaginative. Clients may also select a stock blank with the particular figure or colour that they find the most appealing. Blanks of walnut, seasoned for up to 10 years, supply the stability so essential for a Best London gun. In the stocking shop, the stocker inlets the head of the blank with great accuracy to receive the action and lock work. The stock is shaped to the customer's measurements, established during a fitting at the Holland & Holland Shooting Grounds, taking into account the length, cast and the required drop or bend to align the master eye.

The 'finishing' of a gun involves endless checking, subtle easing and smoothing of the working parts. Meticulous polishing is required to effect crisp trigger pulls and the effortless opening and ejection which so much characterises a Holland & Holland.

All guns are carefully regulated to produce consistent shot patterns at the Shooting Grounds, where, whenever possible, the customer is encouraged to become acquainted with what is surely to be the ideal gun for the most testing of quarry anywhere in the world.

Such is the attention to detail shown at Holland & Holland, that each craftsman knows that to do less than his best would be a betrayal, not just of his own skills, but also those of his workmates. Each knows, too, that the day when the client arrives to collect the finished gun and raises the stock to shoulder and cheek, the work of all those months will be put to the test in a single moment. The motion should feel completely instinctive, completed as though by thought alone. It is the point at which the individual contributions of many craftsmen become, in the customer's hands, the complete and unique creation that is a Holland && Holland. It is the pride of our craftsmen that their work can be measured in that moment; it is their daily endeavour that their skills will pass that test.