Holland & Holland are famous for making sporting double rifles that are both fully practical hunting arms and exquisite works of art. Their expertise in gunmaking has been accumulated over almost two centuries.
Fast Facts
- Holland & Holland are one of Britain’s foremost gunmakers and the guns and rifles they make are nothing short of works of art which are expertly designed and made practical sporting guns.
- Holland & Holland are especially famous for their double rifles.
- Holland & Holland have acquired a great deal of expertise in the design and building of large caliber dangerous game double rifles, such rifles are delightfully well balanced with lively handling.
- A Holland & Holland double rifle proofed in 1988 and chambered for the 577 Nitro Express is coming up for sale by Rock Island Auction on 5th December at their Premier Auction to be held in Bedford, Texas.
The Holland & Holland double rifle chambered for the 577 Nitro Express cartridge, is perhaps the most iconic classic safari rifle of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, right through to the twenty first century we now live in.
Holland & Holland continue to make their double rifles in 577 Nitro Express and have long since mastered the art of creating these heavy caliber rifles such that they feel lighter than they are – and handle in a lively and confidence inspiring way.
Holland & Holland have accumulated this know-how in part through the extensive field testing done by customers who used their double rifles as professional hunters and so racked up unique insights into what made a rifle a dependable, trustworthy companion with which to face dangerous game in dangerous conditions: and to do that hundreds of times.
The end result for the British gun trade was the creation of a small group of rifle-making businesses and an ammunition manufacturer who knew not only what calibers to make but how to make bullets that would function flawlessly, and ammunition that would also function flawlessly.
The Holland & Holland double rifle featured in this post is a prime example of this expertise and workmanship.
Chambered for the 577 Nitro Express this rifle tips the scales at 14 lbs. 4 oz. and has 26 inch barrels, and a length of pull of 15 inches. That weight will be needed to tame the rather stout recoil of the 577 Nitro Express but one can expect that weight to be concentrated “between the hands” so the rifle is quick and easy to being to the shoulder.
This rifle has black steel chopperlump barrels, and is a sidelock action with two sets of sidelocks. Each sidelock features intercepting sears and bears the maker’s name York & Wallin. These sidelocks feature gold plated internal parts.
The bolstered, pinless sidelock action has a hidden third fastener, and selective ejectors, something that is a great boon when one needs to reload quickly: and when one needs to reload quickly one needs to be able to do that without the complication of having to prise fired cases out of the breech first.
The action is fitted with bushed firing pins with gold plated strikers, gold plated cocking bars, gold plated double triggers with a checkered articulated front trigger, gold center-lined cocking indicators on either lock-plate, right hand rolled trigger guard, and a tang mounted automatic safety with gold inlaid “SAFE” indicator.
The splinter fore-end timber is of highly figured walnut with double line bordered, multi-point checkering. The fore-end has an Anson push rod release.
The stock timber is also of beautiful walnut with checkering of the pistol grip and a trapdoor pistol grip cap that contains a spare front sight blade.
The stock has a shadowline cheek piece and is completed with a leather covered recoil pad.
The traditional open sights comprise Holland’s ramp style foresight with flip-up white moon sight, and on the quarter rib a gold centerlined two-leaf open “V” rearsight with one standing blade regulated for 50 yards, and one folding regulated to 100 yards.
Holland & Holland will of course make your bespoke rifle with the degree of artwork you desire and the client who specified this rifle spared no expense in desiring the best work that engraver Ken C. Hunt could do – and the result is a quite stunning display of the engraver’s art.
The best way to appreciate Ken Hunt’s work on this rifle is to look at the photographs. His engraving makes this rifle an extraordinary work of art. It is “museum grade”, a rifle that would look equally at home in a display case at an art gallery, or carried at the ready in a hunter’s hands as he/she closes in on their quarry.
I especially like the way Ken Hunt has used different but complimentary engraving designs on the two sets of sidelocks – it creates an effect of changing the personality of the rifle and is a very attractive feature.
This Holland & Holland 577 NE double rifle is to be offered for sale by Rock Island Auction at their Premier Auction to be held on December 5th, 2025 at Bedford, Texas.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Rock Island Auction.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
