Westley Richards .425 Take-Down

About the Westley Richards .425 Take-Down

The Westley Richards .425 Take-Down is a British bolt-action big-game rifle built on a Mauser-type action and chambered for the proprietary .425 Westley Richards cartridge. Introduced in 1909, its defining feature is a take-down design that lets the barrelled action separate from the stock for compact transport in a fitted case, while a hand-detachable bolt and Westley Richards' signature drop magazine with a hinged floorplate ease field maintenance. A pair of spring-loaded guides flanking the action steady each large rebated-rim cartridge as it feeds from the magazine. Firing a 410-grain bullet at roughly 2,350 fps, it was designed as a dangerous-game rifle for African and Indian hunting and remains in limited bespoke production.

The .425 cartridge was championed by professional hunter John 'Pondoro' Taylor, who rated it among the finest medium-bore rounds for dangerous game. Westley Richards designed the round with a rebated rim specifically so the potent .435-inch bullet could feed from an unaltered standard Mauser action.

Westley Richards .425 Take-Down specifications

The .425 Westley Richards uses a rebated rim so the large-diameter cartridge feeds through a standard-size Mauser bolt face. The take-down and drop-magazine features made it popular with travelling safari hunters. Fewer than a hundred take-down examples were built, each essentially bespoke.