Westley Richards Ovundo

About the Westley Richards Ovundo

The Westley Richards Ovundo is a British best-quality over-and-under break-action shotgun designed by Leslie Taylor and patented in 1913-14. Built as a bespoke order, it features Westley Richards' patented drop-lock action with a hinged floorplate, a distinctive hook-and-bolt barrel locking system, the firm's signature top lever and thumb safety, and a selective single trigger. Roughly 200 examples were made between 1919 and the outbreak of the Second World War, the majority during the 1920s, in bores ranging from 28 to 10 gauge.

Westley Richards' managing director Leslie Taylor had been working on an over-and-under design as early as 1910, registering and patenting the Ovundo in 1913-14 to answer the early 20th-century question of how a London-best maker should build a stack-barrel gun. The Ovundo gave shooters a single sighting plane and a 'bank vault door' solidity prized by connoisseurs.

Westley Richards Ovundo specifications

Each Ovundo was a custom order, so dimensions and grades vary widely from one gun to another; barrel lengths and weights cited are representative of a 12-bore game gun. Some were built as fixed-lock versions rather than drop-locks. The name is a contraction of 'over-and-under'.