Peter S Jones reviews the new bolt action, takedown, magazine rifle from Holland & Holland.
There’s something about walking into Holland & Holland’s Northwood grounds that makes even the most seasoned deer stalker stand a bit straighter, tuck his shirt in, and pretend he hasn’t arrived in a truck full of muddy boots, wet dogs and last week’s sandwiches.
So, on 24 November 2025, with a room full of shooting royalty, and a suspicious number of people who looked like they owned small countries, H&H unveiled their latest creation: the new Takedown Magazine Rifle.
A rifle, I should add, that starts at £68,800. Yes. That’s right, for clarity, that is Sixty-Eight Thousand Pounds. Still, this is Holland & Holland. You don’t wander into a Bentley dealership and ask if they’ve got anything second-hand under fifteen grand. And frankly, after hearing about the R&D effort, handling the gun, and seeing their staff glide around like butlers trained in Switzerland, I promised myself I’d remain neutral and give a proper, honest, review.
First Impressions: Tradition Meets Formula 1
We’re not reinventing the wheel here, the rifle is built around a Mauser 98 action, which is exactly what you want in a London Best rifle. No unnecessary cleverness. No Frankenstein hybrid of titanium, Lego and somebody’s design degree. Just the old battle-proven action, polished up, refined, and treated with more reverence than most people give their firstborn.
And then, wonderfully, they’ve glued it into a Formula-1-grade carbon fibre chassis.
This is the bit where purists will inhale sharply through their teeth. Carbon fibre, in a Holland & Holland!
But this is in fact, the bit that I like, actually, it’s brilliant. This clever chassis completely eliminates stock distortion, ensuring that if you are enduring the cold and wet of the Scottish Highlands or the heat of the African plain, the stock will remain true. Stock distortion is the enemy of accuracy and this clever bit of wizadry improves consistency in a way walnut simply can’t. Through this wonderful bit of engineering, H&H have managed to add innovation without butchering tradition.
Engineering: A Trigger That Makes Angels Sing
The titanium trigger unit is a thing of beauty. Crisp, clean, and so smooth I briefly wondered if it was lubricated with unicorn tears. It even comes with an optional set trigger.
The bolt? Slick. PVD-coated. Hand-knurled. The kind of bolt throw that makes you mutter “oh that’s nice” under your breath like a man discovering central heating for the first time.
Aesthetics: London Best with all the trimmings
Gold inlay. Ebony forend. Colour case-hardened bits that make grown men mist up slightly and a walnut stock that looks like someone bred a tree specifically to pose for photographs. Then there’s the magazine box with the historic slanted profile which is a nice nod to heritage along with gloriously traditional, hooded, classic safari style ‘open sights’.
The Takedown System
Ah yes, the party trick.
You press, twist, coax, and suddenly the whole rifle comes apart like a gentleman’s Lego set. And then, miraculously, it goes back together again without losing zero.
This will be handy for those who:
- Travel regularly between continents
- Own crocodile-skin luggage
- Have staff
For the rest of us, it’s simply a delightfully engineered piece of gunmaking theatre.
Actually, Shooting It
I have to say, I am a big fan of Holland & Holland’s ground in Northwood, if you’ve not visited, then you really should. Especially to use the indoor cinema range, on which we were invited to shoot a number of running boar using the new H&H rifle chambered in .30-06. Before being invited to shoot on the outdoor range with another example, this time chambered in Holland & Holland’s iconic African calibre the .375 H&H.
What a privilege to shoot a £68,000 rifle, Smooth. Balanced. Predictable. Precise and just beautifully refined.
Let me put it this way: If rifles were dogs, this one would be a perfectly trained Labrador raised by the Royal Family. It sits, stays, heels and retrieves without drooling on your tweeds.
So… Do I Want One?
Of course I want one. Everyone wants one. Owning an H&H isn’t just about having a rifle, it’s joining a tradition, buying into engineering excellence, and signalling to the world that you appreciate craftsmanship, but are also doing extremely well, thank you very much.
But mostly, I want one because it’s a Holland & Holland, and that alone still carries an allure very few brands on earth can match. This rifle reaffirms the house’s 190-year legacy of producing firearms that are both tools and works of art.
Final Thoughts
The new H&H Takedown Magazine Rifle is a glorious blend of old-world elegance and modern engineering wizardry. It’s not cheap. It’s not for everyone. It’s certainly not something you throw in the back of the pickup next to a leaking flask and a half-eaten pork pie. But it is unmistakably Holland & Holland: confident, iconic, meticulously crafted, and unapologetically excellent.
If you can afford one, buy one, in fact buy two! If you can’t, join the rest of us in admiring it from a respectful distance while quietly calculating how many organs we truly need to survive.
If you can afford a Holland & Holland rifle, more than likely, you’ll be interested in the Capreolus Club, the UK’s finest deer stalking club. Follow this link for more details: Capreolus Club | Unique London-based Members Club | Exclusively for Deer Stalkers and Hunters of Large Game
To watch a short clip in which I trial Holland & Hollands new rifle on their indoor cinema range in Northwood West London just follow this link: (408) Just how accurate is the new Holland & Holland Takedown Rifle? Peter Jones trials it on the range. - YouTube
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