VO FALCON – THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE SPORTING RIFLE
Words: Patrick
What would you buy with $820,000? (Just shy of £500,000 to you and me.)
Seven top-spec Range Rover Sports? A four-bedroom Georgian house in Edinburgh? Or, perhaps, a VO Sporting Falcon Rifle?
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome, Gents, to the most expensive sporting rifle on the planet. Such a price tag, which belittles that of even the most celebrated and time-tested Holland & Holland rifles, is fervent testament to the rarity (only five are due to be made), and sheer quality of build and performance. It demonstrates that there have been no time constraints on the manufacture, no corners cut; nothing but perfection has been accepted.
The VO Vapen rifles are handmade by Viggo Olsson and his son Ulf, and the mechanism, forged from Damascus steel, remains unchanged from the beautiful 1900 design – an assured sign of reliability and durability. The stock is made of the finest European walnut root available, slowly air dried for at least four years, and the engraving is the unique work of skilled handpicked craftsmen. There can be no debate as to its aesthetical allure. Little wonder the Sweden gunmakers have sold rifles to royalty the globe over.
The VO Falcon is inspired by Arabian design and their millennia-old love for falconry, with these birds revered as the true masters of the sky.
But this is not just a display cabinet showpiece (unless, understandably, you want it to be). These rifles are so much more than the beloved but neglected vintage car that sits in the garage year-round, only to make a very brief escape on a bright Sunday to nip to a beer garden and back. When passing each piece through the vices, the Olssons have dedicated as much focus to the weapon’s functional acuity as they have the looks. These bespoke rifles can, as a result, shoot straight, and pack more than enough punch to bring down the biggest of beasts.
All the VO Vapen models are based on their patented and internationally acclaimed takedown system, which allows the owner to use several different calibres to the same rifle. This provides the operator with a variety of calibre choices in one rifle, thus making it the ideal weapon for hunters who travel around the world with game of all different shapes and sizes in their sights.
When Viggo Olsson established this small family company in 1977, his dream was to build the most exclusive handmade rifles for hunting and collection. In those 38 years, he appears to have made short and sharp work of fulfilling this.
From VO Vapen
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