This weekend, something remarkable is happening in Bedford, Texas that goes way beyond another high-dollar gun auction. A lifelong hunter from Mississippi is putting his most prized possessions under the hammer—not because he needs the money, but because he believes the future of hunting itself is worth more than any safe queen.
Will Primos, the man who turned a homemade turkey call into one of the biggest names in the hunting industry, is selling the only set of its kind ever built: five James Purdey & Sons side-by-side hammer shotguns, consecutively serial-numbered, covering every gauge from 12 down to .410. Purdey, a company that’s been hand-building “best” guns in London since 1814, had never done this in two centuries of operation. They probably never will again.
Primos commissioned the set back in 2012. Hammer guns with ejectors in five matching gauges, all wearing the same breathtaking engraving package—brushed bright actions, classic English scroll, and bottom plates that look like wildlife paintings come to life. One gun shows a rock pigeon perched on a desert cliff with two more wheeling behind it. Another has three drake mallards cupping into decoys. There’s even a Mearn’s quail scene that’ll make any bird hunter stop breathing for a second.
The current estimate sits at $800,000. Every single dollar raised will be split five ways and sent straight to the heavy hitters of American conservation: Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever, and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.
On a recent MeatEater podcast, Primos laid it out plain: “There will never be another set. It’s one of a kind.” Then he added the line that ought to stick with every hunter who’s ever inherited a favorite shotgun or rifle: “Hopefully this will start a ripple effect.”
He’s not wrong. Most of us will never own an $800,000 anything, but a lot of us have that old Model 12, or Granddad’s Parker, or a custom rifle that’s worth real money sitting in the safe. Primos is betting that when guys see what one big sale can do for ducks, elk, turkeys, and pheasants, a few more will decide the critters need it worse than their heirs do.
The auction itself—Rock Island’s Premier Auction running December 5-7—has plenty of other pieces that’ll make grown men weak in the knees. One lot in particular has collectors arguing in every corner of the internet: a transitional Evans lever-action rifle carrying a presentation plaque that reads, “This Rifle Presented to William F. Cody May 12, 1877 By the Evans Rifle Co., Mechanic Falls, Me.
The Evans repeating rifle held more rounds than anything else coming out of the 1870s—up to 34 in the butt magazine—and both Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack Omohundro carried them during the Wild West show days. No paperwork survives to prove this exact gun changed hands that day in 1877, but the specs match what historian Dwight Demeritt described in his book Maine Made Guns and Their Makers as the exact presentation piece given to Cody. Rock Island has it pegged at $70,000–$110,000. Even if the Buffalo Bill story turns out to be family legend, it’s still one of the rarest 19th-century repeaters you’ll ever lay hands on.
A few lots down sits Bat Masterson’s Sharps Model 1874 buffalo rifle—the one the famous lawman/gambler/sportswriter used on the plains. Then there’s a Colt Single Action Army documented to the Dalton Gang, and, for the dangerous-game crowd, the very last double rifle carried by author and professional hunter Peter Hathaway Capstick on his final African safaris.
But the star of this show, the one that actually matters in the long run is Primos’s Purdey set. Because when the hammer falls Saturday afternoon, the money won’t buy another yacht or lake house. It’ll buy wetland acres for ducks, burn units for turkeys, winter range for elk, and quail habitat from Texas to South Dakota. It’ll keep access open on public land and keep anti-hunting bills from sailing through Congress.
Will Primos has spent fifty years teaching millions of us how to talk to turkeys and how to hunt whitetails the right way. Now he’s teaching one last lesson: the best gun you’ll ever own might be the one you let go of, if it means your grandson still has a place to hunt.
The bidding starts Friday. You can be there in person at Rock Island’s Texas gallery, watch live online, or get on the phone. Lot 1 is the Purdey set. If you’ve ever wanted to drop the hammer on something that will still be paying dividends long after we’re all gone, this is it.
And if you’re not in the market for an eight-hundred-thousand-dollar set of bird guns, maybe just watch what happens Saturday night. Then go look at that old Ithaca or Winchester hanging in the back of the safe. Because Will Primos is right—one ripple can turn into a wave. And America’s hunting heritage could use a wave about now.
