About Us.

The Team.

Alan joined the British Army at age 15 and Trained as a Vehicle Mechanic. He served for 25 years and worked on Trucks Tanks and Helicopters during that time.
He took up Target pistol shooting in 1974 and represented the Army at the Inter Services Service Pistol Match in 1975, and then each year until he retired from the Army in 1985 He was also the Army Service pistol Champion during the last five years of his service. In 1980 he gained a place in the National Standard Pistol and Centrefire Pistol Squads. He represented UK at the 1982 World Championships, shooting Standard Pistol and CF Pistol.
He retired from the National Squad in 1985 and was appointed National Coach for the Std. and CF pistol squads. This continued until the Government destroyed the sport by Banning pistol ownership.
In 1985 Alan purchased Britarms which was at that time out of production and the stock in storage. In conjunction with his Garage business Alan brought the pistol back into production. Rachel his eldest Daughter joined the firm shortly afterwards.

Rachel trained as a Production Engineer at the local Technical College, while working at Westlake Engineering, building and repairing Britarms and other Target Pistols

In 1990 the Garage was closed down and the Westlake family (and Britarms) moved to deepest Wiltshire, where production continued until the Government banned the product. we currently manufacture Nitro burning Muzzle Loading Pistols based on the Alfa .357 Magnum revolver frame.

Westlake Engineering's Prototypes of Past Production Target Pistols

Britarms 2000

In 1986 Alan purchased Britarms and brought the Britarms.22 target pistol back into production. Once Rachel finished college she joined the company and started making the Britarms .22 Pistols.

The Britarms .22 was a .22LR five shot semi-automatic pistol.

During this time they also converted Smith & Wesson revolvers for U.I.T (ISSF) shooting.

Minimum Recoil Prototype

Then came the infamous 1997 ban which destroyed the sport of target pistol shooting for tens of thousands and caused the demise of approximately half the rifle and pistol clubs in Britain.

Due to this Alan started to manufacture the Phoenix for disenfranchised ISSF pistol shooters. The Phoenix was a Cal.36 in line striker muzzle loading pistol. The Barrel/Receiver is made from stainless steel, the frame from anodized aluminium. The grip was carved from walnut and had an adjustable palmshelf. The rearsight was adjustable for windage and elevation.

The Phoenix

A simplified version, the Clubmaster, was also developed to make a less expensive pistol. One downside to the Phoenix was that it used black powder and the amount of cleaning the firearm required after use spurred Alan on to begin Nitro Powder Conversions.

The Clubmaster

The Nitro powder conversions of revolvers consisted of a new two part Stainless Steel cylinder of Alan's design in the original calibre, later came rebarreling in .38. The first firearm to be converted this way was the .38 Remington black powder revolver which was then followed by the Ruger Old Army and the Rogers and Spencer. The Matchmaster Shroud was fitted to the Remington Army Revolver to give it a modern sight system and looks.

The Matchmaster Shroud

Then Alan started to work with the Britarms .22 again, except this time he converted it to the Britarms .22 long pistol. The Barrel shroud got machined away in front of the frame mounting lug, up as far as the centre line of the Barrel tube. This left a spur at the top on which the front sight is mounted. The Barrel tube was 300mm long and 12mm in diameter. A 5mm Diameter Balance weight rod was permanently fitted to the rear of the frame, bringing the total length of the pistol to over 600mm. Other than that, it was identical to the original 5 shot semi auto .22 Britarms Standard Pistol.

Britarms .22 Long Barrel Pistol

Due to the high cost of making the Britarms Alan decided to start converting Buckmark .22 rifles into long pistols, into either the standard or the lightweight version. This was a Blowback action .22 LR Semi-Automatic Long Pistol. It had a ten shot magazine which the bolt locked back after the last shot. To bring the centre of gravity back for single handed shooting, a balance rod with adjustable weights was fitted. The lightweight model also had the barrel turned down and the muzzle end threaded facilitating the fitting of an aluminium nut and shroud tube. I spite of Browning having stopped suppling the UK with the Buckmark Rifles, in conjunction with Merseyside Armoury we are inporting Buckmark Rifles for conversion, so that the Buckmark Long Pistols remain available.

Browning Buckmark Rifle and Long Barrel Pistol

During the same time as making the Buckmark conversions Alan also converted the Taurus. The Taurus ML Revolver was converted from a Taurus .357 Magnum Long Barrelled Revolver. The cylinder was removed and a Yoke extension fitted, this contained the spring-loaded plunger that freed the action when the yoke was closed. As this extension cannot be removed it prevented the re-fitting of the original cylinder. The Barrel was shortened to approximately 5 ¼ inches and the wristbrace was removed.

Taurus Muzzle Loading Revolver

Alan then went on to the Armscore due to Taurus refusing to supply a smaller company with their wares. The Armscor of the Phillipines modified their .38 Spl Revolvers to Alans designs and manufactured for him, a Cal.357" Nitro burning Muzzle Loading Revolver, that fires .357" diameter 148gr Wadcutter bullets, using Herco smokeless nitro powder, ignited by 209 shotgun primers.

Armscor Muzzle Loading Revolver