Bruce Mackay Highman
I too can say that I knew Mr Highman. I first read about him in Magnum many years ago and drooled over the pictures of rifles he built. Even though I was just an inexperienced young lad back then, I recognised his designs as truly ingenious.
When I was a detective in Paarl, I noticed a new docket being registered in the Charge Office. I saw that the offence had taken place in the neighbouring Groot-drakenstein police station area and was about to give an instruction for the docket to be transferred when the complainant’s name caught my eye – Bruce Mackay Highman! I just had to attend to the docket myself, instead of sending one of my sergeants, and so came to meet Mr Highman.
That night I excitedly told my wife about the meeting – as if she knew who he was! When she learnt that he was living on his own, she invited him for dinner, which led to several more dinners. We seldom spoke about guns and gunsmithing. Mr Highman had had such an interesting life, one could listen to him for hours at a time. You had to keep the conversation going with lots of questions though, for he was a true gentleman and not one to blow his own trumpet. He had a vast general knowledge and loved to tell us about World War II, where his interest in firearms started. He told us that once, sound moderators for .303 rifles were built using dog whistles instead of baffles.
My wife used to work for an eye specialist in Paarl and when Mr Highman had to have surgery done and would not be able to drive himself home afterwards, I took a day’s leave and transported him to hospital and back home afterwards. When I had rest days or vacation leave, I would usually put aside one day to visit him. He lived in a secure complex which had previously been a school and rented extra space where he had all his equipment (lathe and such) and had started to make the most beautiful custom knives.
When I visited him, we often had Scottish shortbread, which he had baked himself, with a Windhoek Lager in summer or tea in winter. During this time I came to own some giraffe bone which I gave him. A few months later he had made three knives with the bone. Though I tried many times, he would not sell me any of the knives that he had made.
One day he rang me up and said I must swing by. He had made the model of the gun featured on page 23 in the August 2020 edition of Magnum. As he had not renewed his gunsmithing license after he left Bennie Laubscher & Associates, he could not build the model to actually fire .303 rounds. The gun could rotate electrically or by turning miniature hand cranks. The barrels could elevate up and down with hand cranks also. The model was an absolute masterpiece, correct in every single detail. Mr Highman also told me about the model, that had been stolen from his car in Johannesburg many years ago, that could actually fire .22 rounds.
Sadly his eyesight and hearing rapidly deteriorated with age. He had lost a son and his daughter had cancer, with little hope of recovery. I am sad to say that I neglected to visit him in the months before his death and was shocked, as was the whole shooting community in Paarl, when I learnt of his death. I know his daughter lived in Hout Bay and that he had two grandsons. Their surname is Morten and they should be 30 and 33 years of age by now. Richard is an It-specialist. Both love angling. They might know what happened to Mr Highman’s model. For me, my life is richer because I too can say I knew Mr Highman.