Eric and Edwardian, there are a couple of things to clear up in our discussion of Abbey. The American patent for the so called rising bite is the G. T. Abbey patent 87814 of March 18, 1869. That is the patent used in G. T. Abbey #47 , and I would guess the number 657 could be a patent use number, and I would guess that it is not a use number for the patent 87814. Maybe a use number for the thumb opener, maybe not. I just think when # 46 and #47 were made, that 657 was a high use number for Patent 87814. Either way, the rising bite 87814 is about ten years ahead of the Rigby-Bissel patent 1141 of 1879 for the British rising bite patent.
Eric, I checked the firing pins on #47 and they have no springs, but they should have springs. It's just that they are missing in my gun. #47 has non rebounding locks, and a pinned forend, so must have been made in the first half of the 1870s.
I have seen guns with the closure lock of the patent 114,081, but I think not on these two guns. I have taken #47 apart and the mechanism is like Patent 87,814.
I am not sure how much the Rigby-Bissel patent relates to the G. T. Abbey patent, but I have owned a F. Beesley over under [not a shotover] that had the Rigby-Bissel locking. It looked very much, from the exterior, like the locking on #47.
By the way, Eric, what does it say on the rib extension of number 46 ?
Last edited by Daryl Hallquist; 01/02/16 09:47 PM.
