Mr. Hallquist, it is good to hear from a fellow pinfire collector. They were, for a very short time, the best sporting guns in the world!
Indeed, it was not unusual to have one's prized muzzle-loader converted to the pinfire system, or have their pinfire converted to centre-fire, and some conversions are devilishly difficult to spot. I have acquired seven other conversions: a 12-bore pinfire by George Fuller of London, converted from percussion; a 16-bore single-barrel pinfire gun by Thomas George Sylven of London (a specialist in conversions), made with a barrel from a R. Seffens muzzle-loader; a 10-bore pinfire by James Woodward of London, converting a Charles Moore pellet-lock; a 12-bore pinfire by an unknown English maker, converted from percussion; a 12-bore pinfire by The Breechloading Armoury of London, converted to fire both pinfire and centre-fire shells; a 12-bore pinfire by William Powell of Birmingham, also converted to dual-fire; and a 12-bore pinfire by Westley Richards of Birmingham, converted to centre-fire only by Westley Richards according to their patent no. 1960 of 1866.
To your question, the Murcott pinfire conversion retained its non-rebounding locks, which suggests to me it was an early effort, as a conversion made much after 1871 would likely have included the rebounding feature.
Last edited by Steve Nash; 06/16/18 12:05 AM.
