doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Conversion - from pin-fire or percussion gun?

Sorry to bring Reilly up again but it's what I have in my database. This gun and the 1867 Reilly ad at the Paris Universelle creates a problem. I have about 18 extant Reilly pin-fires in my database. About 8 I assumed were converted to centerfire from a pin-fire.

Here is what a classic Reilly pin-fire action should look like - narrow fences, no back splash guard.



Here is what I assumed a classic Center-fire action should look like. 14511 (1866) I always assumed was the first extant Reilly C-F. Back splash spark guard - remnant of muzzle loader style was the marker I thought.



Yet the Reilly advertisement shows an original C-F but built along the lines and style of a classic pin-fire. This made me question whether some of the Reilly's identified as original pin-fires but modified into C-F had in fact been made as a C-F. Note the noseless hammers on these photos.



And then comes the two 4 bores. . .That of George L and SN 15964, which have the lines of the above Reilly's I was wondering about yet clearly are originally pin-fire modified to CF.



Which leads to the conclusion
- you really need to see the barrels to know if a gun built with the narrow fences in pin-fire style was actually really originally a pin-fire. Clearly the gold washed Douglas Tate gun above has no pin-fire looking marks on the chambers.
- perhaps at the clue at least for Reilly's might be "noseless hammers" = built as a C-F?
. . .- Even here there is the above William Golding clearly modified to C-F by Really with noseless hammers and no visible pin-fire openings on the barrels.