In a conversation recently with David Trevallion and previously with Vic Venters both mentioned their suspicion which borders on certainty that UK center-break gun makers in the 1850's relied to a great extent on Barrels with lumps from Liege. This has been mentioned several times in the Reilly history at various places. The observations have been consolidated in III, 29 per below:

. . . .*27(a) 1856-1858: Obversations on the origin of early UK center-break SxS barrels and actions

Again, the role that Liège barrel and action makers played in this story of the origin of the UK center-break gun is not clear. However, very prominent gun sport writers have suspicions that it was much more important than most would admit and that there is a distinct possibility that Lang, Reilly and Blanch initially at least imported barrels with lumps from Liège. For instance a pin-fire center break Reilly shotgun exists dated to 1861 with a faint Belgian proof mark still visible.

There is historical logic for this conclusion. There were no barrel makers in London after 1847 - all British barrels came from Birmingham. Likewise London was the locus for the new gun and the innovations for making the actions initially came from that city.

It seems that Birmingham specifically ignored the center-break gun at this time in the 1850's. For instance there are no advertisements for or press references to Birmingham breech-loading actions until possibly a brief mention in summer 1859. (This may be debatable since there is a Reilly, originally a pin-fire, dated to 1858 with Birmingham proofs and a Breeden action; Breeden was a prominent Birmingham gun furniture and action maker. This gun may actually be later than the serial number should indicate).

Thus it seems unlikely that a few London gunmakers selling less than 100 guns in total from 1854-1857 could persuade a Birmingham factory to produce a few dozen SxS barrels with lumps, a new technology until the demand became truly important around late 1858 and 1859 when Purdey and many other London makers became involved.

This is further reinforced by the desultory efforts of Ely to produce a UK made pin-fire cartridge. The first Ely pin-fire game gun shell was introduced in April 1858 but it performed poorly. Ely didn't get it right until 1859. Ely was not going to produce artisanal cartridges and obviously didn't begin serious operation until the demand was proven.

Thus, logic would seem to insist that most of the 1850's UK center-break barrels with lumps up until around 1859 came from Liège, a conclusion supported to some extent by letters to "The Field" in late 1857.

(This will be subject to a follow on post on the topic of Birmingham's earliest involvement in making pin-fire game guns. This has been discussed previously in Stephen Nash's excellent "Pin-Fire Game-gun" line.)

Last edited by Argo44; 06/14/25 10:54 AM.
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