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#87134 03/10/08 12:43 AM
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Gentlemen, just returned from a local gunshow with a serious waterfowl gun by the Pittsburgh Fire Arms Co. that is obviously built by Westley Richards. It is a heavy 10 BLE with 34" damascus barrels and weighs just under 11 lbs. Great wood, good bores, full choke,barrels need browning and the woodwork a little cleanup but
this brute is going to go back to work!! Don't know anything about
the Pittsburgh Fire Arms Co. Any source of info out there?? Terry


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I believe it was a brand name used on shotguns marketted by J.H. Johnson's Great Western Gun Works in Pittsburgh 110 years ago or so.

Last edited by Researcher; 03/10/08 01:26 AM.
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The British proof marks are pre-1887 and it appears to be chambered and bored for the 2 7/8" thin brass case. I'm guessing circa 1885.
Typical Westley toplever and sliding bolt into a dolls head.
Serial # 22x .


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Pittsburgh Firearms company,
68 5th Avenue,
Pittsburgh,Pa
Some references show the company was in business 1860-70,s.
One known example was an imported English, 10 G. hammer marked on the rib, "Anson & Deely", this indicates they were in business well after 1875.I would agree, the likely manufacturer of your gun was W.R.


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The Pittsburgh Firearms Co. gun was made by Westley Richards and marketed as Pittsburgh Firearms Co. by J. Palmer O'Neil and Co. of Pittsburgh until late 1882. At that time O'Neil pictured the same gun in their ads, but it was marked Westley Richards. I suspect this had something to do with the sole U.S. rights for manufacturing the Anson and Deeley action being acquired by Harrington and Richardson.

Terry, are you sure the Pittsburgh 10 bore has ejectors ?

Last edited by Daryl Hallquist; 03/10/08 09:36 AM.
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Terry, are you saying the sliding bolt moves from the butt to the muzzle? My Harrington Richardson dosent lock into the dolls head extension at all. I have two early Westley Richards droplocks and one of them(8XXX) has a sliding bolt top lever where the bolt slides back and forth, butt to muzzle, and can be functioned by moving the lever right or left. The other Westley Richards(T3XXX) droplock has a conventional rotary lever and bolt that locks into the dolls head. Ross

Last edited by reb87; 03/10/08 12:44 PM.





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Harrington and Richards also imported Westley Richards Shotguns and marketed them under their own name. I have had a couple and they are pure WR.

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Stallones, There is a write up history on Harrington Richardson, in the Field and Stream of around 1908. In it they tell of workmen coming over from England to help set up the production of the Anson and Deeley gun in the U.S. on the second floor of the H and R factory. I think the agreement with Westley Richards was that Harrington Richardson had the "exclusive" rights to produce that gun in the U.S. They even sent "Mr. Anson" over here to help get things started. From all of the written information and looking at these guns, I think they were made in the U.S. I do agree that they look like they could have been of English make.

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Harrington Richardson went through massive growth in their operations at the turn of the century. They expanded their factory at least 3 times in about 5 years.
They had some very popular single barrel shotguns and revolvers. I know they were marketing the revolvers in Belgium and Italy about this time.

I did not know about the English connections. Always something to learn here.

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Sorry for the delay in reply,a friend and I were in pursuit of the wily snow goose this morning as it was the last day of our Spring season.Six of them paid the price so it was a good finish to another season.
Daryl, it is an ejector and they appear to be working fine although
not overly powerful, must be an early patent.
reb, it does have the usual wide Westley toplever with a sliding bolt,butt to muzzle, that fits into a recess in the dolls head.
It certainly appears to be British built and proofed. I will try and take some pics later tonight and post.
BTW,I got the serial number wrong, it is # 299 and the water table is stamped Anson & Deeley Patent 7560
Terry

Last edited by Terry Lubzinski; 03/10/08 09:50 PM.

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