In case anyone is interested in a $50,000 double rifle, just noticed this Reilly in fine condition for sale on Guns International - George L's 4 bore shotgun is SN 15625; both are 1869 by my chart. 4 bores must have been in that year. (Notice the seller got the date of manufacture wrong - the reproduction label is the wrong address, "16" vice "502.")
https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-f...un_id=101245285

Make EM REILLY
Model Back Action Hammer Underlever Express
Configuration Double Rifle
Gauge / Caliber 4 bore rifle
Price $50,000.00
Serial # 15964
Country of Origin England
Barrel Length (in Inches) 26" Damascus barrels
Trigger DT (Double)
Stock Configuration Capped Pistol Grip
Forearm Type Splinter Forearm with cross pin
Rib Type Level Flat Rib with express sights ( 1 standing and 2 folding)
Receiver Finish Casehardened gun retains more than 80% of the original case colors
Engraving Type none
Other Options Rebounding hammers, Very fancy wood, Silvers pad, Gold oval, Sling swivel rings, Cased in Original mahogony case
Condition EXC. Plus Condition
Weight 18#10oz
Dimensions 14 1/8" LOP
Other Details Mfg 1876 Perfect bores, One of the finest 4 bore rifles ever offered for sale anywhere

Price: $50,000.00

For comparison, here are the only two other extant Reilly 4 bores (that I know of):

SN 18860



George L's SN 15625


And this one, E.M Reilly & Co., London with No SN and Birmingham proofs which he probably did not make, only marketed:

The barrels are 2 Iron "Oxford"



William Larkin Moore is over in Scottsdale. Should I visit and place a deposit for you?

Actually Dr. Drew, If I were to go for a big bore.....it would indeed have a "4" in its description....but would rather be my favorite from Vietnam, i.e. M-79 40mm......the flechette round would devastate clays.

Frigging awesome.
JR

A fun toy and nicer than the m203 that replaced it in some ways, but the Mk19 40mm grenade launcher takes thing to another level of woe.

That 4-bore looks like a pinfire conversion to me, from the shape of the fences, the added strikers, and the filled pin holes on top of the barrels. And isn’t 1869 a bit early for rebounding locks? A fantastic gun.

Steve, nice observation and you do own 14672 - the last extant Reilly before the opening of rue Scribe. George L's 15625, the 4 bore pictured above, was a pin-fire conversion. I believe this one 15964 was also. As for rebounding hammers, here are the patents.
1867, 09 Feb - Stanton patent 367 - rebounding hammers
1869, 30 Dec - Stanton patent 3774 - rebounding hammer modification

I really think both George L's 4 bore and this one had rebounding hammers added when modified. There is a long line on DBS on George L's 4 bore...worth reading if you can ignore the verbal abuse from the usual suspect.
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...2532#Post172532

I tried to keep track of when was the first Reilly I saw with original rebounding hammers but a lot of these guns were brought back to the maker and converted...there's even a muzzle loader converted to a center break gun. But according to my records here is the earliest so far:

============================================================
16341 (1870 per my chart) began life as a Snider double.

https://books.google.com/books?id=OoBq0q...ase&f=false

(text) "Began life as a .double rifle, a 577 Snider double made in 1874 (wrong - 1870). It was proofed for blackpowder and marked “26.” indicating a 26-bore, or .577 caliber. It has Stanton’s rebounding hammers, and the only fully snap Jones underleaver I have ever seen. ......."

============================================================
From p.22 on the Reilly line;

1867: 14461 - 14910. - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
14580 - E.M. Reilly & Co., London. 12 ga. Shotgun SxS; hammer gun, Muzzle loader.
14672 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London; 12ga Shotgun SxS. Back action, hammer gun. (Steve Nash's gun).

1868: 14911 - 15510. - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600. .*9
14983 - E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford Street, London & 2 rue Scribe, Paris; 8 bore. Shotgun SxS; U-L, hammer gun. (First Rue Scribe, Paris address)(12bore's gun)
14985 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 16 ga. Shotgun SxS; Sidelock, U-L hammer gun, (Buffum)(SXS40).
..3402 (outlier) - E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford Street, London & rue Scribe Paris; .577 cal, Rifle SxS; hammer gun, Muzzle Loader (Buffum).
15021 - E.M. Reilly, New Oxford St, London. .577 Enfield. Volunteer Snider 3 band rifle. German silver rearsight cover stamped "Snider"
15129 - E.M. Reilly & Co., 502 Oxford St. London. 12 bore. Shotgun SxS; pinfire, hammer gun, muzzle loader.
15143 - E.M. Reilly & Co., 502 Oxford St. London, 12ga. Shotgun SxS; U-L, hammer gun.
15227 - E.M. Reilly & Co., (address not mentioned). .577. Rifle, Snider Enfield conversion.
15239 - E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford St., London. .577. Rifle, Snider-Enfield 2-band; Birmingham proof.
15270 - E.M. Reilly & Company, Oxford Street London & Rue Scribe Paris. .577. Rifle SxS; U-L. BPE. Non-rebounding hammers.
15262 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 12ga. Rifle SxS. Black Powder proof for 13 bore.U-L, hammer gun.
15283 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 12ga. Shotgun SxS; U-L, hammer gun. (Buffum).
15287 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 12ga. Shotgun SxS'. U-L, hammer gun. (Buffum)(SXS40)
15318 - E.M. Reilly & Co., (address not mentioned). 12ga. Shotgun SxS; U-L, hammer gun
15346 - E.M. Reilly (no further info). 12ga. Shotgun SxS; U-L, hammer gun.

1869: 15511 - 16110. - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
15531 - Reilly & Co., (no address mentioned). .50cal. Rifle Single barrel. Enfield type. Hammer gun. Muzzle loader. (Buffum).
15625 - E.M. Reilly & Co., 502 New Oxford Street, London, 2 Rue Scribe Paris. 4bore. Shotgun SxS. U-L. Orig pinfire converted to centerfire. (George L.'s gun)
15857 - E.M. Reilly & Co., 502 New Oxford Street, London. 12ga. Shotgun SxS. Centerbreak, U-L. Non-rebounding hammers. (JBLondon's gun)
15961 - E.M. Reilly (no further descriptions). 12bore. Rifle SxS; U-L, hammer gun.
15964 - E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford St., London. 4 bore SxS rifle. U-L, Hammergun.

1870: 16111 - 16710. - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
16139 - E.M. Reilly & Co., London and Paris. 12 bore. rifle. U-L, hammer gun, rebounding bar-locks. Gold washed presentation-1994 DGJ article (Douglas Tate)
16257 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 12 bore. Shotgun SxS. U-L, hammer gun.
16341 - E.M. Reilly (No further descriptions). .577cal. Rifle, Snider SxS. U-L, hammer gun(Weiland). First rebounding hammers (1867 patent); Thomas brains ejector pat use #10487
16533 - Reilly, London (address/name not stated); 16 ga. side lever, hammer gun; steel re-barrells.
16583 - E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford Street London. 8mm. Shotgun SxS. Smoothbore. U-L, hammer gun.
16585 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London and Rue Scribe Paris. 10ga. Rifle SxS. U-L, hammer gun.
16607 - E.M. Reilly (no address/no photo). .577. Rifle; Single barrel. Snider Enfleld.

Argo44, thanks for the added info and links.

I hunt with two mid-Victorian centre-fire guns that have non-rebounding hammers, and it certainly adds time and requires additional concentration. Stanton's invention really was a major development, and I can understand why anyone would bring a gun back to the maker for the conversion!

Please tell me you tried that and wow what a 4 bore up top!

Sorry I added an M-79 to a really nice summary on Reilly 4 bores - kind of like unwanted graffiti.

But Actually Galaxie, I did fire an M-79 in Vietnam but never in combat. I had others carrying it. I was scheduled to give a class in the use of the M-79 during the 10th Special Forces Group winter maneuvers in southern Germany set for late February 1968....but the Tet offensive made me call "Mrs. Alexander" at the Pentagon and ask her to get me back to the war asap...orders arrived and I never went on the maneuvers.

Some guys in MACV-SOG cut the stock off at the pistol grip, cut the barrel off just in front of the break, loaded it with a flechette round and carried it around their neck as an "ambush breaker." Well it looked cool but they'd be dead before they could fire a round from the thing in my opinion.

You could use the M-79 as a mortar....there was a method for calculating muzzle elevation by use of the strap. But the best tip was a Montagnard CIDG one. I once asked some hot shot Special Ops guys in Afghanistan how you could get an airburst out of an M-79. They were Mr. Cools and pretty insulting...."Hey guys, listen to this old guy...o-h-k-a-y.... how do you get an airburst?!!" Wink wink sneer haha haha. The answer, "When a PK is singing your hair, fire the M-79 up into a tree over it." Shut them up. In an ambush of a North Vietnamese unit at night in May 1967 about 30 km north of A-233 Ban Don on the Dar Lac Plateau, the claymores going off, the A-6 machine guns firing and the BAR's chug-chugging...the things I noticed most were the explosions going off in the tree branches on the other side of the trail. (That was before Puff-the-Magic-Dragon showed up - long tracer fingers reaching down and walking...)

In about 1967 a Pentagon analyst recommended the M-79 be done away with because it "couldn't fire fast enough in a walking assault." He was quietly transferred to Fairbanks, Alaska to research snowball catapults...such was the esteem the US soldier in Vietnam held for the M-79. They were not "toys."