This Reilly BPE is for sale in the upcoming Holt's auction - SN 17230, 10 bore BPE. Estimate seems low but perhaps there are not many people around who want to shoot a 10 bore black powder rifle at Lions. Rifle would date to 1871 per my chart - Dr. Livingston and Sir Henry Morton Stanley would approve:
https://auctions.holtsauctioneers.c...+++730+&refno=++170800&saletype=

E. M. REILLY & CO.
A SCARCE 10-BORE (2 7/8IN.) DOUBLE-BARRELLED ROTARY-UNDERLEVER HAMMER RIFLE, serial no. 17230,
circa 1871, 26in. black powder only bold damascus barrels, partially matted rib engraved 'E.M. REILLY & CO. OXFORD STREET. LONDON.' with engraved open sights and three folding leaf sights, marked 50, 100, 150 and 200 and with white metal-inlaid sight lines, bead fore-sight, Jones patent rotary underlever, carved serpentine fences, the action face engraved with a flower and 'PATENT B127', incorporating Horsley patent retracting strikers, patent no. 1138 of 17th April 1867, the non-rebounding back action locks with bolted short nose hammers with hare's-ear spurs and breast cams, border and acanthus scroll engraving, the action bar with a tiger to the left and a lion to the right, elongated top tang with a lion's head, some wear and patination overall, 14 1/2in. figured pistolgrip stock (cracked and repaired at hand) with cheekpiece, steel pistolgrip-cap, sling eyes and chequered steel buttplate, weight 12lb. 4oz.



And find myself wondering about that strange firing pin/hammer set up. Any comments?

Interesting rifle, my feeling is that the barrels have been shortened, that combined with the cracked wrist will put off quite a few buyers.

Plenty guys shoot the larger bore rifles and the market remains strong for quality examples. I sold lovely Alex. Henry 10 bore single barrel bore rifle last year for top money.

Thanks Steve. Not sure I'd agree on the barrels being shortened. 26" and 28" barrels were pretty much standard on all the big bore BPE Reilly rifles in my database. I hadn't noticed the cracked wrist.

Any idea about that firing pin set-up? It looks almost like an original pinfire but the whole thing is strange. There are a number of other Reilly rifles from this time period, all with 26-28" barrels and some are pinfires. I can post them if it would help history.

Most rifles of that vintage would have started life at least 28" long with many being 30", you do see plenty of them that are 26" but most have been cut to that length.

I started a thread on this gun and the firing pins when then gun was first posted. I have not seen this patent before and have meant to look through my reference material but have failed to do so. It appears to be some sort of retraction method for the pins but I am not certain of that.

You may well be right Steve and you've seen a ton of guns. However, as an observation with a database of 600 extant Reillys, of which 100+ are rifles, I can say I have never seen a Reilly center-break rifle with 30" barrels. And most are 26" or 28." Example from rifles close to the above serial number:

================================================================
17261
https://www.barnebys.com/auctions/l...le-barrelled-hammer-rifle-by-reilly-and/

A .577 OBSOLETE CALIBRE DOUBLE BARRELLED HAMMER RIFLE BY REILLY & CO., 26inch sighted blacked barrels engraved with the manufacturer's details on the sighting rib, border engraved signed sidelocks, border engraved rotary underlever action, half stocked with chequered fore-end and wrist, border engraved steel mounts, serial no. 17261, contained in a later case with a selection of accessories.

And I've found your original post which I somehow missed. Sorry for the double line.

The curve on the front of the hammer cams the rectangular piece forward, which acts to retract the firing pin.