doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reilly Side-Lever SxS .410 - 1884

I guess I missed something (or maybe I saved myself a lot of money). This is a Reilly SxS .410 side lever hammer gun. It was in the Holts sealed bid December auction that I completely missed. I can't imagine a .410 in anything like restorable shape going for this price but still wish I had known - temptation sharpens the senses.

https://www.holtsauctioneers.com/as...++8556+&refno=++164645&saletype=

E.M. REILLY & CO. .410 DOUBLE-BARRELLED SIDELEVER HAMMERGUN, serial no. 25853, circa 1883, originally with black powder only damascus barrels. Estimate £15-25

I looked at that gun at the time. The problem is it was going to be sold with barrels cut for sleeving. I do not have anyone on that end who can get it sleeved for me and then exported. Sold for 67 pounds so someone saw possibilities in it.

A friend has a double Rook rifle in .32-20 that started life as a Midland Gun Company hammer .410, sleeved using surplus .303 barrels for the tubes.

The purchaser may plan to do something similar. To sleeve it back to .410 (assuming you can find .410 tubes to do it) would appear to be uneconomic.

I can work out the sleeving through Horton gun makers for you, not sure about .410's though.

Jon really knows the auction scene so I totally trust his observations. But now I'm curious about the sale and the advertisement. I always thought that if a gun will not pass proof or the barrels are too thin, Holt's would put a disclaimer on the ad saying "stock and action only" - the barrels would be available only if cut. There was no such disclaimer on this gun. Perhaps sealed bid auctions are different or I've misread/misunderstood Holt's policy.

(Had I seen the gun and decided to bid on it, certainly I would have asked for more info from Holts but now am just curious about the process).

December 2023 Sealed Bid Auction : Sale S1223 Lot 8556
E.M. REILLY & CO. .410 DOUBLE-BARRELLED SIDELEVER HAMMERGUN, serial no. 25853,

Estimate £15-25

S2 - Sold as a Section 2 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act

Please note that guns sold as Stock, Action and Fore-end only are sold without barrels. The original barrels may be available for sleeving purposes, but will only be released cut in the approved manner as per Proof House guidelines. Please note there is a charge of £10 per item for this service. Please note Stock, Action & Fore-end guns are sold as licensable items and will need to be entered onto an appropriate licence before being released. If, subsequently, licensable parts are left with Holts for destruction, a £25 handling charge will be levied

This was a stock, action and fore-end gun. Holt's will absolutely not sell a gun they know is out of proof. It would cost them a lot of money to do so. Click on your link and you will see the disclaimer.

I just bought a sxs .410 hammer gun a week ago at a local gunshow. Always wanted one but never see them. It is on a properly scaled action (like the one in this thread) and is a real sweetheart. Not perfect shape but very shootable. 28" barrels and tipping the scales at a whopping 3 pounds 11 OZ. The is it next to my CZ Bobwhite 20 GA for size comparison.





The right hammer screw is a replacement and when I took the locks out to inspect and oil, I decided to take the locks down to do a proper cleaning (they were pretty good anyways) and as soon as I put screw driver to hammer screw on the left lock (with what appeared to be the original hammer screw) the head popped off. Apparently, the screw had been twisted off and the head glued back on for show LOL. Just ordered a 5-40 die so I can make two new screws and engrave them to match the broken one. I might make the heads just a titch smaller so they don't overwhelm the hammers like the ones on it.

I totally get what Jon is telling me and he for sure is correct that the barrels were beyond proof - there's no way a .410 SxS Side-lever hammer gun with intact Damascus barrels could have sold for that price. But here's where it became confusing over this gun - nowhere in the advertisement is it mentioned that this is a "stock, action, fore-end" gun.



Past Holt's advertisements would make this clear. Here is an example from a 2023 Holt's auction, SN 24701:

https://auctions.holtsauctioneers.c...++8056+&refno=++177789&saletype=


Oh well....it's all hypothetical since someone got the gun and will do something with it. A few years ago I missed out on a similar .410 side-lever hammer gun that was in good condition, SN 25851 - same year, same generation - just two serial numbers lower than the Holt's gun; wonder if Reilly built them as a "batch?"
https://www.guntrader.uk/guns/shotguns/reilly-em/hammer/410-gauge/side-lever-180723174108286
Beautifully scaled little 410 hammer-gun ( collectors piece ) , reproofed 2007 and very rarely fired since ! bores in particularly good condition , unusual to find a 410 with Damascus barrels -- top rib reads E M Reilly & Co 16 New Oxford Street, London & RUE SCRIBE PARIS . metric bore measurement 10.50mm in both tubes and estimated chokes LH 1/4 RH 1/8 with the chambers being 2 1/2" as seen in photos attached .

The OPs link shows what could become a wonderful .22 Dangerous Rabbit rifle. I once lasted for one one built from a Belgian gun.