Steve, many thanks for that excellent and very knowledgeable response. I'd like to comment on three elements of it.

1). I've asked the question "who could have made Reilly center-break breech-loading guns in 1855-58" for a reason.
. . .-- The "urban-legend" has been that Reilly never-ever made a gun for its 90 years of existence, was just a retailer, and always put his name on outsourced finished guns.
. . .-- Lefusil and other knowledgeable posters state that of course Reilly made muzzle-loaders for 30 years or so...but never had any machinery at all (the contradiction is noted) and certainly couldn't produce a breech-loader. (and that those two huge buildings at 502 New Oxford Street and 315 Oxford Street were for some purpose other than manufacturing.)
. . .--The evidence from primary sources, however, indicates Reilly not only made his own guns, he may have been one of the few "vertical" gun making companies in London and certainly in the 1860's-70's was one of the largest gun making companies in the city employing dozens of people.

So the question of who made SN 10655 (April 1858) (and earlier Reilly center-break breech-loaders going back to 1855) is important to the history of Reilly in particular. From what I understand now, no-one in Birmingham in 1855-58 could have or would have made 10655 "in the white" for Reilly. So, if he did not make it himself, he had to have gone to Ličge for it or....what??.

2). Integral to the wide-spread adoption of the breech-loader from 1856-60 was the question of ammunition. I believe there was not a producer of pin-fire cartridges in England outside of Lancaster, who tried to corner the market by tying ammo to his own patented gun, up to 1860-61 and that the vast majority of pin-fire cartridges were imported from France during those years.


There was a lot of money to be made selling ammunition and predictably Reilly the businessman got into that sector very quickly. Reilly-made cartridges are still around which makes this Reilly patent interesting....John Baker was the head of his shop...there is a John Baker who was a gun maker later on...still working to identify him.



3). Finally here is a Reilly SN 10354. My chart dates that to 1857. It was a muzzle loader. It was converted to a Jones U-L center-fire break-action breech loader about 1885 (my estimation). The label is an "outlier" that has been pictured before on this line. Interesting - the owner must have loved those barrels...and the excellence of Reilly barrels has been commented on before - see above posts.
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10354 Jones Underlever…. per conversion.
http://www.icollector.com/Cased-English-...och-2_i19846957

Cased English SxS double rifle by Reilly of London and converted by John Fry Derby, .400 Kynoch 2” caliber, 27” brown damascus barrels with matte rib fitted with triple folding rear sight and marked “Reilly 502 New Oxford Street London” and also“Converted BY John Fry Derby”; original barrels appear to have been silver soldered to a monoblock and a new receiver, underlever, hammers and stock provided during the conversion. The original gun likely was circa 1848 to 1858 with the conversion by Fry occurring sometime between 1895 and 1904 per a write-up provided by the consignor. Overall, the rifle appears to be in good condition as converted with a pleasing patina to metal surfaces; the bores are very good, the actionscrisp and the butt stock and forend overall good to very good; the casing is overall good with wood cleaning rod, cleaning brush and interior paper E. M. Reilly & Co. label; also accompanied with 40 Ballard Rifle and Cartridge, LLC .400 Kynoch 2” unprimed brass cartridge cases. (Antique). Est.: $1,500-$3,000.



The conversion was between 1895-1904 per a consigner write-up. But the address is still 502 New Oxford Street...which would normally mean it was done before 1885 when the 502 was generally dropped... (and had it been converted after 1898, 502 (16) was no longer a Reilly property).

The Capitol letters "G", "R", & "M" in this label are similar to those in H&H and Watson Bros from the same era:

Last edited by Argo44; 11/24/19 01:33 AM.
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