I follow your line of thinking, Argo. I would guess not all holders of patents used the same patent use process that Westley Richards did. Of course they were one of the industry leaders, but I'm not sure others did exactly the same.

As to when the Patent Use fees were paid during the process of making a complete gun, I don't know except for the Westley Richards process. I believe that the guns Westley Richards had brought to them were in a state of being unfinished, completely, but were operable assemblies that Westley Richards could approve. Now, we do not know when a partially finished gun was brought to Westley Richards, who brought it in. It could have been an outworker like J. Wilkes with the Dougall patent gun, or it could be the company who finally finished the gun, partially made elsewhere. So, to answer your question, if Reilly names show up paying for patent use on the ledgers of others, it seems not to prove one way or another who made the working barreled action, Reilly or others for Reilly.

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