doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The pinfire game gun

Seals? Could be, Imperdix. In any case a curious addition, and we might never know why it was so modified.

Continuing on the subject of guns made by 'the trade', we have to move from the shores of France back to Birmingham. The Gun Quarter is a district of the city that was for many years a major centre of the world's gun-manufacturing industry, specialising in the production of military firearms, trade guns, and sporting guns. It was bounded by Steelhouse Lane, Shadwell Street and Loveday Street, and was close to the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal.

Historically Birmingham had many water mills, and starting in the 16th century mills originally used for grinding corn were switched over to industrial uses. By the 17th century mills were used for grinding blades, for both agricultural and military purposes. In time the aggregation of skilled metal workers led to gun production, and the mills were used for the grinding and polishing of barrels. Gunmaking gradually centered on the Weaman estate around Whittall Street, located near Kettle's Steel Houses, factories dating from the 1730s that processed steel (for which Steelhouse Lane was named). The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was completed in 1789, facilitating the route from the 'Black Country' (the West Midlands region west of Birmingham known for its coal, iron and steel). In 1767 there were 62 workshops involved in gunmaking in the Quarter, but by 1815 there were 125, by 1829 there were 455, and by 1868 there were 578 gun firms operating in the Gun Quarter.

There were also quite a few trades associated with the gun "trade," as the parts, and putting together of the parts, requires specialist attention. In an 1861 directory for Birmingham, the following gun-related trades were listed: gun and pistol makers, barrel makers, barrel smoothers, barrel browners, barrel riflers, break-off fitters and forgers, breech makers, finishers, furniture makers, implement makers, implement and barrel filers, lock makers, nipple manufacturers, rib forgers, gun and rifle sight makers, screwers, stockers, stock dealers, stock finishers, stock polishers and varnishers, and gun wadding makers.

In the late 19th century, Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885) summarized the following: "...it may not be uninteresting to enumerate the manifold branches into which the trade has been divided... till late years most of them being carried on under different roofs: The first portion, or "makers", include stock-makers, barrel welders, borers, grinders, filers, and breechers; rib makers, breech forgers and stampers; lock forgers, machiners, and filers; furniture forgers, casters, and filers; rod forgers, grinders, polishers, and finishers; bayonet forgers, socket and ring stampers, grinders, polishers, machiners, hardeners, and filers; band forgers, stampers, machiners, filers, and pin makers; sight stampers, machiners, jointers, and filers; trigger boxes, oddwork makers, &c. The "setters up" include machines, jiggers (lump filers and break-off fitters), stockers, percussioners, screwers, strippers, barrel borers and riflers, sighters and sight-adjusters, smoothers, finishers makers-off, polishers, engravers, browners, lock freers, &c., &c.

The bottom line is that myriad workers were required towards achieving the end goal of having a named "gunmaker" place a finished gun in the hands of a client, and most of those workers operated in and around Birmingham's Gun Quarter. A famous London firm, or one of any in Birmingham or the regions, could order parts, or a barrelled action, or a gun requiring final finishing work, or a finished engraved gun complete with the maker's name, address, and required serial number. All were available, made to any level of quality. Some craftsmen signed their work, leaving initials or other marks to identify their barrel or lock work, or the critical job of actioning and jointing. But mostly the work was anonymous, the craftsmen content to be paid a fair wage, building guns for social classes they would rarely encounter.

Today''s gun is one such gun "built for the trade." It carries no name or address, or any identifiable markings as to who retailed the gun, for a client probably happy to not pay a premium for a name. Was it sold through a provincial maker? A hardware/ironmonger's shop? Directly from a Birmingham back-alley workshop? Impossible to tell.

The gun is a 12-bore double-bite screw grip rotary under-lever pinfire sporting gun, with no serial number. The 30" damascus barrels have Birmingham proofs, and tight bores (measured as 14- and 13-bore). There are barrel maker's marks, "T.W" and "LC," which I've not been able to trace. The bar locks are unsigned, but together with the fluted action body, this was not a cheap gun and while the current condition is poor, when it left the workshop it would have been a stylish gun. The engraving is above-average, with breech ends with fine starburst detailing at the pinfire apertures, decorated serpentine fences, classic rounded hammers and shaped noses, and engraving in areas normally left hidden. It has the short top strap typically found on guns with bar locks. The stock is nicely figured, and the fore-end has an attractive horn inlay. Not surprisingly in a gun of this outward appearance, the bores are pitted at the breech. The gun weighs 7 lb 8 oz.

Now I know why so many books on antique guns use black-and-white pictures - colour shows off all the imperfections!