Alan, many thanks for your always substantive comments.
I've confirmed with the Worshipful Company that neither E.M. nor J.C. were members. This is not a deal breaker - there are prominent gun-makers who were not members. But, if someone can verify what was being proofed at that time....just pick a month - heck a week....I'd be grateful. I can provide a name and an email to the historian at the Company - he owns a Reilly pair.
A look at the Reilly dating chart will show that at least for serial numbered guns, the increase in production in the early 1880's is indisputable. The footnotes prove it.
But identifying that Reilly proofed say 100 guns in "August 1882" or say " 20 guns from Aug 01 - Aug 08, 1882, will not satisfy the question..."Who built the actions?" And in addition Reilly quite possibly was building a lot more guns for the trade at the time. And he was sending literally dozens of pistols to be proofed at the time.
Gun writers have wrapped themselves around the axle about the 1881 census... But Occam's Razor requires the simplest solution... Reilly spoke the truth. If you would read the Reilly line the number of business offshoots he was involved in with three separate workshops and stores plus the decision to upgrade production at that time, combined with the known cyclical employment in the industry, make his declaration credible. This is detailed in the Reilly history...
And this is not about Reilly though that is my interest. Below posted is the essential question - no one has answered it so far:
Last edited by Argo44; 10/30/21 11:13 PM.
