============ *29 Reilly - "retailer" vs "gunmaker" - analysis TEXT ============
Note: this analysis is based on the documented information above:

*29 Observation re "retailer" vs "gunmaker" from an analysis of extant 1856-58 Reilly pin-fires:
-- SN 10054 (Late summer 1856),
-- SN 10128 (December 1856),
-- SN 10355 (mid 1857), and
-- SN 10655 (March 1858):

. . .-- 10054 & 10128 late summer and December 1856: In fall 1856, there were virtually no outworkers in London who could have made 10054 or 10128. Both guns are early Lang/Lefaucheux forward under-lever pin-fire SxS's.
. . . . . .- Lang was making pin-fire Lefaucheux style breech loaders but not for the trade (perhaps he had made and sold some 40 pin fire guns over two years by this time and that is probably a high estimate; per his serial numbering system, Lang was making about 75 guns total a year from 1830-1860...perhaps by 1855 100 a year). Per Lang's own pamphlet he began to make such guns in January 1854. He did not advertise them. Yet Lang won a publicized gold medal at the 1855 Paris Universelle for his breech loader - his work on the concept was not a secret.
. . . . . .- E.C. Hodges, the original designer of Lang's break-action gun, had completed his apprenticeship in 1852 and was making center-break actions for a dozen different makers including prestige names by 1858-60, labeled with his stamp on the water table - not found on Reilly's.*29a
. . . . . .- Per above Blanche claimed he made his first pin-fire breech-loader in 1856, this after traveling to Paris to buy a center-break, under-lever around trigger-guard, Berringer style pin-fire in late 1855 after the Paris Universelle and reverse engineering it (as detailed above). (Note: The first known Blanche advertisement in the UK press for a center-break pin-fire was in 1858).*29b Again as detailed above Blanche explained in his later book that at the time the change-over from muzzle-loaders entailed a massive alteration in the manufacturing processes for guns from a breech-plug to a lump, from locks to actions, etc. - this in the face of a very conservative clientele.
. . . . . .- Reilly, thus was on his own when he obviously embarked on a similar path to that of Blanche in 1855 or early 1856 to manufacture and sell the French invention.

. . .-- 10355 mid-1857: Similar conclusions (without additional details on the gun). Note: By mid 1857 there were likely less than 150 British built pin-fires being shot in the UK. Reilly, however, per the 26 June 1857 edition of "The Field" above, was building 100 pin-fire "spec" (speculation- i.e. "awaiting a buyer") guns (a long-time Reilly practice). This gun 10355 was probably one of them.

. . .-- 10655, March 1858: This is a Lefaucheux-style 12 bore SxS shotgun pin-fire breech-loader: At the time it was numbered, March 1858, believe there were still very few gun-making firms or gun parts makers in general in all of UK that could have made it or portions of it – barrels & actions, and it's twins submitted by Reilly for the April 1858 "The Field" breech-loader vs muzzle-loader trials.
. . . . . .- Although London gun-makers by 1858 were getting involved in experimenting with the concepts and had begun in some case building a few guns (indicating an infrastructure in London was being created), again, the two firms, who could possibly have made 10655 in spring 1858 were Lang and Blanche. However, Lang and Blanche had orders aplenty themselves - they likely had no time to manufacture for "the trade."
. . . . . .- As for Birmingham by the follow-on July 1859 trials a Birmingham gunsmith "Elliott" submitted two "patent" pin-fire break-actions for the trials,*29c; (their recoil per "The Field" was so severe that they were virtually unshootable). Yet the first main-stream Birmingham-made center-break gun or the manufacture of center-break actions was still several years in the future. Samuel Breedon c1861 may have been one of the first.*29d

. . .-- Thus, the most logical conclusion is that the extant Reilly pin-fires from this era 10054, 10128, 10355, and 10655 were indeed made by Reilly lock, stock and barrel; no one else could have done it for him. It well may be that 10054 is the earliest UK made pin-fire center-break gun in existence.

(These conclusions are per historical data currently available on the early origins of UK center-break pin-fires. For the record Haris Holland made his first breech loader in 1857 although he advertised them in Sep 1856; Boss in 1858; Purdey in late 1858 or early 1859.)

========== *29 Reilly - "retailer" vs "gunmaker" - analysis END TEXT ==========

Last edited by Argo44; 06/04/22 11:41 PM.
Baluch are not Brahui, Brahui are Baluch