Great post from Stephen Nash.
I think his estimate on total production of British pinfires is too low. William Powell
& Son alone made approximately 650.
Ah, numbers, a good subject for discussion! And you're right, my number is too low.
But just how many pinfires were built in Britain is a bit of a head-scratcher, no error. I wonder if there were more than a few hundred built before 1860, when they were still a new-fangled oddity, and sportsmen wishing to try one could easily buy a Continental gun. The contemporary sporting literature makes very little mention of pinfires (or any reason to buy one) before 1860, even though they were available. Boss & Co. built their first pinfire in 1858, and went on to build 766 pinfires in total between 1858 and 1871 (of which 735 were shotguns). As the pinfire became popular in 1860-1868, just about all the makers built them or sold trade-made guns. Even if one estimated, say, 500 makers, local gunsmiths and retailers in operation during this time, the question would be how many game guns would they sell in a year? For the big London makers, records suggest 70-90 in a year. For a provincial maker, it could be that or half that or less, depending on demand and reputation. By sheer numbers of smiths and retailers, the total number of pinfire game guns made should be in the tens of thousands, if not much more.
This is where I start wondering, who are buying these guns? Sportsmen buying new breech-loaders would likely be landowners, or be of a social class that would be invited to shoot by landowners. Even a top-end provincial or Birmingham gun, like a Powell, would still represent a high purchase cost, not affordable by your 'everyman'. These were not 'meat' guns, or game-keepers's guns, for which any muzzle-loader would do. The market would therefore be relatively small, and within that market there would be those who would be quite content to keep shooting their fine muzzle-loaders. Of those willing to shell out the money for a new gun, there was choice. Pinfires proved the most popular for a time, but at the same time there were other breech-loading systems, which would have enticed at least some of the market.
Proof house records give data on the number of barrels, but without much information on the types of guns or their destination. To further confuse things, surviving makers' records are very confusing. All too often the ledger might mention 'breech-loader', without specifying whether it was a pinfire or centre-fire. And sequential numbers were given to game guns, rifles, pistols etc., so within a given year it might not be possible to know just how many pinfire game guns were made. For makers also building military arms as well, the serial numbers can get high very quickly!
So it is a conundrum. All those gunmakers building pinfires, the numbers of guns should be considerable. But the buying market was probably quite small. And it wasn't much of an export market, either. Few sporting pinfires made it across the Atlantic to North America, and in any case finding shells would have been a problem. Access to pinfire shells would have been equally difficult in Africa and India, though a travelling sportsman could have brought their own supply. However, after paper cases swelling in the humid tropics, a hunter might well prefer reaching for their trusty muzzle-loader instead. And by the time all the kinks of breech-loading design and cartridge supply have been worked out, the centre-fire reigned supreme.
Obviously not all pinfires were converted, as quite a few have survived intact. I've seen and examined about 300 British pinfires, and have probably seen a few hundred more in museums, auction catalogues, book illustrations, Internet postings etc. Despite focusing on pinfires for the past two decades, there is always something new around the corner (such as the lovely J. Neale that started this post). Knowing that I've only seen a tiny proportion of the guns that were made and retained as pinfires, there should be thousands still out there. But I just can't wrap my head around the fact the market could not have been that great.
If anyone has any ideas about how large the sporting-gun market would have been in Britain in the 1860s, please chime in!
Thanks to all for the postings of pinfire pictures and information. This is a much overlooked subject of study.
