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Very interesting, Don. While I understand and accept that is "how it was", it is a foreign concept (pun not intended) to me that one should stay inside one's social circle when buying personal items. Just another reason why I "fit" much better as an independent minded American, I guess.

I assume that mindset passed away after the passing of the Edwardian era?

SRH

Hereditary billionaires don�t have much to talk about with made millionaires.
Different world views/experience.

Probably not going clubbing together.

I know a few of the former and a good number of the latter. Often seen together. At the golf club. At parties. Running in similar social circles because, let�s face it.....not a whole lot of heirs to billion dollar fortunes. I think more than anything, it�s not the source of the money that defines the difference.....it�s the type of man. Dissolutely spending money given to you or trying to do something meaningful (however that may be defined). Sometimes siblings within the same family wonderfully exemplify those differences.

Very different today in NA than 120 years ago in Victorian and Edwardian England, where earning your money was looked down upon.

When shooting on English estates, the invitation is very likely the most important, most differentiating, piece of the experience.

That hasn�t changed in over 100 years.

I've never done it and likely won't ever. You mention the invitation; I had the impression that a lot of these estate shoots were managed by brokers who'd get anyone with the bucks in. Not so?...Geo

Nope. Not so.
Look at a list of what are considered the top shoots. You won�t see many let days. Birds of a feather and whatnot.
Sometimes a great shot is invited just to fill out the bag.

James has it. Money isn't everything.

We have a term here in the South regarding inherited wealth: "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." You'd be surprised at how often I've seen it unfold...Geo

I'm even more impressed with the pictures of the British shoots CZ has posted over the years than I was before.

Returning to the Reilly in question, SN 24534, the weight is 7lbs 8oz. I've dated it as being numbered in late 1882; it was originally black powder proof. Just for amusement, I went back and looked at "Holt's Shooting Calendar", January 1883 which published the rules for pigeon shooting and the results for 1882. This gun could well have participated in some of the matches.

https://books.google.com/books?id=jN4RAA...don&f=false

1) The rules on weight of the gun varied; but the principle UK club, the Hurlingham Club mandated a maximum weight of 7 Lbs 8 oz .....interesting - wonder if it were made specifically for the rules in 1883.



2). This chart gives the total number of wins by manufacturer for 1882 which shows just how completely Reilly dominated the sport at the time:

It probably weighed more than 7.8 before they cut the chamber's to 3"