doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 1861 "Sliding Action" patent? Bastin?

I need some help interpreting this Jun 1861 Reilly Advertisement. I understand Reilly making the Dougall Patent, and the Jones underlever "double bite"...but have a difficult time with the mention of "sliding action" which appears to include a shell extractor. Might this be Bastin"s patent? Purdey used a bunch of those actions.

Berger-Fürst Pleß-Teschner-Collath variant comes to mind, but I will have to check the dates.

Not sure when the Darne type action arrived on the scene?

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I think I've answered my own question. This is indeed a Bastin Action aka Bastin-Lepage. As Steve Nash pointed out, Purdey made a number of guns using it. Many other London gunmakers, Durs Egg, etc. also used the action.

Photo from Holts:


https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/3169-394/
EXCEPTIONALLY RARE PURDEY BASTIN SLIDE ACTION PINFIRE DOUBLE RIFLE WITH MAHOGANY CASE.
SN 6756. Cal. 20 ga. This is an exceptionally rare rifle with only 27 slide action guns found in Purdey’s records, 6 of which are rifles. Patrick Unsworth in his book THE EARLY PURDEYS relates that only 4 slide action weapons are known to exist, 2 shotguns and 2 rifles. This particular rifle makes the third rifle known. The slide action locking system is quite similar to that used in the Borchardt and Luger, being toggles. In this instance the toggle is retained in closed position by snap catch at end of long forward hinging lever. It is interesting to note that the tops of the pinfire hammers have holes drilled up through tips to catch the cartridge pins while bbls are being slid forward, and act as extractors. This rifle has 30″ fine Damascus bbls with raised flat rib, file cut at rear behind three folding leaf express sight and at muzzle behind steel bead front. Top of rib is engraved “J. Purdey. 314 1/2 Oxford Street, London.” Bottoms of bbls are stamped with “JP”. SN is on slide. Sling eye is attached to square block on bottom of bbls. Pinfire action has large steel housing for toggle slide system. Peninsula back action locks with rear sliding safety bolts are mounted with tall flat bodied serpentine pinfire hammers.

I too believe you to be most correct. I just didn't entertain the percussion platform.....

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Another question about the Bastin action...and probably only Raimey or Steve Nash will be able to help. Were the guns built in London using this action...Durs Egg, Purdey, Reilly, etc....using imported complete actions from Liege or did they make them under license themselves?

I found the blurb from Stephen Nash on the internet...but nothing definitive:

"The Bastin breech-loader did have some popularity in Britain, at least in the London shooting scene. There was a Bastin-action 14-bore by Auguste Francotte of Liège in the 1859 Field trial, the only non-British gun in that year’s competition, indicating that such guns were available at the time. The Bastin sliding breech-loader was very clever in its design, and it was described and illustrated in John Henry Walsh’s 1859 book The Shot-Gun and Sporting Rifle and in William Wellington Greener’s 1871 book Modern Breechloaders: Sporting and Military and his 1881 book The Gun and its Development."

Rigby's review of the systems exhibited at the 1862 Fair (posted by Mr. Nash of course on the Reilly line)..only mentions Bastin in passing but in doing so, makes it appear that the action was made in both UK and Belgium:

"We notice one, a sliding action by Hubar (334), which appears more solid than the ordinary sliding actions known as Bastin’s and Gaye’s [Ghaye], specimens of which are to be found in both the English and Belgian departments."