Gene, I'm certain that orders fluctuated during any given year, with peak orders happening after the shooting season, perhaps after trying something new or hearing/reading testimonials from fellow shooters. Guns would (hopefully) be ready in time for the next season. However, there could be many reasons to order or purchase a gun out of this cycle, such as ordering a gun for a son's birthday, etc. Perhaps there was a benefit to ordering outside the rush, in terms of quality or availability. If one had access to a maker's records, it would be interesting to plot order dates and delivery dates on a time graph, to test this hypothesis. In the pages of The Field, there is a definite lull in all things gun-related outside of the shooting season, and advertisers did stress the need to get orders in early if a new gun was required for the upcoming shooting season.
In the 16 January 1857 issue of The Field, the Editor remarked: "We have received several communications from gunmakers – the writers requesting us to postpone the time fixed for the trial of the various shot-guns and rifles, in order to allow of their completing an article fit for competition." This suggests the notion that gunmakers did not have many breechloaders that were not already in the hands of clients, and might help explain the lack of gunmakers' participation in the trials, versus individuals putting up their own guns for the trial (but only after the end of the shooting season).
