doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com E.M. Reilly; History; Chronology; Serial Numbers

Chris (CJF) from North Carolina sent information on the Reilly made (marketed? engraved?) Martini-Henry that recently hammered for an impressive $1,700
https://www.proxibid.com/lotinformation/100142101/em-reilly-co-baby-martini-4440-win-24083


I forwarded the Reilly chapter on his involvement in making Martini-Henry rifles noting that there was only one serial numbered Reilly Martini-Henry this made well after the patents had expired. There were two Patents:
. . .-- the Henry rifling/barrel was patented in 1860 and extended in 1874 for four years.
. . .-- The Martini action had a patent characterized by crossed flags.
However, no-one seems to be able to identify who owned the action patent or when it expired. The chapter is posted below. The question Chris asked is included along with the response. if anyone knows the facts, it would be interesting to see them posted:

A question to clarify…when you said “ Here is a mystery: Who held the Martini-Henry patents? ” could you possibly have meant just the Martini patent? I thought that the Martini and Henry patents were separate patents.

I believe the two patents are separate but perhaps they were combined for purpose of manufacture? Definitely the Martini patent logo was crossed flags. The Henry rifling patent was definitely 1860 extended in 1974 for 4 years - I have the records. However, if they were separate then how could Henry give a license to Westley-Richards such that it was regarded as a license to produce all sporting Martini-Henry's? But who actually controlled the action patent? It sounds like W-R did but no one seems able to answer that question - thus the vague entry. I opted not to do further research because it really was marginal to the Reilly story. Still it's an interesting topic to research - there are Martini-Henry sites on the internet; I asked the question in one, no one responded. (Perhaps the government paid martini a one-time sum and owned it?). Gene


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*561871-1890: Reilly builds Martini-Henry Rifles (NSN):



The history of Reilly building Martini-Henry rifles/actions is instructive. This is the legendary gun of the Zulu Wars, Rorke’s Drift, **56a the 2nd campaign in Afghanistan**56b and British imperial wars all over the planet which continued in use to WWI. **56c, *56d

As mentioned in the two previous chapters on the Snider and Comblain, in summer 1864 the UK recognized the need for a breech-loading military rifle. As a stop-gap measure the Snider-Enfield was formally adopted in September 1866. It turned out to be a very good weapon. Almost immediately in October 1866 Arsenal advertised a prize for a purpose built breech-loader. In March 1867, the Committee reported that no less than 104 rifles had been submitted and 9 finalists were recommended.

Trials for the 9 did not begin until late November 1867 and by February 1868, the competition was temporarily abandoned due to repeated failure of the trials rifles and severe accuracy problems. The Committee set about addressing the problem of barrels, rifling and cartridges first; the Committee had become convinced that a hybrid rifle was necessary combining a barrel from one bidder and an action from another. At the same time another 45 new rifles had been submitted to the War Office and the Committee decided to start all over again. (See Reilly-Comblain chapter referencing the start of advertising for the Reilly gun).

By July 1868 the Henry barrel and rifling was adopted and the chosen actions were again whittled down to nine. By 11 February 1869 the Henry barrel mated to the Martini action (a Swiss modified copy of the American Peabody) was announced. Trials began on the gun which lasted until 1871 uncovering various problems which included critical parts failures and uncomfortable recoil from the .451 Henry cartridge. On 13 April 1871 orders were placed at the royal Small Arms factory at Enfield for production. Between 1871 and 1874 the rifle was trialed by various units working kinks out of the design and finally on September 18, 1874 (fully 8 years after the need for the gun was advertised (and one thinks modern military acquisition times are long!) the M-H was authorized for full issue to the British army.

As a coda to this in November 1874, the Henry shallow groove rifling patent from November 1860 was allowed to be extended for another 4 years to November 1878. **56e It subsequently somehow (by a process not yet understood) may have been extended again to November 1888. (There are Reilly SxS rifles with Henry Patent marks - without use #'s published - which were serial numbered in the 1880’s **56f). There was some speculation that this possible extension might have been tied to the rifling being adopted by the army. In fact Henry received £5000 (equivalent today to $900,000) in 1872 from the British government for the patent use in the Martini-Henry and no more though he petitioned for a supplement. Henry patents in the USA expired 15 November 1874 by court ruling.

Many companies made sporting versions of the M-H including in particular Greener. However, there apparently few if any M-H sporterized rifles with a company serial number made by any gun-maker in UK while the patents were in force. It appears that Arsenal would send over an action from Enfield or one of the authorized producers of the M-H, if a company wanted to build a sporterized M-H. Perhaps Braendlin had the license since its logo appears often on Reilly's.

**Edit: Here is a mystery: Who held the Martini-Henry patents?

. . . . .According to some sources the National Arms and Ammunition Co was formed by Wesley-Richards in 1872 to make Martini-Henrys and Henry granted a license to them. The company manifestly failed to produce what was needed. But in 1875 allegedly it claimed to own the rights to the patents and expected to receive royalties from other companies who had been making the Martini-Henry Rifle. It initially won a court case but the judgement was overturned the following year; it was finally settled in National's favor by the House of Lords.
. . . . .So were companies like Reilly paying National Arms and Ammunition Co. for the right to make a Martini-Henry? There are no patent use numbers on the M-H's. Were payments made just for the barrels and rifling (the patent was no longer valid after 1878)? Who owned the Martini patent for the action for civilian makers, which also must have expired around 1880? This information is surely available but a bit off topic re Reilly Martini-Henry's- unless a list of payments for the patent use can be turned up.

Reilly’s first advertisement for a “Henry-Martini” appeared in Jun 1871. **56g His first advertisement for “Martini-Henry” rifles appeared in December 1871. **56h


There are many extant Reilly-made sporterized Martini-Henry’s with all four London address on their barrels (502/16 New Oxford Street and 315/277 Oxford Street). Reilly M-H’s are found in half a dozen calibers, one being an 8-bore (cal .775) big game gun. Several are pictured. (**56i, *56j, *56k, *56l ) He engraved and retailed M-H’s; he may have assembled rifles himself at both manufactury’s using actions and barrels sent from elsewhere and with machine-made "engraving" typical of the M-H. Like the other gun makers, however, none of these have Reilly serial numbers until after the expiration of the Martini-Henry Patent (again who held this patent is a question).

There is one extant Reilly M-H with a serial number *33899(1894) **56m which has neither the Martini Patent plaque with crossed flags or Braendlin "B" logo.