doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com E.M.Reilly 12Gauge Hammer Gun

I see that Amoskeag Auction has a E.M. Reilly 12 gauge Hammer Gun in Saturday's auction..Serial # 17476..Searching for any possible information..ie date of manufacture, acceptable wall thickness for a gun of this vintage..Any and all information appreciated..Thank you..

perhaps you could ax amoskeag...an din report back to us, watt day hav ta say...

They informed me that the right tube measured .023" and left tube measured .025.Thegun locks up tight but barrels do have as they term it the tiniest amount of play..

popular wisdom says minimum barrel thicknesses of .023 and .025 are marginal, even for black powder loads...ah learned dat from old ed...

more important measurements are barrel wall thicknesses in front of the chambers, where pressure curves are at their peak...ah learned dat from dr.drew...

so long as barrels are tight against the action face, with no day light showing, then a tiny amount of play is fixable at minimal expense...ah also learned dat from ole ed...

did they tell you about approximate age of gun? that info would be helpful in guessing strength of action...ah learned dat from readin...

pictures of locking and bolting systems would be helpful...ah learned dat duh hard way, from buyin guns listed in shotgun news, befo we had da internet...

17476 is a Former Terry Buffum gun: http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=157099
Terry's 2007 comment: "I hope I can find a picture of a similar gun I just consigned to Greg Martin. #17476, Purdey thumb push opener, also with the London and Paris addresses. The dual cities markings seem to only appear on his earliest guns; some later guns carry two street numbers on New Oxford, London. Nigel Brown lists a numberr of his addresses, but not this dual cities marking. I think it is circa 1860 based on looking at a number of his guns." Not sure the sale went through since he consigned it 10 years later.

Here is the definitive line on EM Reilly which I authored (the gun is mislabeled in the chronology as 17474).
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=436555&page=3

I believe 17476 was likely numbered in Fall 1871. (1st EM Reilly with Paris on the rib I've found is 15270 - He opened his Paris store in Feb 1868; Reilly was numbering about 50 guns a month. 17474 is 2,200 guns up the list...about 3 years 8 months after Feb 1868 = Oct 1871). (edit: It admittedly may be a few months later...his production pre-1867 was about 40 a month prior to his amazing success at the Paris 1867 show...see the comments on the Reilly Martini-Henry.)

This is about all that I have on it

serial #17476, 12 ga., 30" barrels (un-choked) with about very good bores
The hammers are rebounding and the locks seem to function well mechanically and the gun locks up tightly, exhibiting just the tiniest amount of play, the barrels remaining on-face.

Thank Ed

WOW..Just read your posts..Argo that is all I can say other thank you for your service..SUB

ditto dat!

I have acquired a half dozen E M Reilly guns out of the Buffum collection, through Amoskeag. All have been in good to excellent, non original restored condition.

I don't think you can go wrong, at the price it will probably sell for.

Good luck

Wall thickness is wall thickness, no matter the owner, auctioneer, or maker. Loose on face can be fixed. Wall thickness cannot be fixed.