SMA, let me answer your question to be best of my current knowledge of Reilly (and no one that I know of has done more research on the subject).
1) Reilly made a lot of guns and sold both wholesale and retail. At least one commentator said he made guns in London for other firms. However, any gun he made in his London shops and sold as "Reilly" will be London proofed and, if sold by him as a "Reilly," have a Reilly SN. Any gun with the Reilly name and Birmingham proofed will likely be made in Birmingham and only engraved and retailed by Reilly. I can give a hundred examples.
2) Reilly sold a lot of military guns to the yeomanry; he had manufacturing rights to the Green Bros patent breech loader. He owned the patent rights to make the Complain breech loader. He made a lot of Martini-Henry's. Almost all of these guns have no Reilly SN and I believe he had them made in Birmingham and sold them at wholesale prices to gun clubs and militia or for retail priced engraved models to officers going abroad or big-game hunters.
3). Reilly had no set model he advocated; he took out no gun patents that we can find other than making shells... He was an entrepreneur businessman and he made under license all sorts of guns with all sorts of actions, anything that he felt would sell.
4). Per the proof marks your Jeffery was made in Birmingham between 1887 and 1896. Reilly still had both workshops making guns in London at the time 16 New Oxford Street, and 277 Oxford Street. But, any gun made there would be London proofed, even if made for others and sold wholesale. Thus, while it's possible Reilly sold the gun in finished state to Jeffery at wholesale prices, it would have been made in Birmingham and not London.
E.M. Reilly guns can be found looking a lot like Westley-Richards, W.C. Scott, and a dozen other marks. He made under patent or bought in the white the actions from prominent makers and made the rest of the gun. So you'll get Reilly's looking like the favorite models of the panoply of English gun makers at the time.
That's about were we stand with the research. I will say that looking at your gun, and having looked at every Reilly on the internet for 3 years, it doesn't quite seem to have the Reilly feel to it. I would like to know where the phrase "EM Reilly London Model" comes from.
Last edited by Argo44; 01/26/19 04:18 PM.
