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Not surprisingly, the legal case of The Breech-Loading Armoury Company was covered in the British press at the time. Perhaps of relevance to the gun above is the following notice in The Sportsman of Tuesday 22 October 1867:

"MESSRS JOHNSON AND DYMOND have received instructions to SELL, as above, on Thursday, October 24, at twelve precisely (in the large room, on the first floor), the last of the remaining portion of the STOCK of the late BREECH-LOADING ARMOURY COMPANY, now in the course of winding up ; consisting of patent central-fire shot guns of every description, 120 best regulation muzzle-loading carbines, a selection of sporting rifles, Deane, Hardinge, and Deane's, Colt's, and Lefaucheux revolvers, and miscellaneous stock."

Last edited by Steve Nash; 02/03/21 04:46 PM.
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More than 5000 views on this thread, and climbing...

Here is another snap-action that the authors of The British Shotgun haven't seen in the flesh, and the last in this series of the earliest snap-actions.

It is another bar-in-wood gun. Each maker that tried building them took a slightly different approach, while keeping with the wood-covered action. Some covered the hinge, while others chose to stick to covering the action bar. In any case, seeing a bar-in-wood gun always makes my heart race.

This gun is puzzling for both the maker and the action, and as is often the case with mid-Victorian British guns, many more questions are left unanswered than would be the case with later guns (and better record-keeping). The first breech-loaders were all experimental in their way, some more than others. This one is unusual in having a top lever which isn't the W&C Scott design. It engages the barrel with a small rotating cam bolt, a single bite, which is not very strong compared with later designs. The top lever is quite long, and while effective, it does not feel as solid as other top-lever guns of the period. It is the design of the Birmingham gunmaker John Crofts, patented on 11 April 1866 (No. 1033). John Crofts went out of business in 1868, so the action had to have been made between these dates. In over 25 years of searching and researching, I've not seen another one, or heard of one. Whether the gun was made by Crofts, or the action sold in the white, will never be known.

Crofts is not the name inscribed on the rib and locks. The rib carries the address "27 New Bailey St. Salford Manchester," and the locks the name "Hambling." This is where it gets strange, as the name "Hambling" does not appear in any available references for Manchester. Hambling gunmakers in Blackawton, Devon, include the father, William Bartlett Hambling (1787-1864), and his seven sons William Baker (1812-1862), James (1814-1900), John (1815-1873), Charles George (1820-1878), Hiram Bartlett (1822-1897), Henry (1823-1892), and Reuben (1833-1892), all gunmakers. Reuben Hambling is known to have been in business on his own in 1858 in Brighton, in the South. It appears that Reuben moved to the North of England, and from genealogies and other information, Reuben Hambling was in Manchester in the period of this gun (his daughter, Fanny, was born there in 1869). He would be the only Hambling known to have made guns there.

Further evidence is the local newspaper The Bury Times which published on 14 Oct 1865 a small article titled "Gunpowder Explosion in Salford." The article went on: "On Saturday evening, about half-past seven o'clock, two lads went into the shop of Mr. R. Hambling, gunsmith, Bexley-street, near the Salford Town Hall, to buy a pennyworth of gunpowder. An old man, named Cadden, was serving them out of a small canister, when by a mishap the gaslight from a bracket near the counter ignited the powder, which exploded. The canister contained about one and a half pound. The effect of the explosion was signally destructive. The contents of the shop window, guns and powder flasks, with the window frame and shutters, were all swept into the street. The lads and shopman were burned on the face and hands, but their injuries were not serious." As there is both a New Bailey Street and a New Bexley Street, there is no way of knowing if the paper made an error, or if Reuben Hambling moved from one location to another. He didn't stay long in Manchester and later worked for E. M. Reilly & Co. in London, and finally in Ashford, in Kent. Reuben Hambling died in 1891.

Sadly the gun is not in very good condition, but I'm glad I didn't wait for another to come along. It is a 12-bore pinfire, with 30" Birmingham-proofed barrels. The barrels also carry the mark "Roses Patent." The Rose Brothers (Hales-Owen Mills & Forge) were barrel makers located in Halesowen, Worcestershire, operating between 1860 and 1892. They were well-known for barrels made using a patented method for machine-production of damascus barrels (Roses Patent barrels are worth a post by themselves). The action flats are signed "Crofts Patent" and the back locks simply "Hambling." The top-lever return spring is now weak, the bores are heavily pitted, and the gun weighs 7 lb 11 oz.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
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There are a number of obscure snap-actions that appeared in the timeline covered so far, but most were variations on the same designs, or they simply didn't catch on. Nowadays we don't give much thought to hinge actions, but they are clever designs and part of an interesting evolution of ideas, engineering and practical production.

Last edited by Steve Nash; 02/03/21 04:48 PM.
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This line continues to be utterly fascinating.

Steve, as an aside seeing as how I've written a new history of Reilly and am still researching same, this part of the last post is very interesting:

"As there is both a New Bailey Street and a New Bexley Street, there is no way of knowing if the paper made an error, or if Reuben Hambling moved from one location to another. He didnt stay long in Manchester and later worked for E. M. Reilly & Co. in London, and finally in Ashford, in Kent. Reuben Hambling died in 1891."

Could I ask the source of the information on Reuben Hambling's association with Reilly? It may be from Internet Gun Club. I've joined it a couple of times but at something like 10 a week, can't afford to stick around for long. Many thanks.


(Also, could I crib from this post for the Reilly line or should I ask permission from the source?)

Last edited by Argo44; 07/25/20 10:14 PM.

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You can Join the Internet Gun Club for about $25 per year. a Great resource and a good price.

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Argo44, the information is indeed extracted from the IGC Database. I have been trying to find corroborating information (it may be from census data). You could contact them for the original source material.

Reuben Hambling obviously moved around a lot, and the family was not without mention in the press. In the 2 June 1859 edition of the Brighton Gazette, recounts that Mr Moses Griffith, a journeyman gunmaker working for Reuben Hambling of 112 North St, poisoned himself by drinking barrel browning solution. The Canterbury Journal and Farmer's Gazette of 11 June 1892 refers to Hambling's bankrupcy, due to "slackness of trade both at Canterbury and Ashford" and expenses due to illness (Burgate St, Canterbury and 39 New St, Ashford), leaving debts of £135/2/11. As an insight into the times, the Ashford business was started around 1888 with £60, of which £40 was his savings and a £20 loan from his son. The Canterbury shop was started in late 1891 with a capital of £140 borrowed from his wife. The Birminghan Daily Post of 7 July 1894 recounts Reuben Hambling's widow, Sarah, being accused of stealing £200 from a hearse (!)... in a nefarious scheme with her brother.

It is easy to see these guns as simply objects. It is more interesting to think of them as artifacts of the period, made by people with often colourful lives...

I'm glad you're finding the thread of interest. The pinfire game gun has sat in the shadows for too long, and it is a much larger part of sporting gun history than merely a technological dead-end.

I do have a Reilly pinfire to post, but I need to take some better photos of it.

Last edited by Steve Nash; 02/03/21 04:49 PM.
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Originally Posted By: Steve Nash
...I'm glad you're finding the thread of interest. The pinfire game gun has sat in the shadows for too long, and it is a much larger part of sporting gun history than merely a technological dead-end...



I am enjoying this thread.
I have a great interest in the fine sporting guns from the era of development of the cartridge gun.

I'd noted earlier that I'd like to show an interesting breech loading cartridge percussion gun.

Hopefully you fellows will see something here.











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Wonderful gun, Tinker. Are there any markings or marks on the gun? Is it French? Is it a Beringer? The combined trigger guard and underlever seems to be in the style of Beringer of Paris. And Ive never seen the rising stud on the action bar on a Continental gun.

Thanks for sharing. Please tell us more!

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Steve I'll get more images up for everyone to see
I've had this one for something over ten years, and I haven't gotten into it to make it run - but I will.

My impression had always been that it's a Beringer, or heavily Beringer-influenced, or possibly the inspiration for the Beringer action.
There's no maker's name or mark. No proofs. There is what appears to be a serial number and there's a numerical mark for the barrels.

That opening assist feature, like many "patent" features, likely precedes (by the likely date of it's manufacture) any patent application.

There are some other interesting features.

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Here's the barrel flats, void of any sort of proof mark.



Here's a top view of the fences. See the dovetail features at the standing breech?
Also, missing here is likely some sort of straddle/mount for percussion cap nipples.



Standing breech and action flats. Also note the lightening cuts in the action bars. I've seen this on British guns and rifles.



I like the engraving on this gun.





The locks. That number is on the barrels too.



Inletting for the locks is very nice



Head of the stock



Action
Interesting features here,
Two bores up high for pins, retainers for the dovetails is my guess.
Lower bore is for a stop-pin for the guard/lever.
Pins are retained via thin steel straps which are retained by small screws.




It really is a wonderful gun, nicely made with beautiful materials. I wonder if anyone here has ever seen something quite like this one.
I have some things to do for it before I run it, but I am enthusiastic about making it bark and taking it to the field

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Tinker,
I think what you have is a 'dual fire' gun - pinfire and percussion. I have asked Steve Nash to post a couple of pictures for me. I'll bet your gun either has no ramrod or one that is too short to be of use and/or is not designed to accept cleaning accessories. If so, it was intended to be a 'dead weight' to knock out the percussion cartridges. My Berringer has a trap in the butt for the percussion cartridges. One of my photos will explain how the removable sliding pieces in the standing breech work with the percussion cartridges.
Steve

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