I served at the American Embassy in India for three years in the late 1980s. My landlord was Indian Army Major General D.K. (Monty) Palit, former chief of operations of the India Army (during the Indo-China War), Sandhurst in the 1930s, WWII Indian Army veteran, and noted military author. He was from an upper-class Indian family which had adopted British customs when it came to gun-sport (late 1880s on). (His father, a Bangali, had been a Medical Doctor). He had 5 doubles on his wall passed down by his father and grandfather, I believe they were: a 12ga Holland & Holland, a 12ga E.M. Reilly, a 16ga possibly Army-Navy, one Im not sure of and a 20ga. William Evans.
I had a CJ-7 Jeep in New Delhi at that time; he had the hunting permits; and we went out often in the Falls of those three years, hunting ducks, dove and quail in the brilliant yellow mustard fields of Uttar Pradesh on the Gangetic plain. He used his H&H; I used my Remington 870 - a pump I'd used for many years (I had a Browning automatic in Pakistan but had sold it there in 1978 before I left) - something he informed me one didnt do in polite society (I countered that in Alabama we might have a doghere he had 5 shikaris and a couple of servers cleaning the birds and making duck-curry sandwichesdifferent places, different solutions). But the idea that I needed a SxS became fixedeven more so when he gifted my wife the 20ga William Evans as we left country. Since that time, I held dozens of English SxSs. Nothing felt right.
Gen. Palit's books and obituary:
https://www.amazon.com/D.-K.-Palit/e/B001IC8QPKhttp://www.india-seminar.com/2008/586/586_in_memoriam.htmThen at a gun show in November 2015 I went out to buy a Thompson...and a Reilly hammer gun just stuck to my hand. It was 6 lbs 1oz, chambered for 2 1/2; 30 Damascus barrels; twin triggers; no ejectors; with that beautifully slim upper stock and receiver that comes with hammer guns - It was similar to the Generals E.M. Reilly as I remembered it; Perhaps I had imprinted on that gun? But whatever It felt like a rapier, while everything else now seemed like battle-axes. The seller had about 15 guns from very high-quality makers. He said I was the only person ever to show interest in the Reilly. He insisted on my shooting it..I did and couldnt part with it..It had some imperfections; it wasnt pristine, had been worked on; I paid too much but it was my gun.
I've since gotten into researching the Reilly. And from this board I got interested in French Saint-Etienne guns. I've bought a few more, all of them used regularly...none very expensive. If truth be told, that old 1978 870, now given to youngest son, can probably shoot better than my SxS's... But I just like the feel of the wood and the look of the barrels of that Reilly.
