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Questions on Machine Tools used for manufacturing guns. Now Im going to look silly in this gun-making/smithing group. Im trying to figure out what machines Reilly might have had in his buildings to make bespoke guns to the tune of up to 3 a day in the late 1800s:

In June 1898 Reilly gave up 502 (16) New Oxford Street which the companyd occupied and where theyd made guns for 51 years. Youll see from the chart that bespoke gun orders at that time had fallen from a high of over 1,000 in the early 1880s to about 250 a year. A couple of very knowledgeable posters have suggested that I take a look at what items were sold from that building. If gun workshops were located in 16 New Oxford Street, the equipment had to go someplace - there would have been no room at 277 Oxford St., which already was a manufactury on its own. So now I need to search the British papers, specialty publications and possibly auctions for sales from that building in 1898. I am not a gunsmith, a metallurgist, a machinist, or a mechanical engineer specializing in manufacturing processes. So I need some help on what to look for; Here is my thinking in the subject:

Manufacturing by template: Historically British gun making in Birmingham and London was based on templates. With template made parts, hand filed and finished, tolerances varied by as much as 1/16. Parts of course could not be interchanged. Everything was bespoke. Actions, hammers, etc. filed accordingly. Even so Birmingham and London, with the horizontal organization of the gun trade, with artisan apprentice trained workers, demonstrated time and again they could produce an enormous number of hand-made guns including hundreds of thousands of military weapons, the major production bottleneck being the making and inletting of the stocks.

Gauges/made to tolerance system: The American system arrived in England in the 1850s, e.g: guns built to tolerances measured by gauges, made by milling machines with interchangeable parts. The American System in the beginning was mostly limited to London. The guns initially made on this system were for the military and with parts being interchangeable were were markedly more expensive than the hand-made versions. Birmingham was late to adopt the milling machines and especially the major bottle-neck for military production - the stock making reproduction lathes. It remained a hand-made haven.

So, a 50 year old factory at 502 (16) Oxford would have been unlikely to have had the milling machines etc. necessary for mass production of military type weapons. It would have been geared to a 19th temp-plate bespoke gun making process with traditional stock makers, action filers, engravers, bone-meal Damascus barrel browning, etc.. Thus, I think all Id be looking for as far as gun making machinery for sale would be the following - with the help of Greeners Gunnery in 1858 book: see: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43799/43799-h/43799-h.htm

barrel making:

. borer:


From advertisements, Reilly had barrel borers at least as early as 1840. Its possible Reilly could have been making his own Damascus barrel stocks from the 1840s- onor he could have bought barrel blanks from Birmingham. I wont address this. But most publications claim that by late 1890s over 75% of British Damascus barrels came for Liege. I can say more about his.

. Barrel grinder:


.Rifling, honing, lapping, etc. Reilly always sold a lot of rifles. Rifling could be hand doneat least up to 1860s. Later on Reilly could have had one of several rifling machine:

1863 Pratt & Whitney sine bar rifling machine made in UK by Greenwood and Batley:

Muir & sons rifling machine:

Or an 1883 Greenwood and Batley rifling machine (sine bar)


Actions, hammers, springs, side plates, trigger guards: The actions would have been made to temp-plate and hand filed. However, as the 1800s advanced, he probably had some milling machines in the buildings.

Stocks: the Stocks (and Reilly stocks to me are almost immediately recognizable) would have been hand made. He imported a lot of French Walnut. Stock making was the big bottle neck to military grade production thus the adoption of American Lathe copying machines. He probably didnt need this machine:

Blanchard Stock Copying lathe


Lathes: He would have had foot treadle lathes for making pins and screws. David Trevallion told me that was his first job with Purdey in 1953..operate the foot treadle lathe. These and been around forever.



Power: Entire factories in Birmingham were run on a 125 HP steam engine with leather belt driven machines and that from 1820 onwards. This and the traditional hand/foot power would have been the power source for an Reilly workshop at 502 (16) New Oxford Street or 315 (277) Oxford Street.

Here are some photos of the American governments arsenal at Harpers Ferry - Ive been trying to identify the machines in the gun shop - I live close enough to go up there to take a look:






He also made cartridges, took out patents on improving cartridges and marked these under the Reilly name. He must have had cartridge and bullet making machines.

Questions: When I search British newspapers normally Ill search under the address 502 or 502 New Oxford or Reilly or variants. However, if I were to look for gun manufacturing equipment and machines for sale in 1898, I will search for borer, grinder, treadle lathe,but are there other signature machines associated with gun-making from that time period which would signal what Reilly had in that building? Drill presses? I dont think screw manufacturing machines were available until the 1880s

Ill ultimately write this up in a pamphlet.the old sawIf its not written, it didnt exist is the driving force. But I would like some sanity checks. I intended to visit Southern on Saturday 27 April for a few hoursmy first trip to a SxS gatheringand intended to check in with DGJ and try to make contact with some of the writers who have encouraged this research. Per a phone call over the week-end, however, other priorities have intervened and I'm headed abroad again. But if there are other gun making machines I should be looking for in sales advertisements in the 1898 press, would appreciate commentary.

Last edited by Argo44; 04/17/19 10:54 AM.
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