Oh boy. One of the hardest things to do in discussing 19th Century British firearms is to give a certain answer!

So the question of who made SN 10655 (April 1858) (and earlier Reilly center-break breech-loaders going back to 1855) is important to the history of Reilly in particular. From what I understand now, no-one in Birmingham in 1855-58 could have or would have made 10655 "in the white" for Reilly. So, if he did not make it himself, he had to have gone to Lige for it or....what??.

In first trying to answer the question of exactly who were making pinfires in the period 1855-1858, the 1858 Field trial is a start: C. P. Aston of Birmingham; Edwin Ladmore of Hereford; E. M. Reilly of London; Thomas Fletcher of Gloucester; and Moore & Harris of Birmingham. In the 1859 Trial there were pinfires from Prince & Green of London, William Rochester Pape of Newcastle, E. M. Reilly again, J. V. Needham of London, William Egan of Bradford, Elliot of Birmingham, Philip Hast of Colchester, and Joseph Lang of London. Crudgington & Baker state that according to Walsh, all of the pinfires at the 1859 Trial were of the Lang forward-underlever type. We know Joseph Lang (who started it all) and John Blanch were early promoters. In Boothroyds book Shotguns & Gunsmiths, the author illustrates a Lang pinfire of 1852, though sources disagree whether 1852 or 1853 (or later) was the actual start date. In John Blanchs book, A Century of Guns (1909), Blanch states Reilly and Lang were the earliest firms to offer pinfire breech-loaders, and describes his first pinfire was in 1856, of the forward-underlever, single-bite type. I have an illustration of a single-bite forward underlever pinfire by Parker, Field & Sons. This maker had Queen Victorias royal warrant, which might explain the famous 1860 picture of a gamekeeper in Windsor Great Park with a forward-underlever pinfire gun. From guns that I have, I know Barnett of London, John Blissett of London, and Hugh Snowie of Inverness sold guns under their name on the original Lang pattern (forward underlever, single bite, rising stud). Smith & Curtiss book The Pinfire System illustrates a rearward-facing underlever James Purdey pinfire that Purdey apparently confirmed was made in 1857; however this is contradicted in Richard Beaumonts 1984 book Purdeys The Guns and the Family, which states Purdeys first pinfire was in 1858. It appears Westley Richards first dolls head snap-action pinfire was in 1858.

I do have a rearward underlever, single bite pinfire by Charles Frederick Niebour of Uxbridge that dates from no later than 1859 (when he ceased business), and a very similar rearward underlever single bite pinfire by William Moore & Co., which might be of the same period though I have no means to determine a year for it. It is not unusual for early makers of small numbers of pinfires to not affix serial numbers. There is a double-lump design patented by Smith, Townsend and Williams in 1859 illustrated in Crudgington & Baker, which has appeared on pinfire guns by Thomas Blissett of Liverpool and Moore and Harris.

By 1859 there were others just starting to produce pinfires. This is when Boss & Co., under Stephen Grant, started producing them and in 1859 Boss sold 15 breech-loaders, out of their total output of 90 (to give an idea of how rapidly the market was changing, in 1860 Bosss pinfire output was 74 out of 120, and in 1861 it was 72 out of 82). John Dickson & Son started producing pinfires in 1859 (though G. Boothroyd claimed they started in 1856).

By the time you get to the 1860s, this is where the patents proliferated and the number of makers greatly increased, and thats a whole other area of discussion.

Back to 1855-1858. We know the above makers sold pinfires. The era of sporting guns being produced in factories is not for some years yet, production is still small, a handful of guns by each maker, often/usually with the help of specialized outworkers. Crudgington & Baker assert that prior to the 1858 Trials there were no more than a few hundred British-made pinfires in circulation, and I havent seen anything to contradict this. This is not from the lack of available gunmaking skill, as I imagine if you can build a muzzle-loader, you can build a breech-loader, if you have the right parts. Very few at the time would have known how to make the parts and action such a gun. The most famous actioner of his day would have been Edwin C. Hodges, the man who designed and built Langs first pinfire. As an outworker, Hodges made actions for the best gunmakers, and to maintain his reputation he often signed his work. My 1859 Niebour and @1859 Blissett have Hodges-signed actions. Hodges actioned pinfires for Boss & Co.. Hodges may have actioned pinfires for Lang, Reilly, Blanch and Parker, Field & Sons, and others. Unfortunately Hodges signed some actions behind the face instead of on the action bar, which can only be seen if the butt is removed. For others, such as Boss, Hodgess name is recorded in the order books, with the details of other outworkers working on the gun. There is no complete record of who E. C. Hodges provided actions to.

Another who provided makers with pinfire actions based on the Lang pattern is Joseph Brazier of Wolverhampton, best known for his fantastic locks, but also a gun and pistol maker in his own rights. I have a fine single-bite forward-underlever pinfire by Barnett of London, a maker almost entirely known for their military and trade guns. This action of the gun is signed Joseph Brazier, so yet another example of a specialized outworker providing actions based on the Lang design.

Whether Reilly made his own actions in-house or whether he bought actions from outworkers like Hodges, Brazier or others might remain a mystery. A maker might make all parts in-house, or buy the parts from suppliers; build the gun entirely in-house or buy a complete or near-complete gun and do the final finishing. Some makers clearly did all of these, according to demand and manpower. Im not sure it is possible to know for sure.

Here is an action forging, ready to be cut and filed!
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