Stephen Nash knows more about UK pin-fires than any living man. I recently sent him a message about a March 1858 Reilly pin-fire extant gun...and received the usual gentlemanly and erudite reply. Birmingham is unlikely to have been able to have built center-break breech loaders for the trade - and there are very few London gunmakers who could have done it in early 1858.
One supposes that It was hard to image what turmoil was going on in the London gun-making fraternity at this time. There were very few gunsmiths who could turn out barrels with lumps, or actions with under-levers at the time. Blanch's epitaph mentions this..."everything was new..."
The fact that Reilly did change from the Lefaucheux forward under-lever to the Berringer around the trigger guard under-lever for the 1859 "The Field" trials was mentioned...here is the evidence: (book published early 1860 - but note the use of "Reilly & Co." used from Jan - Oct 1859....The text was probably written in Summer 1859 shortly after the trials:
https://books.google.com/books?id=gVIBAA...lly&f=false
And Stephen Nash...all of us need your reference book. Thanks for your intellectual work and your unfailing optimism and courtesy.
