doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The pinfire game gun

Westley Richards again, this time with a snap action with a lateral thumb lever - it looks quite modern!

William Westley Richards's son Westley Richards took over the firm in 1840, four years after Casimir Lefaucheux patented his pinfire cartridge in France. It took a further 18 years before Westley Richards built his first breech-loader, a pinfire, in 1858. In 1862 Westley Richards patented his doll's head and crab-joint gun with the straight-pull top-lever, which I've already covered in this thread. Westley Richards then improved his design by having a laterally-pivoting lever do the same work with less effort, and this pivoting top-lever action was given the patent Number 2623 in October 1864, a month before Abraham Lincoln was re-elected.

From the maker's records, gun number 3509, a breech-loader, was ordered by W. H. Todd on June 27th 1866 and delivered on September 17th. I am fairly certain the gun started as a pinfire. The gun has the centre-fire strikers that Westley Richards developed in 1866 (patent Number 1960), but these were apparently added after the gun was made, as evidenced by the partially obliterated "Westley Richards Patent" markings on the breech face.

One of the problems that very early centre-fire guns had was that hammers at full rest would press against the strikers and risk setting off the centre-fire cartridges if the gun was loaded and the barrels were closed smartly. Westley Richards kept the long-nosed hammers of the pinfire on his centre-fire guns, forcing the user to put the hammers at half-cock in order to open the gun for loading (something that was no longer necessary once the rebounding lock was invented). This safety measure meant that Westley Richards guns of pre-1870 manufacture could be pinfires, dual-fires, centre-fires with pinfire hammers, or conversions from pinfire to centre-fire done by the firm, and all would look pretty similar. What complicates the history of this particular gun is that it has rebounding locks of the type patented by John Stanton. As the earliest Stanton rebounding locks appeared in 1867-1869 and were only commonplace after 1870, that modification to the locks was done after the gun was first delivered. It could be the conversion to centrefire was done then, or it was just an improvement added to an earlier conversion, or even a very early centre-fire gun with pinfire hammers. I wish I could say for certain, but rarely is anything certain in 19th century British guns.

Back to the gun. It is a 12-bore pivoting top-lever snap-action sporting gun, and the 30" damascus barrels carry three sets of Birmingham proofs. To make sure there is no confusion as to who made the gun, the barrels and fore-end iron carry the "WR" mark. The top rib is signed "Patent" and "Westley Richards 170 New Bond St London," and the barrels have an extractor fitted to the breech, numbered to the gun. The bottom breech ends of barrels are left rounded, and bedded against the rounded action body. The top-lever is signed "Westley Richards Patent". It of course has the signature doll's head fastening system and bar-in-wood construction with the "crab joint". The hammers are typically flat-sided (another house style), the fences are beautifully sculptured, and while the well-figured stock is chequered at the hand, the fore-end was left smooth. The fore-end has nice details, with silver cross-key ovals and a carved horn finial. The gun has only line border engraving, which would have been a special request -- the gun itself is quite striking in form, and doesn't need additional adornment. The barrels still have mirror bores, and the gun weighs 7 lb 4 oz.









Note the striker and extractor work, and the detail in adding a dimple in the action bar for the extractor screw.





William Westley Richards died in 1865, and Westley Richards retired in 1872. He enjoyed his retirement for another 25 years, something I very much hope to do.

William Henry Wilson-Todd of Tranby Park, Yorkshire, was born in 1828. In The Illustrated London News of September 19, 1868, it was reported that it was hopeful W. H. Todd would be the Conservative candidate for Darlington in the parliamentary election. He skipped that election, and in the 1885 election he lost to the Liberal candidate. He was successful in the 1892 general election, as William Henry Wilson-Todd, becoming the MP for Howdenshire, East Yorkshire, until stepping down in 1903 a year before his death. He was made a baronet of Halnaby Hall, Yorkshire, in 1903, by then his full title was Sir William Henry Wilson-Todd, 1st Baronet.