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

Another type of early Continental breech-loader is this peculiar 16-bore Colleye System pinfire sporting gun retailed by August Gottlieb Schüler of Suhl, Germany. The action (and possibly the whole gun) is by Maximilien Nicolas Colleye of Liège, Belgium. The Colleye System is a single-bite pivoted underlever hinge action which, when unopened, has a strong resemblance to the Bastin action (however the barrels rotate, they don't slide forward). The gun has bold acanthus scroll engraving throughout, and the 'island' back-locks (something rarely encountered on British guns) have acanthus scroll and game scenes. The 31" damascus barrels are acid etched, and the gun weighs 6 lb 14 oz.

Maximilien Nicolas Colleye (also spelled Coleye and Coley; also traded as Colleye Fils) was a gunmaker/actioner located in Hoignée-Cheratte, Liège, in business from 1850-1865. He was the son of well-known gunmaker-inventor Henri Joseph Colleye. The Colleye mechanism was apparently popular in Germany, and several large gunmaking firms such as August Schuler of Suhl and Johann Peterlongo of Innsbruck offerred System Colleye guns (Peterlongo had a System Colleye gun on display at the Paris World Fair in 1867). Interestingly, this mechanism never made it to any British pinfire makers, unlike other continental designs like the Bastin and Ghaye system actions, which were offered by several top makers. At a time when there were quite a few competing designs, either it was wasn't popular enough, or Colleye stopped making it.