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

That Genez conversion makes your standard boxlock or sidelock look positively dull. The face with the raised bosses resembles the Dougall Lockfast. The long lever is very attractive, and probably very sound mechanically. I've never seen another one. Some makers specialized in conversions, perhaps Genez was one who did? Any American-linked pinfire, in this case involving New York (AG Genez), is a rare find indeed, thanks for posting it. Great pictures!

Another type of conversion is when a maker uses existing or old stock from which a conversion is made. I believe this gun is one of these, an 8 lb 3 oz 10-bore by James Woodward of London, converted from a Charles Moore percussion pellet-lock gun (where detonation involved spherical pellets of mercury fulminate coated with iron oxide, each about 2mm in diameter). The 30 11/16" twist barrels (not damascus) suggest a very early date. The wide top rib is signed "James Woodward 64 St. James Street London," and the duck's head-style bar-action locks are signed "C. Moore Patent". Charles Moore and James Woodward were at 64 St. James Street between 1843 and 1872. In 1827 Charles Moore invented the "isolated" or "bar-in-wood" lock ("island" locks are usually back-action locks, so an isolated bar lock is quite special on a sporting gun). Such locks were found on Charles Moore pellet-lock guns, which pre-date the copper percussion cap, and the words "C. Moore Patent" might refer to patent No. 4611 granted to William Westley Richards for the pellet-lock in 1821, as Moore was building his guns to this patent (or he may have further adapted the patent -- I haven't been able to confirm this). Moore percussion guns and pistols also carry this inscription on their locks, which may indicate their being conversions from pellets to percussion caps. It would appear the gun was re-built by Woodward using Moore isolated locks fitted and adapted to a breech-loading action, perhaps taken from existing stock, or from a gun returned to the makers. Another clue is the style of engraving on the locks is different with a more open foliate design, rather than the tighter scroll elsewhere on the gun.

Charles Moore was the son of William Moore, a maker already covered in this thread. Charles Moore was appointed furbisher to St. James Palace and Hampton Court in 1829, and as gunmaker to William IV in 1836. In 1827 James Woodward joined the firm as an apprentice. He later became head finisher, and in 1843 Woodward was made a partner, and the firm started to trade as Moore & Woodward at 64 St James's Street. Charles Moore died in 1848, and in 1851 the name was changed to James Woodward, becoming James Woodward & Sons in 1872. The firm was sold to James Purdey & Sons in 1949.







To see examples of Charles Moore island locks and lock inscriptions, a simple Google search should provide results. I found several on a first try, but for copyright reasons I will not reproduce them here.