Not trying to hijack this excellent line and this will be my last question about this pin-fire. Yes, the off putting part of the under-lever was the space filled in in front of the trigger guard. That took some work. Reilly did make Beringer-style under levers...sketch on p. 1 is from probably Summer 1859 - and actually that sketch appears to show the very same type of under-lever with the space filled in:
But there are other elements of this Reilly pin-fire, however, that have me buffaloed. It is a strange gun with never before seen features and there's a feeling it actually was made after 1860. A key might be the action maker, "
S.Breeden." If the gun were indeed March 1858, the action maker, was active probably in Birmingham and that's a lot earlier than we thought for Birmingham made center-break actions or guns. Any idea who S.Breeden was and when and where he worked? (nothing found on the interned, census records, birth records so far.)
