To follow up on the Erskine gun, there is a reason that Newton Stewart is not widely known -- it was, and still is, a very small town. The population in 1861 was 2535, the year the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway opened a railway station at Newton Stewart (in 2011 the population was 4092, and the railway station was closed in 1965). Despite its size and remoteness, its gunmaker, James Erskine, established a good reputation, and the quality of the gun pictured previously is the equal of anything that came out of London. The lack of proofs suggests the gun was built in Newton Stewart, and not Birmingham or elsewhere. I don't know how widespread the practice of selling guns with partial proofs was, I've not encountered any other. Here is 61 Victoria street in a recent Google Street View capture:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
(image capture: 2016 - 2020 Google)

Another reason Newton Stewart was on the map was again due to Erskine, with his patent cartridge loading machine. of 1887 (Patent no. 4294), which arrived too late for the pinfire (photo from the Internet). CORRECTION: Erskine did produce a cartridge loading machine for pinfire cartridges.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

In the period during which a British maker might have built a pinfire breech-loader, @1853-1870, I've compiled a list of 922 gunmakers who were in business at some point during this period, excluding those who advertised themselves as "rifle and pistol makers only." I don't expect all of them built or sold pinfires, some might have kept on making muzzle-loaders through the 1850s and closed shop when demand for them disappeared. Also, many gunmaking businesses did not last very long, and few guns would have been sold. Of the names on the list, 400 are from Birmingham and London, and 522 provincial makers. Of the provincial makers, 353 names are from towns that had two or more gunmakers, and there were 162 towns that had but a single gunmaker during any or all of the pinfire period. It is not surprising that most on the latter list are obscure names today, but a few, such as James Erskine, Edward Paton, and John Perrins of Worcester, are remembered for the fine quality of their guns.

Last edited by Steve Nash; 02/04/21 05:51 PM.