A lot to comment on today...
Mark, welcome to the world of pinfires. Like with any 150+ year-old guns, finding ones in shootable condition is not easy. As you've now read from this thread, they were never made in large quantities, and most were converted to centre-fire, or scrapped for iron.
There are no commercial sources for prepared pinfire cartridges, but some have very good success with all-brass reusable cases, which can be ordered from European sources. I've tried them in the past with varying success, but I blame my limited knowledge of reloading, rather than the cases.
"...what is the earliest existing UK made pin-fire center-break gun that you know of?"
Argo44, the Reilly 1856-dated gun pictured above is the earliest I've seen illustrated, for which a date can be corroborated.
Unfortunately the Joseph Lang records do not go back earlier than January 1858, so it is not possible to know from the records exactly when Lang started building his pinfire, or what number it carried. Looking at photographs in print, the facts get confusing, as it is not possible to know how the authors determined the age of the guns pictured. In Geoffrey Boothroyd's Shotguns and Gunsmiths (1986), there is a Lang pinfire "of 1852" pictured on page 150.
In several books it is implied or stated that Lang's breech-loader appeared shortly after the Great Exhibition of 1851 closed its doors (October 1851), for example, John Henry Walsh, writing in his book The Shot-Gun and Sporting Rifle (1859), stated that Lang's pinfire appeared in 1851. In Richard Akehurst's Game Guns and Rifles (1969), it is stated that Lang's pinfire appeared a few months after the Exhibition --which might be a repeat of Walsh's statement, I don't know.
However, from Lang's own account, he wrote in January 1857 that he had been using his breech-loader for three years -- which would indicate 1854 as the earliest appearance. This is partly confirmed by a contemporary of Lang, Henry Astbury Leveson, "The Old Shekarry", in his book The Hunting Grounds of the Old World (3rd edition, 1865), where he wrote:
"My experience in breech-loading arms for sporting purposes dates back to the year 1855, when my attention was attracted to the La Faucheux [sic] system by that excellent shot and practical mechanic, Mr. Lang, of 'Old Red House' notoriety, to whom the English sporting world is indebted for the efficient carrying out of a principle which is almost as great an era in gun-making as the invention of the copper cap. After two years' experience and repeated trials, in which, to my disgust, I found my favourite Manton, and others of my hardest-hitting muzzle-loading guns, equalled or beaten by breech-loaders made by Lang, my scepticism vanished; I felt convinced the system was sound, and that sooner or later a complete revolution must take place in the manufacture of fire-arms."
If Joseph Lang by his own account was first using his breech-loader in 1854-1855, there cannot be Lang pinfires dating from 1851-1852! I tend to believe 1854 is the most credible date, which would make it possible for a Reilly pinfire to date as early as 1855, to go with AaronN's 1855-marked Reilly-stamped cartridge. Blanch followed suit in 1856 by his own account, and that would account for the three earliest promoters of the pinfire in Britain.
Steve, the variation in gun markings on Powell guns is utterly fascinating -- particularly the part about Powell providing incorrect information on his own guns (if anyone has a copy of Donald Dallas's book The British Sporting Gun and Rifle (2008), the full list of markings provided by gunmakers in 1887 is included in its Appendix Three). Only by research focusing on a single maker is it possible to know such things.
AaronN, as usual your cartridge information really adds to our understanding of the bigger picture.
Last edited by Steve Nash; 02/04/21 06:11 PM. Reason: clarification
