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

I haven't posted in a while, but a few more guns have turned up. Here is a plain pinfire, but there is always something to be learned from one.

When thinking of the great names in Birmingham gunmaking, Charles Henry Osborne might not make the first cut. Born in Birmingham in 1819, he apprenticed under his father, James Osborn, and by 1838 was in business as a gunmaker and factor (selling guns made by others). However, in 1858 Osborne was appointed a Guardian of the Birmingham Proof House, so he was a significant member of the gunmaking community. Osborne was also listed as a beer-house keeper and retail brewer, so he was a versatile fellow.

In 1855, Charles Henry Osborne moved his gunmaking business from 1 Lichfield Street to 12 & 13 Whittall Street. The business and family became intertwined with the Ellis family of Birmingham gunmakers, though the records are unclear. Charles Francis Ellis, the son of a metal dealer, was listed in the 1861 census as a “Commercial Traveller To Gun Maker.” The gunmaker in question may have been Charles Henry Osborne. Ellis’s brother Alexander was a ‘factor’s apprentice, ’ and one of Ellis’s sons was named Charles Osborne Ellis. By 1871 Charles Henry Osborne had retired, and Charles Francis Ellis continued the business. In 1877 Charles Osborne Ellis ran the firm, and he would go on to obtain several gun-related patents.

The firm both bought from the trade and produced for the trade; probably quite a few London makers bought guns from Charles Osborne, placing their names and addresses on the locks and ribs. A few Osborne-marked pinfire game guns have survived, so the firm made them, but I don’t know how many were made or when they started doing so.

Today's gun is a very standard example, a 12-bore made some time after 1862. It carries no serial number, suggesting this was a gun bought from the trade. The top rib is signed “Chas Osborne London” as is usual with his guns, though Osborne did not have a London address. He may well have had an agent in London, but none has been identified so far. The 29 ¾” damascus barrels have Birmingham provisional and definitive proofs and bore size (13), and a barrel maker’s mark “J.G,” which I haven’t been able to identify. The gun has an unmarked double-bite screw grip action, and the action bar lacks a radius. The rounded hammers are plain, the back action locks are signed “Chas Osborne” within decorative scrolls, and the rest of the gun has simple line and border engraving only. A few details are not found on the cheapest guns, such as the raised clips on the trigger guard bow.

Overall it is the type of standard pinfire game gun produced in Birmingham workshops in the mid to late 1860s, or possibly later. As the breech-loader gained acceptance, it was no longer the plaything of the privileged, and guns were made in a range of prices. Lower-cost guns might have been carried afield to the colonies, possibly explaining this one turning up in Canada. The Osborne firm went on to specialize in big-game guns destined for Africa and Asia, so their eyes were always on distant markets.