doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com E.M. Reilly; History; Chronology; Serial Numbers

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Editing a section of the history-Reilly in early 1880's:

Lots of new bits of information...not the least of which the query about whether London gun makers made box locks. So this section of the history has been added to. Note: JPGBOX has reduced the size uploads. Bothersome in the extreme. (first paragraph re Reilly possibly making guns in the white for other gun dealers in the early 1830's will be expanded upon in a separate post).

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Reilly in the Early 1880's:

Reilly's business was booming and gun production topped 1000 a year. Reilly reportedly was making long guns for other London gun-makers. Note: there is a suspicion that with his large industrial spaces (by London terms) that he was doing this for many years - see the Reilly-Purdey kerfuffle from 1866. As an example:
. . .-- a James Beattie percussion gun made circa 1835 has been found with the locks labeled “Reilly,” a possible indication that Reilly made the gun in the white for Beattie, this in the very early years of Reilly making guns.
. . .-- In 1832 Reilly offered special deals for “country gun makers.”
. . .-- Wilkinson marketed at least on Green Bros Breech loader circa 1868; since Reilly was the sole manufacturer of the Green Bros patent, Reilly had to have made that gun for Wilkinson.

He also around this time allegedly (not confirmed) began importing cheap Belgian-made revolvers in parts which he assembled in his buildings, engraved and sold. (Reilly, like Trantor and others, possibly was involved with the Belgian manufacture and "assembly trade" much earlier...perhaps dating to as early as the 1850's).

In early 1880 Reilly adopted the boxlock (Anson & Deeley 1875 Patent) and began building them in significant numbers, apparently in marked contrast to other London gun makers. The boxlock looks to have been frowned on by London gunmakers for some reason, possibly as being "plebeian." Yet Reilly publicly embraced it. It fitted his anti-establishment style and his model for selling to the guys actually on the ground carrying their own guns. It may be that Reilly, always a gambler on technological innovation, decided that its simplicity and durability were the future of shotgunning, a conclusion reinforced by early 1880’s writings. However, at the same time Reilly was dramatically expanding serial numbered production from 650 to over 1000 a year and the A&D boxlock would certainly have simplified the manufacturing process. Either that or Reilly simply began to avail himself of Birmingham produced boxlock actions and finished them in London which would also be logical (as previously speculated).



The first surviving Reilly box-lock is SN 22482 (1880), a 12 gauge top-lever shotgun, A&D Patent use number 1156.*xxx Almost 30% of the surviving Reilly’s from 1881 to 1912, both rifles and shotguns, are boxlocks.



In addition in January 1882 he advertised for the first time guns equipped with Whitworth compressed fluid steel barrels (originally an 1865 patent extended in 1879 for 5 years).*xxx


The first extant Reilly with a confirmed Whitworth barrel is SN 24365, a 12 gauge SxS pigeon gun with 31” barrels - top lever, side fences, low hammers, flat file cut rib. It is dated per the chart to 1882.*xxx


(There is a Reilly .500 SxS BPE rifle from 1876 SN 19953, which appears to have steel barrels; however they may be blued Damascus, the gun description being minimal.)
http://www.rockislandauction.com/viewitem/aid/64/lid/534


He exhibited at the 1882-83 Calcutta fair (a British Empire only affair) and won a medal and was highly praised for his exhibit at the 1884/85 London International Expositions where he again won medals.

Note there were three different international expositions in London in 1884-85; An exposition at Crystal Palace; the International Health Exposition of 1884; and the International Inventions Exposition of 1885. Reilly apparently won a gold medal at the Internation Health Exposition per the medals on his labels though why shotguns were exhibited there is unknown – he publicized them only as “London Exhibition 1884.”


Reilly also won a silver medal at the International Inventions Exposition in 1885 but did not publicize it; The Reilly exhibit at this exposition is described in Wyman.


Reilly guns figured very well in live pigeon shooting contests throughout the 1880's.*113


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