Thanks, Argo44. The story of the pinfire gun has surprising depth and significance, for a subject that has been largely overlooked!

I am behind in summarizing Ivanhoe's recent findings from old auction catalogues, which I will shortly address. Adding more names to the list of confirmed pinfire makers is a useful contribution to the knowledge base.

However, research continues, despite a long period of silence on this thread. A picture was recently posted online of an interesting extractor system. It reminded me of a curious extractor I had noted earlier on a Theophilus Murcott pin-fire converted to centre-fire. I have covered this gun on page 15 of this thread. The extractor wasn’t quite the same, so I began searching for the inventor responsible for the extractor on the Murcott. It took some digging, but I finally identified it as the design of the Birmingham gunmaker W. S. Riley.

William Spinks Riley was born in Birmingham in 1833. In 1861 he opened his business at 34 & 35 Lench Street as a gun finisher, employing one man and three boys. He obtained patent No. 491 of 16 February 1866 for his extractor, a striker, and cocking indicators, for centre-fire guns. Guns showing all elements of his patent periodically turn up, and very attractive they are, but I am most interested in the extractor, which appears to have been used in pin-fire conversions. The extractor is a variation of the Schneider extractor that appeared on George Daw’s breech-loader; it has twin legs, and a cylindrical guide pin. The extended parts of the legs have wider pointed ends, which slide in two corresponding slots in the action bar. As the gun opens, the extractor is raised, and the cartridge cases are pulled out. While it is mentioned in Volume One of Crudgington & Baker’s The British Shotgun, no example is shown. In the conversion of the Murcott gun to centre-fire, the slots were cut into the action bar, and a hole drilled between the barrels, to accommodate Riley’s extractor. Very clever.

In 1868 WS Riley moved to Stafford Street to what he called the Eagle Gun Works, as a gunmaker. In 1878 he opened a shop in London, at 63 Bishopsgate Street Within. In 1881 the firm moved to 40-41 Vauxhall Street, still with the name Eagle Gun Works, but Riley described his occupation as a gun finisher. In 1887 the London shop closed, and the firm was no longer recorded in Birmingham.

If one looks at these guns long enough, there is always something more to be gleaned!

Here is the extractor in closer detail, and Riley's specification drawing:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]