======= 1852-56: Pin-fire Guns in UK; Part 1 - Hodges & Lang TEXT ========

*23 1852-56: Break Action, Pin-Fire Guns in UK., PART 1, Hodges & Lang

This is not meant to be a detailed recounting of how Lefauceaux’s break-action pin-fire breech-loader conquered the UK and changed gun history. However, the facts must be reviewed in brief so that Reilly’s part in it can be understood.

Castor Lefaucheaux took out a patent for a break action gun in France in 1836. Several of these guns made their way to the UK over the years but were generally ignored or regarded as curiosities. However, at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition, Lefaucheaux showed a single barrel pin-fire center-break gun per above.*23a It created a lot of interest. Lefaucheaux did not take out a patent on the design in UK so it was free for the taking. The gun was rediculed by many of the UK gun establishment, in particlur William Greener (senior), who called it a “French crutch gun.”

However, a young 18 year old apprentice gunsmith named Edward Charles Hodges*23b especially took notice. Following the closing of the fair, he embarked on a project to build a copy of the gun, which after some time was completed, probably one speculates in late 1852. It Is not known how he did this; did he buy a Lefaucheux (unlikely) or did he handle the gun and carefully take measurements and sketches? Over the following few months he worked to convince Joseph Lang to make and sell the gun. There is no information on when Hodges completed his trial gun; neither he nor his sons ever commented.

Joseph Lang had started out in the 1820’s essentially selling guns Joseph Manton sent to him on consignment. When Manton went bankrupt in 1826, Lang bought his left-over stock, barrel borers etc. For the next 25 years he made guns at 7 Haymarket Street, London.*23c By 1830 he had created a 28 yard shooting gallery in a neighboring building which became well known and even advertised access to two billard tables for his customers.*23d

In 1852 he moved his shop to 22 Cockspur Street where the company remained until 1874.*23e Joseph Lang died in 1869 and his firm was subsequently run by his son. Probably in 1853 after his move Lang finally succumbed to Hodges’ entreaties, bought Hodges' gun, and began working on the center-break concept. By early 1854 he had a working gun ready for sale which followed pretty much the design of Lefaucheaux’s original gun although beefing up parts of it. He also tried to make it look as much like a percussion gun as possible, with wooden fore-end, etc., no doubt thinking that familiarity in looks would help its acceptance (credit Steve Nash). His gun, however, used one bite on the lump, where Lefaucheaux’s original concept used two. (Steve Nash)

Note: The original guns apparently did not have forcing cones in front of the breech following Lefaucheaux examples; British gunmakers soon changed this.*23f In addition per the comments there was the distinct possibility that Lang early on was using Liège made barrels, perhaps with lumps, and that this continued into 1856-57.

In a pamphlet he published in January 1857 to hawk the pin-fire Lang wrote that he had been shooting break action pin-fires for three years.*23g This would seems to indicate that he began shooting his own guns in early 1854, which is as good a guess for the date of his first pin-fire gun as any and also accepted by pin-fire scholar Stephen Nash. The earliest extant datable Lang pin-fire is from 1858. One well-known British gunsmith has stated that he believes he may be able to locate two Lang pin-fire center-break guns with bills of sale dated to 1854. However, no documentation has been forthcoming.

Lang continued to refine his gun and in 1855 he showed it at the Paris Exposition Universelle and won a gold medal for “excellence of construction.”*23h Interestingly, from 1854-1856 very few Lang advertisements for the pin-fire, indeed none all, can be found by this author, although the gun was discussed regularly in "The Field."*23i Nevertheless, a storm of controversy, a print “flame war,” erupted in the British press over the concept with a very conservative group of gun owners adamantly maintaining that the “crutch gun” could not stand up to strong charges of British powder with a few equally strong willed upper-class users touting its convenience, safety and general viability.*23j

Note: Lang later comes across as insufferably arrogant, witness his 1858 advertisements for his guns compared to the "rubbish" being produced by others*23k, and a written exchange he had in June 1859 with the editor of "The Field" over whether he was going to submit guns for the July 1859 "The Field" trial breech-loaders vs muzzle loaders.*23l


===== 1852-56: Pin-fire Guns in UK; Part 1 - Hodges & Lang END TEXT======

Last edited by Argo44; 06/04/22 11:35 PM.
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