== *50 – 1863-1868: Reilly and the Green Brothers Patent Breech Loader: TEXT ==

*50 – 1863-1868: Reilly and the Green Brothers Patent Breech Loader:

This is not meant to be an exhaustive review of the Green Bros. Patent 2002 Jun 1862 breech loader. But since it is integral to Reilly in the 1860’s it is gone into in some detail. The conclusions are, Reilly built about 350 serial numbered Reilly Green Bros. rifles from 1864-1868 in his London workshops, all proofed in London. After 1868 production was likely transferred to Birmingham where another 3,000 may have been made over the course of a few years (depending on whether the patent use numbers remained consecutive; Reilly's pat use #'s seem more chronologically accurate than most). Reilly also made Green Bros. rifles for the trade. C1870 the patent was made by other trade makers with a decline in quality, the last patent use number found being in the 5000’s.

The Green Brothers, CJ and J. were known in the 1850’s as innovative gun makers in London. For several years they were in partership with Prince (dissolved in 1859). In 1860 they took out a provisional patent on a breech-loading rifle. The idea was pretty ingenious. Attach a second breech loading chamger to the back of an Enfield and use a bolt actuated plunger to push the charge and bullet into the original chamber, then use the ordinary hammer and usual cap. The gun could be converted back into a muzzle loader simply by unscrewing the action and replacing the barrel plug. (This sounds remarkably like the action advertised by “The Field” and displayed at Reilly’s shop in summer 1861).*50a In June 1862 the Green Bros received patent nr. 2002 for the invention.

As mentioned previously Reilly had some sort of relationship with the Greens and Prince, possibly a financial stake since Reilly did not sign the March 1858 open letter in favor of Prince’s rifle. This relationship with the Greens must have continued to develop in some way and in April 1863 Reilly announced in a newspaper advertisement that he had obtained “sole manfacturing rights” to the gun.*50b Reilly’s early involvement in making breech-loaders and in bringing others’ inventions to market might have persuaded the Greens to follow this track.

Reilly started experienting with the action by modifying an old Reilly-made 1853 Enfield, SN 12002 (dated 1861), which still exists and carries patent use #1 (see below). This rifle was .577 caliber and retained the Enfield 39” barrels, weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz.

Reilly clearly wanted to market the rifle to Arsenal and to other militaries perhaps something which grew out of his experience with the Terry Patent and Prince Patent breech-loaders. In this he was prescient, In early 1864 the Prussians with Austrian allies attacked the Danes over the question of Schleswig. The early performance of the Dreyse needle gun (adopted by the Prussians in 1848 and well known to UK gunmakrs) was impressive and panicked Europe’s armies into a frantic search for a similar gun.

By March 1864, while the Scheswig War was still raging, Reilly had the Green Bros Patent breech-loader ready for testing per newspaper advertisents.*50c He began production in late April, early May 1864, The production guns had 24” steel barrels and weighed in at a handy 7 lbs 4 oz. A series of press artices that spring and summer touted the gun.*50d This happened to be concurrent with the decision by Arsenal to field a request to the UK gun makers to submit an interim breech-loading rifle for testing, to be used by the army until a completely new purpose-built breech-loader could be designed. (The fact that British diplomacy hopelessly bungled the Danish question added force to the recommendations; a combination of Prussia, Austria and France on the continent was more than England could handle).

In the 1865-66 Arsenal trials Reilly’s Green Bros Patent rifle performed well. However, ultimately the Snider action (American) was adopted in 1866. Like the Geen Bros rifle the Snider action could be screwed onto an 1853 Enfield barrel and used with the original stock. It was simpler, cheaper and it could use the new “Boxer” cartridge with an integral primer doing away with the percussion cap.The Green Bros rifle could not be adapted to use the metallic cartridge. Nevertheless Reilly continued to advertise the Green Bros Patent and to make the guns as “sole manufacturer” in London up to at least 1868.

From patent use numbers it appears that Reilly made about 350 Green Bros rifles at his shops in London from May 1864 to Jun 1868. The guns, which were built at both 502 New Oxford Street and 315 Oxford Street, may have been made in “batches.” For instance Reilly SN 13326-13333 match patent use #'s #16 - #23; i.e. they were consecutively numbered rifles. SNs 14763-15047 (1867-68) with pat use #’s 177 - 325 would indicate that Reilly made 147 Green Bros rifles out of 300 guns serial numbered during the period September 1867 - February 1868, nearly 50% of his total production.

All extent Reilly Green Bros. rifles with a Reilly serial number were proofed in London. Following are seven existing Reilly-made Green Bros. Patent breech-loading rifles with Reilly serial numbers proofed in London and made by Reilly:

*12002 (original 1861) - E.M. Reilly & Co., (address not mentioned). .577 cal. Rifle; single barrel, Enfield, London proof, breech loader, hammer gun, Green Bros patent; Pat use #1, Reilly manufacture (originally type 3 Enfield) *50e

13326 (spring 1864) - E.M. Reilly & Co., 502, New Oxford Street, London; .577 cal. Rifle; single barrel, London proof, breech loader, hammer gun, Green Bros patent; Pat use #16, Reilly manufacture*50f

13333 (spring 1864)- E.M. Reilly & Co., 502, New Oxford Street, London; .577 cal. Rifle; single barrel, London proof, breech loader, hammer gun, Green Bros patent; Pat use #23, Reilly manufacture*50g

xxxxx (fall 1865?) – E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford Street, London. .577 cal. Single barrel rifle, London proof, breech loader, , hammer gun, Green Bros patent; Pat use #109, Reilly manufacture (from a Japanese site) *50h

13884 (summer 1865) - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London; .577 single barrel, London proof, breech loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - use #159, Reilly manufacture*50i

14763 (Sept 1867) - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. .577 cal. Single barrel, London proof, breech-loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - Pat use #177. Reilly manufacture.*50j

15047 (February 1868) - E.M. Reilly & Co., New Oxford Street, London. .577 Rifle. Single barrel, London proof, breech-loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - Pat use #325. Reilly manufacture.*50k

The last Reilly advertisement as “sole manufacturer” for the Green Bros. Patent was in 1868,*50l although in 1869 Reilly was still specifically mentioning Green Bros Patent guns in his advertisements.*50m (Green was replaced by the Reilly-Comblain in the “sole manufacturer” bragging rights category in his ads). Apparently sometime in 1868 Reilly transferred manufacture of Green Bros. rifles to Birmingham (where all his Reilly-Comblain’s were later made). The last Reilly with a Green Bros. patent use number is #3116, date indeterminate (warning: this number may not represent a chronological progression of the patent use numbers). (The reason the rifle remained relevant into the 1870's might be due to the fact it could be used as a muzzle loader (advertised by Reilly late on); a shooter could use regulation soft cartridges and ball in the gun from either end.)

NSN – E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. .577 cal. Single barrel, breech-loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - Pat use #3116. Reilly contract in Birmingham? *50n

There is one known Green Bros rifle with Belgian proofs (no Reilly name)(Royal Armouries).*50o

In addition there are two Green Brothers breech loaders made by other London gun makers which in view of the fact that Reilly was “sole manufacture” of the patent, had to be made by Reilly for the trade. Alternatively in view of the Reilly rifle with pat use #3116 with no serial number, it is possible that Reilly gave-up being “sole manufacturer” in 1868 and subsequent rifles including his own were made in Birmingham:

Xxxxx – Issac Hollis & Sons. .577 cal. Single barrel, proof not mentioined, breech-loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - Pat use #554. Reilly contract in Birmingham?, probably a chronologically accurate pat #.*50p

Xxxxx – Wilkinson, London. .577 cal. Single barrel, Brum proof, breech-loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - Pat use #2858. Reilly contract in Birmingham?*50q

Finally, there is one Green Bros. rifle with no Reilly provenance, made in Birmingham, Pat use #5008, the last pat use # found. The gun is a sad shadow of the guns Reilly had produced with a stock that looks like a fence post and poor fittings and engraving.

Xxxxx – Green Bros Patent Central Fire. .577 cal. Single barrel, Brum proof, breech-loader rifle. Green Bros Patent - Pat use #5008.*50r

Note as usual: Without being able to date the above guns by serial number, none of the analysis would be possible.

= *50 – 1863-1868: Reilly and the Green Brothers Patent Breech Loader: END TEXT =

Last edited by Argo44; 06/05/22 09:19 AM.
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