===== *54 1872-1912: Swinburn, Gibbs, Lee-Speed TEXT =====

*54 1872-1912 Reilly sells other Military Rifles; Swinburn, Gibbs, Lee-Speed

The Snider-Enfield was apparently the last military rifle Reilly made in his London workshops and serial numbered. He did not serial number the Reilly-Comblain nor the Martini-Henry sporting guns he sold. However, he continued to advertise and market military rifles, selling some to the Volunteer Militia and some to private owners for sport. These were made elsewhere. Here are four:

. . . . .Swinburn-Henry: The Swinburn was similar to the Martini-Henry but differed internally quite a bit. For instance it had a thumb manipulated side lever which could cock the hammer without operating the lever. It fired the same .577/540 Martini-Henry cartridge but was more prone to breakage. It was patented in 1872 and all production was done by by Abingdon Works Co. Ltd., Birmingham. Reilly’s first advertisement for a Swinburn rifle (which he misspelled) is from October 1875.*54a
. . . . . . . . . .-- There is one extant Reilly Swinburn from about 1885 in the Royal Armouries. It is highly engraved with a lion surrounded by fine scrollwork on the right side of the receiver and two stags on the left. It is engraved “E.M. REILLY & Co., 277 OXFORD STREET, LONDON, AMMUNITION GOV 577.450.”*54b

. . . . .George Gibbs “Farquharson Patent”: This is a single-shot hammerless falling-block action rifle. It was patented by John Farquharson in Scotland in 1872. George Gibbs, a Bristol gun-maker, bought into the patent in 1875 and was the sole maker until the patent expired in 1886. Per Wikipedia, fewer that 1,000 Gibbs-Farquharson rifles were made, the last in 1910. Famous hunter Frederick Selous was known to use the rifle.*54c
. . . . . . . . . .-- There is one extant Gibbs-Farquharson .451 cal rifle with Reilly's name on it, signed “E.M. REILLY & CO., 277 OXFORD STREET, LONDON,” with a Gibbs serial number 1331 (Wikipedia can be wrong too).*54d

. . . . .Lee-Speed: The Lee-Speed was a bolt-action magazine rifle, which was basically a sporting variant of the Lee-Enfield made for civilians. It shot the .303 cartridge. The first advertisement for a Reilly marketed Lee-Speed is in 1893.*54e A number of London gun-makers offered Lee-Speeds for sale to sportsmen including Holland & Holland.*54f
. . . . . . . . . .-- There is one extant Reilly marketed Lee-Speed shooting the .375 x 2.5” nitro express cartridge, introduced in 1899 (basically a hunting cartridge, a slightly longer version of the .303 necked out to .375). This Reilly has on the barrel “E.M. REILLY & CO., 295 OXFORD STREET, LONDON” indicating it was marketed between May 1904 and June 1912.*54g

. . . . .The Soper Rifle: The Soper Birmingham-made breech-loader missed out on the breech-loading trials in 1867-68. However, in a separate test in 1872 it fired 60 rounds in one minute, a rate not matched by magazine guns. Soper put up a £100 bet ($10,000+) in 1878 that he would match two men firing his gun against three firing any other rifle in the world to see who could get most rounds on a 200 yard target in 3 minutes. No one took him up on it. Per an early 1880 advertisement Reilly was the Soper rifle "agent for London."*54h

=== *54 1872-1912: Swinburn, Gibbs, Lee-Speed END TEXT ===

Last edited by Argo44; 06/05/22 09:23 AM.
Baluch are not Brahui, Brahui are Baluch