===== *91 1904-1912: Reilly finishing guns bought in the white? TEXT =====

*91 1904-1912: Reilly reduced to finishing guns bought in the white?

With this possible shutdown of the company for 14 months, it is doubtful that young Bert Reilly could have kept his gunsmiths employed. In addition, from the time the company reopened until bankruptcy eight years later, only a very small number of guns were serial numbered by Reilly, less than 25 a year. Thus it is hard to imagine Reilly after May 1904 as a complete gun-making firm as it was in the heady days of JC and EM. Bert Reilly probably resorted to finishing guns provided by outworkers in the white and concentrated on repairing and updating guns.

There are Reilly guns serial numbered n the 1880’s that bear the 295 address on the barrel or case placed after they had obviously been brought in for new barrels or for service.*90a His case labels and advertisements seem to confirm this.*91b .

Reportedly during this period (per IGC) at least one gun was built with "J.C. Reilly" and the old "Holborn Bars" address on the rib (photos not located- additional information not provided by IGC which did not footnote its history.).

There is an extant Reilly rifle converted to a shotgun which is a pair with a new four digit serial number code. What this means is unclear. This gun very much resembles Reilly rifle SN 35554:

. . . . .SN .1833 (Outlier which in the chronology should date to late 1830's) - E.M. Reilly & Co., (rebarrelled by John Harper). 12 gauge SxS Shotgun. BLE. Repurposed from a big bore rifle. 26" barrels, pistol grip. #2 of pair*91c

. . . . .SN 35554 (1907): E.M. Reilly & Co., 295, Oxford Street, London. .500/.465 SxS Nitro Express rifle, BLE. (This cartridge was introduced by Holland&Holland in spring 1907.*91d

There is one Reilly SN 35614 which has a serial number on the barrel for Holloway sent by Marc Crudrungton. This is one of the very few serial numbered Reilly’s, which appear to have been built definitively by a firm other than Reilly himself. The Holloway SN would date the gun to 1911. This in and of itself is significant since it skews the “numbered guns built chart” per below.
. . . . . . . . . .-- (At the same time there is something odd about this gun; the engraving seems to revert to pre-1860 Reilly engraving and looks nothing at all like the other surviving Reilly’s from that time period. The differences are so striking as to call into question the authenticity of the gun, its serial number and address).

. . . . .SN 35614 (1911 - per Holloway records): E.M. Reilly & Co. 295 Oxford Street, London. 12 bore SxS Shotgun; self-cocking, Side-lock, ejector built by Holloway SN "H8113" (1911) *91e

This said, there are other Reilly’s from 1911 including an extant pair, which have no outside-worker marks on them as far as can be determined from auction house advertisements and which look like proper Reilly's.*91f

. . . . .SN 35673 (1911): E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 12 bore. Shotgun SxS. Sidelock. #1 of pair.
. . . . .SN 35674 (1911): E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London. 12 bore. Shotgun SxS. Sidelock. #2 of pair.

=== *91 1904-1912: Reilly finishing guns bought in the white? END TEXT ===

Last edited by Argo44; 06/05/22 11:08 AM.
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