THIS PROJECT IS NOW FINISHED:

. . . . .I. The case for Reilly making his own guns, 33,000 of them over 90 years, and being heavily involved in all aspects of UK London gun making, wholesaling, retailing, and promoting in the 19th century has been made and documented, all based on original primary sources:
. . . . . . .-- The original history is on p.54 .
. . . . . . .-- The SN gun dating chart is attached on p.54 with complete footnotes on "why" and "how"; One cannot begin to write a history until the dates of the guns are understood.
. . . . . . .-- The list of known Reilly guns and extant guns is on p.57 with the footnotes also attached.
. . . . . . .-- The label date chart was on p.49, half of it now disappeared.
There is not much more which can be discovered. Case rested.

. . . . .II. For those who do not believe this history, it’s time to lay out your case. Analyses of holes in the above research are not needed. Rather what is needed for history is evidence which supports the belief, which somehow became established in the late 20th century, that Reilly was only a retailer:
. . . . . . .-- Please post the source(s) of information on the origin of this claim - that "Reilly was only a retailer from c1828 to 1912," or any evidence which backs this up.
. . . . . . .-- Was any attempt made to verify this - or was it just accepted as an "oral legend truth"?
. . . . . . .-- If any research to confirm this assertion was done, please post the 19th century documents which support it.

Based on the responses to the above, gun historians can decide which version of Reilly history has credibility.

(Edit: A week later and no responses so far; There in fact may be no academic references at all to this claim; I certainly can't find anything except for early 21st century message boards, a very few catalog descriptions and a few articles. This whole theory may just be word of mouth rumor started in the 4th quarter of the 20th century!

So could some of the advocates of this claim that Reilly was only a retailer for 90 years in the 19th century at least tell the board who they first heard this from and why they believed it. Thanks for history's sake...

edit: a month later - crickets. Apparently there is nothing to post and this oral legend can be consigned to the scrap heap.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Final thoughts:

1) There are a few sources that might still be tapped for additional information on Reilly:
. . . . .—Reilly prices lists and catalogs were advertised for 60 years. At least one is in a UK collection
. . . . .—UK business anthologies might shed more light on the company’s organization.
. . . . .—“Worshipful Company of Gunmakers” in London will have info on Reilly guns being proofed week by week.
. . . . .—Some sort of patent royalty payment records might still turn up.
. . . . .—French government archives will solve the mystery of rue du Faubourg.

But nothing more will be posted unless something definitive is uncovered. (The extant gun list on p.57 will be updated regularly).

2) Finally, the failure of jpgbox.com was a bitter blow. 5 years of meticulous documentation wiped out overnight for the 3rd time. I have the reference footnotes on my computer but they are no longer available to the casual researcher on-line. Dave should consider putting in his own photo hosting software. I won’t be putting up any more historical posts only to see them GWTW.

Gene Williams. April 28, 2022.

Last edited by Argo44; 05/29/22 11:42 PM.
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