doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com E.M. Reilly; History; Chronology; Serial Numbers

This post has been split for academic reasons.. This post deals with 4 "outlier" serial numbers: They may have been rationalized. (Much of this was covered 5 years ago but with less understanding).

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There are 4 "outlier" SN'S 2008, 3007, 3402, 3514: which analysis may have rationalized; they all appear to possibly have been part of known Reilly serial number chronologies. (And with the addition of 3402 and 3514 to the 1847-48's, this creates an anomaly related to the 3350 series that will require some analysis.)

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2008
This is "Wootang"'s gun.
. . .-- SN 2008 - c1840, a 14 bore SxS muzzle-loader shotgun with "Joseph Charles Reilly, New Oxford Street, London" on the rib and bore size stamped on the barrel. The address would date it between April 1847 to circa September 1857 when J.C. retired; The gun, however, looks to be early 1840's.*13b

This gun originally was tentatively dated to c1854 in the dating chart. It has been moved back to 1840, where this serial number should be, as part of the Reilly main-line serial numbers. The address discrepancy (using New Oxford Street) may be because its barrels were redone and re-engraved by Reilly after 1847. There is precedence for this - see SN 5512.



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3007
Reilly U-L pin-fire 3007; The SN per the chart should be from 1845 but with E.M. Reilly & Co., 315 Oxford Street, London on the rib. I had speculated that it actually might be "13007." However, it has Birmingham proofs on the barrel. It is possible this was an original percussion gun from 1845 updated to pin-fire by Reilly sometime after 315 opened in August 1858. (There is another Reilly percussion gun SN 10354 from 1857 which was converted to an U-L center-break gun in 1878 per documentation). It will be re classified as an 1845 gun.



http://www.tennants.co.uk/Catalogue/Lots/225065.aspx
A 19th Century 16 Bore Double Barrel Pinfire Shotgun by E.M. Reilly & Co., 315 Oxford Street, London, the 73.5cm browned steel barrel signed on the rib, with Birmingham proof marks and numbered 3007, with signed foliate engraved back action, under-lever break, walnut stock with chequered grip and fore-end

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3402
This is a Terry Buffum gun:
..3402 - E.M. Reilly & Co. Oxford St., London & rue Scribe, Paris. .58 cal. SxS rifle; 4 grove twist. Hammer gun, muzzle loader. (E.M. Reilly label on the original case)

The gun was so odd as to SN and components that it has been ignored up to now. The address is post Feb 1868. But this gun per serial number should have been numbered originally in 1847 as part of the "3350" series. It may have been serviced, or re-engraved post 1868 when the label and address were added. 4 grove rifling in 1868 was not current nor were "scroll guard pistol grips." The Damascus barrel pattern is simple twist which is 1820-1850. The gun now is repositioned on the chart to 1847.



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3514
SN 3514. This is a 13 bore Shotgun SxS; muzzle loader, hammer gun with Reilly, 502, New Oxford Street, London, on the rib. It has an 1856-59 case label and a 13 bore stamp.

The gun was dated on the chart to c1856 only because of the label and called an "outlier." However, it looks like a much earlier gun. I'm inclined now to put it back to 1847-48 and conclude that the 1856 label was added when it was brought in for maintenance in the late 1850's (a look at the label does seem to confirm that it was changed). This would indicate that EM Reilly continued occasionally to use the "3350" series numbers after the jump to 8350 in 1847. I've moved it from 1856 back to 1848. (Note: the use of "502" rather than just "New Oxford Street" did not appear on other extant Reilly's until about 1853. But nothing is absolute about the gun industry.