Brought another one back from the grave
 

Just finished restoring the barrels on an Edward London 12 bore pinfire. The barrels were in very poor condition, with the ribs almost falling off. Had to strip, clean and relay both ribs, followed by a new brown and etch. Gun was made in 1861, and is in good overall condition.

I love these guns made in the transitional period by lesser known makers. The quality of the engraving, and the gun in general is comparable to anything put out by the top names at that time like Purdey, Westley Richards..etc. If you specifically look for guns made in the 1860's-1870's, it is much easier to find "best" guns by relatively unknown makers for a fraction of the price as compared to a later period.

What a wonderful gun and beautiful Laminated Steel pattern!!

Very nice! I wonder if there is/are any sources for new hulls for pinfires.

Enjoy :cheers:

i see several hulls that are new on the shell auctions from time to time..there was a forum not to long back that showed how to reload these fired pinfire hulls...i wish i could remember were i seen it...charlie

Pinfire source for hulls and complete kits (I can't speak to their quality for I've never used them):

http://hlebooks.com/pinfire/cal16-01.htm

I purchased a kit for loading the 1873 French Ordnance Revolver cartridges from the same outfit. The kit was nicely made. At one time, he had 16 bore pinfires, but no 12s.

I wonder why only 16s. Being unfamiliar with pinfires, was 16 gauge bore more common a chambering for pinfire doubles?

That page can be a bit tricky to navigate, especially on a tablet. The following will take you right to the 12s, for those interested:

http://hlebooks.com/pinfire/prices.htm#16%20gauge

I have a decent supply of brass 16 gauge cases that I bought years ago. I intend to convert a few for the 16 gauge pin fire double that I recently acquired. I think Ross Seyfried wrote a "Double Gun Journal" article about making and loading pin fire shotshells a few years ago. I'll try to locate the article and post the issue number.