Breech loading?

[Geech]

I've been trying to found out when breech-loading double-barrels first became common and I haven't had much luck on my own. I would certainly appreciate it if someone here could shed some light on this issue.

[Dave McCracken]

Parker's first was made in 1867. Some French Pinfire B/Ls were used in the Un-Civil War. Breechloaders were common by 1880.

HTH....

[Geech]

Thanks, that certainly does help.

[JohnBT]

The Modern Age (page 153)

"It started in 1851, at the Great Exhibition in London, where Casimir Lefaucheux of Paris displayed his breechloading pinfire gun."

"Lefaucheux had been building hinge-action guns for these shells for nearly twenty years, but neither the guns nor the cartridges had sparked much attention among English makers."

"Regardless of whether he used Lefaucheux's gun or Hodges' copy, Joseph Lang was the first English maker to produce break-action breechloaders in significant numbers."

- from BEST GUNS by Michael McIntosh