Merwin & Bray / Plant's Mfg "front-loaders". "CONVERTED"?

Howdy

As I am sure you are aware, Merwin and Bray was a business that Joseph Merwin went into with Edward Bray before his later Merwin Hulbert company. It was one of many companies trying to get around the White patent for bored through cylinders. The Cupfire system of ammunition was an interesting way to get around the White patent.

Once rimfire ammunition became practical and plentiful, the Cup Fire ammunition rapidly became obsolete. The actual bullet diameter of the 42 Cupfire cartridges was about .390, so modification to 41 Rimfire would have been relatively easy.

The best book available on Conversion revolvers is A Study of Colt Conversions and Other Percussion Revolvers by R. Bruce McDowell. Published in 1997, it is unfortunately out of print now. I don't remember what I paid for my copy, but it was quite a lot. This book is primarily concerned with the conversion revolvers made by Remington and Colt, but there is a whole chapter on other revolvers trying to get around the White patent. There were quite a few of them, and the Plant revolver marketed by Hulbert and Bray was just one.

There is a chapter at the end of the book describing cartridge conversions by other companies than Remington and Colt. Among the companies listed are Cooper, Rogers and Spencer, Whitney, Starr, Hopkins and Allen (the actual manufacturer of Merwin Hulbert revolvers), and Allen and Wheelock. There is no mention of Hulbert and Bray conversions.

Converting Cap & Ball revolvers to cartridges was a popular cottage industry with many local gunsmiths at the time, in addition to those that were converted by the large companies. It would have been impossible for S&W's attorneys to track down all the patent infringments.

I suspect the Merwin and Bray in question was converted to rimfire by a local gunsmith after rimfire cartridges became practical. Colt most certainly would not have done the work, they were busy manufacturing and promoting their own conversions.