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Gees

Any way of telling if this, your gun, and the other, quite possibly my gun soon, are 'real' Mantons or guns made for the Manton company?

Thanks

Ben

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Again, there are no 'real' breech-loading Manton double rifles.

Joseph Manton was probably the best, and best known, of the British gunmakers during the flint era. He sent his son to establish a retail outlet, Manton & Co, in Calcutta in 1825. Joe went bankrupt shortly afterwards. After a stint in debtors' prison, he restarted his London business, but died in 1835. The remnants of his London business were sold in 1838. The Calcutta business was sold in 1846, the Manton family having no interest in it thereafter.

Manton & Co, Calcutta was a retail business, not a gunmaker. With the exception of a few guns in the very early days, all of the guns it sold under the "Manton" name were made for them by others. Manton of Calcutta was long out of Manton family hands by the time the breechloader appeared. All "Manton" of Calcutta breechloaders were "bought in" from the trade (made by someone else).

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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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