Gun Quarter or Gun Factory photos - plea for help

[mw0njm.]

Gun Quarter - Wikipedia
I used to love going around the gun quarter with my dad,watching the smiths making the gun actions.filling a bit here and there to get it to fit. then there was the shops in steel house lane,with the sporting guns in the window for sale. back then it seemed that you had to be a millionaire to afford one.

 

[Morturn]

The second photo looks like Greeners (?) gun factory. I have stood in the room behind the coat of arms on the first floor. Had a good look around the old factory too. Rows and rows of work benches, each one with a gas pipe

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

Back when I was a apprentice I followed the driver Phil delivering a Jag back to a customer
The customer was a gun smith real small narrow place, down the one side stored wood for the stocks your pick, then along the other side was his work bench with guns in various stages
Looking back I wish I paid more attention to what I was looking at but I did see a couple of finished guns and knew they did not come cheap.

 

[mw0njm.]

Back when I was a apprentice I followed the driver Phil delivering a Jag back to a customer
The customer was a gun smith real small narrow place, down the one side stored wood for the stocks your pick, then along the other side was his work bench with guns in various stages
Looking back I wish I paid more attention to what I was looking at but I did see a couple of finished guns and knew they did not come cheap.

you got a good one for 400.000

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

you got a good one for 400.000

Back then I made £16.00 a week, and this gun smith drove a Brand new XJ6.

 

[Richard Dye]

I remember going to the Gun Quarter with my uncle when I was 9 or 10, he had a farm near Water Orton I would spend time at. We walked back through those old worn alley ways to where the gunsmiths were making a new 12 bore shot gun for him. It was very dark and smelly with 4 or 5 men in leather aprons. The second time he took me, the gun was finished, it looked like a shinny jewel. I remember those two visits like it was yesterday!

 

[mw0njm.]

I remember going to the Gun Quarter with my uncle when I was 9 or 10, he had a farm near Water Orton I would spend time at. We walked back through those old worn alley ways to where the gunsmiths were making a new 12 bore shot gun for him. It was very dark and smelly with 4 or 5 men in leather aprons. The second time he took me, the gun was finished, it looked like a shinny jewel. I remember those two visits like it was yesterday!

they are works of art.did your uncle let to use it?

 

[sospiri]

Several branchs of my mother's family were in the gun trade and whilst several pictures of the buildings and businesses are still floating around, there are very few of the gunsmiths actually working on the guns or making actions for them.

Maurice

 

[mw0njm.]

Several branchs of my mother's family were in the gun trade and whilst several pictures of the buildings and businesses are still floating around, there are very few of the gunsmiths actually working on the guns or making actions for them.

Maurice

yes Maurice. sadly there will be none in Brum. apprentices don't seem to like the work. most weapons now are made abroad.

 

[Robert Ensor (bob)]

Several branchs of my mother's family were in the gun trade and whilst several pictures of the buildings and businesses are still floating around, there are very few of the gunsmiths actually working on the guns or making actions for them.

Maurice

Birmingham has a connection with the Alamo and the famous battle
Most or a very good portion of the arms used by the Texiens during the battle had their " actions " made in Birmingham.
As a side note more people from the UK were killed there than Texians.

 

[Richard Dye]

they are works of art.did your uncle let to use it?

yes Maurice. sadly there will be none in Brum. apprentices don't seem to like the work. most weapons now are made abroad.

Unfortunately I was never able to use it, I was too small. I do remember holding it a couple of times when he was cleaning it.

 

[Richard Dye]

Birmingham has a connection with the Alamo and the famous battle
Most or a very good portion of the arms used by the Texiens during the battle had their " actions " made in Birmingham.
As a side note more people from the UK were killed there than Texians.

Many many Birmingham made guns were used by the Confederate (Southern) Army in the US civil war.

 

[mw0njm.]

Birmingham has a connection with the Alamo and the famous battle
Most or a very good portion of the arms used by the Texiens during the battle had their " actions " made in Birmingham.
As a side note more people from the UK were killed there than Texians.

The Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association had supplied many of the guns during this period, and in 1861 fourteen of these gun smiths formed the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA).
It is estimated that around 800,000 weapons were shipped from Birmingham to America during the latter's Civil War. One of the main suppliers was William Tranter, who supplied revolvers to the Confederate forces. General Custer is known to have owned a Galand and Sommerville .44 revolver, which was faster to load than existing American pistols. George Custer carried a Remington .50-caliber sporting rifle with octagonal barrel and two revolvers that were not standard issue–possibly Webley British Bulldog, double-action, white-handled revolvers.