Late with Westley Richards. Gun, rifle and pistol maker.
18 New Buildings, Price Street     1866-1872
31 Loveday Street       1873-1900

And now for the rest of the story:
Burns had a brother who had immigrated to the United States. In 1900, Burns went abroad to visit him. The brother resided in Iowa. At that time, the sport of Schuetzen was extremely popular along the upper Mississippi river between Iowa and Illinois and there were many Schuetzen clubs. Burns set up to build a few rifles during his stay. Burns' nephew, his namesake and also named George Burns, had just graduated from high school and was preparing to enter college in the fall to study mechanical engineering. He helped his uncle in the shop during that summer. At the end of the summer, his uncle presented him with this rifle in gratitude for his summer's work. It was the last rifle that he built. At the end of his visit, he returned to England to enjoy the last days of his retirement.

I purchased this gun at auction. Since it was unsigned and I was curious to obtain any information I could about it, I contacted the consignor. He gave me the phone number of Earl Burns, the son of George Burns (2) and I called him. His wife had just passed away and he was selling his household in preparation of moving from Arizona to Florida. He related the above information to me. I asked him about any accessories and he told me that when his father had passed away, they hired a professional mover to package everything up. He stated the sights and bullet mold had been in a leather bag which disappeared sometime during the transport. I have him my address and phone number and he promised to contact me again after he made his move and provide more family information. I never heard from him again.

The pictures are of poor quality (taken about 10 years ago) and the gun is in much better condition than it appears. I shoot the gun once in a while using a patched, round ball and it is extremely accurate. However, it is designed to shoot a sugarloaf or picket bullet approximately .78" long. A greased linen or paper patch is inserted in the first stage of the false muzzle. The bullet is pushed thru the false muzzle with the bullet rammer. It picks up the patch and swages everything into the bore where it is seated with the ramrod. There are provisions for a palm rest on the front of the trigger guard, and for a bench rest shoe to be attached near the end of the muzzle. Both items were in the bag which disappeared.