 The surviving business ledgers date from 1781 and show that by then John Rigby was making, under his own name, shotguns, rifles, muskets, spring guns, carbines, blunderbusses and pistols to clients' specifications and a wide range of prices.Rigby was nearly bankrupted during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 when the government seized the arms on his premises - those belonging to the firm and to its clients - presumably to keep them out of the reach of rebels.However, by 1810 (if not sooner) John Rigby had rebuilt his business and, in addition to sporting guns, was making, updating and repairing thousands of guns for Ireland's police, military, postal and customs services.