Milners Type B pin and pipe versions

[Huw Eastwood]

Had these two knocking around for years- both Type B Powder Proof locks, on the lefts an 8 lever from 1913 with rounded corners and pin keys.
On the right an earlier square cornered 7 lever from 1890 with pipe keys.

The majority of the pin keyed locks I encountered on site were 7 gauge pin, and most of the pipe were 9 gauge as with these two examples (by gauge I'm referring to SWG- British Standard Wire Gauge). I remember the occasional pin lock needing 6.5 or 6 gauge blanks, but can't remember seeing many other sizes.

They would admittably have been limited as the keys for both types had to clear the barrel bolt thrower, restricting the range of sizes possible and especially so on pipe key variants- they never risked thin walls on the pipe keys, they always had a reasonable wall thickness which of course had to pass into the barrel of the bolt thrower, limiting the overall diameter possible.

So, here's the most obscure/daftest question of 2015- does anyone know how many different wire gauges Milners used for both the pin and the pipe keys, or was it mostly 6 and 7 SWG for pin, and 9 SWG for pipe?

i found a small untouched box of these...

Thought wow!!..... Milners blanks!!......it was short lived though as they range from 5 to 6.5 SWG pin.
Even the smallest being slightly too large, a shame as they all have the nice bow and stem shape characteristic of many Milners factory keys. Never mind, better luck next time...