Posted on 03/02/2011 4:40:38 AM PST by Red_Devil 232
The Girandoni Air Rifle circa 1779 was a 22 shot, breach loading, repeating rifle used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was 4 ft (1.2 m) long and weighed 10 pounds (4.5 kg), which made it the same basic size and weight as other muskets of the time. It fired a .46 caliber ball at a velocity similar to that of a modern .45 ACP. The air reservoiris in the stock and required hand pumping 1500 times to a working pressure of 800 psi. Pretty remarkable for late 18th century technology.
Video - Girandoni air rifle as used by Lewis and Clark. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun.
Air Rifle Lewis Clark girandoni Part 1
Air Rifle Lewis Clark girandoni Part 2
The video below shows how the pump was used:
I admire any man who can pump anything 1500 times to shoot a pellet.
A .46 caliber ball was a pretty big pellet.
but who got the task of pumping it up again!
800 PSI in the stock? Had to be steel lined. Still, I wouldn’t want to put it between my legs to pump it up!
It’s my understanding that no one is quite sure what air rifle the expedition had, though this one is a good bet. Interestingly very few articles exist today that can conclusively be attributed to the journey, most everything was sold at auction.
Lewis wrote that the air gun caused “great astonishment” amongst the Indian, it was definitely high-tech for the time.
The original stocks were cast iron.
One of the videos above says it could fire 40+ shots before it needed to be repumped.
Lots of effort to pump it up, but it’s good for 40 shots on a single charge, and can put a hole through a 1” pine board at 100 yards! That’s a pretty nifty alternative to “fire” arms - also seems like a pretty quiet option for neighborhood hunting of small game for food and protecting your food from varmints (both two and four-legged type...)
The “Part 2” video actually shows the replica rifle being fired - very cool stuff. My Daisy air rifle weeps with envy and shame ;-) Thanks for sharing!
Fascinating thread . Thank You.
Btt
So is this Lewis or Clark?
Pretty awesome indeed considering I don’t see anything like it being sold to consumers nowadays, of course technology can improve on having to re-pump it or to use an outside pressure tank. We have all seen high performane .177 and .22 airguns, but nothing like a 230gr. .452 lead bullet or a comparable black powder conical or such.
Would make for an interesting build, especially on a TV reality series. And not a potato gun, something that duplicates the velocity of a rifle fired 45auto.
I think those assault muskets are illegal here in CT.
I pick things up & put them down.
According to one of the videos it was calibrated to take exactly 1500 full strokes of the pump. The gasket was made of bone.
Truly a cool device, only 10 pumps. The bb’s tend to stray.
They were young healthy men.
Check out Quackenbush Air Guns.
.495 round ball @ 850 fps from a modern air rifle.
That's about around Obama's pay grade.
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