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Update: Girandoni Air Rifle Explanation
This item updates item 'The Airgun that Helped Change American history: Girandoni air rifle as used by Lewis and Clark'

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The Girandoni air rifle, purported to be part of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Start at 2:40 to skip boring tales and get to details and firing.



"Invented in the late 1770s-early 1780s, Lewis and Clark used this air rifle for hunting and defense on their famous expedition from 1803-1806. They chose an air gun because of the difficulty of transporting, handling and acquiring the delicate black powder used by firearms of the day."


Added: Oct-26-2012 Occurred On: Oct-26-2012
By: EmrysM
In: History
Tags: Girandoni, air, rifle, rifles, American, history, airgun, Lewis, and, Clark, firing, fired, fire
Location: Missoula, Montana, United States (load item map)
Marked as: approved
Views: 3005 | Comments: 17 | Votes: 2 | Favorites: 2 | Shared: 0 | Updates: 0 | Times used in channels: 1
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  • I've been following this since the 1st post, -sent it on to a few other History buffs. Really interesting, the way that expedition used the gun to shock and awe the Natives... Mostly just giving demos. They couldn't really let 'em know they only had a couple of 'em.

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    picked (534.82)

    (3)

  • i have that blanket

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    mattrd (230.82)

    (2)

  • Nice follow up to the earlier post. Thanks for sharing!!!

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    dirtbiker201 (1588.18)  

    (1)

  • wonder why it had a hammer

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    anymoose (581.00)  

    (1)

    • @anymoose I imagine it was a safety measure to keep it from firing from accidental trigger pulls, might also have something to do with the air release.

      Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
      EmrysM (1894.46)  

      (0)

  • sweet

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    Hiarken (573.64)  

    (1)

  • Cool. They could take large game with this thing

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    pantucci (368.54)

    (1)

    • @pantucci With a good shot at under 100 feet perhaps. Small game no problem, and for human targets the volume of fire should do wonders.

      Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
      EmrysM (1894.46)  

      (0)

  • Great Post!! Most people don't realise that Air rifles were around back then

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    aranger45 (3048.28)  

    (1)

  • People still use large bore air rifles to hunt deer.

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    Kmanbay (689.86)

    (1)

  • Hmmm........well ahead of it's time over all, but can you imagine a modern version that shoots like a machinegun?
    Hmm...

    Posted Oct-27-2012 By 
    Bogenschutze (195.22)

    (1)

    • @Bogenschutze There are automatic gas/air rifles but they aren't very powerful. It's inefficient to fire full auto with an airgun anyhow, you lose all of your pressure too quickly.

      You can buy a .50 caliber air rifle that shoots at over 700fps, the kinetic energy is enough to take down large bucks. You can get 9mm air rifles that fire over 900fps, but the weight of the round still makes them less effective unless you get a clean heart/head shot.

      Posted Oct-27-2012 By 
      EmrysM (1894.46)  

      (0)

  • Start at 2:40 if you want pure details and firing without the stories.

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    EmrysM (1894.46)  

    (0)

  • So you can kill a squirrel?

    Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
    jd1327 (471.52)

    (0)

    • @jd1327 I imagine you could also do some serious damage to larger animals at closer ranges.
      I'd like to see some more thorough testing of this rifle.
      Considering that you could get off 40 shots before needing a new canister of compressed air I think the loss in killing power was outweighed by the volume of fire and weight of the projectiles.

      Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
      EmrysM (1894.46)  

      (1)

    • @EmrysM I thought I heard him say you needed to pump it 1,500 times?

      Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
      jd1327 (471.52)

      (1)

    • @jd1327 1500 times per canister, they were screw on and you could carry a few of them. 40 shots give or take from one fully pumped canister before you lose effectiveness, so if you carry two canisters that's 80 shots that you can fire before having to pump the canisters again.

      Posted Oct-26-2012 By 
      EmrysM (1894.46)  

      (1)