Girandoni air rifle

[ganeshn]

Facinating account of Lewis and Clark's secret weapon a late 18th Century .46 cal. 20 shot repeating air rifle by Girandoni.shown in the links below is a complete kit with two spare cylinders, four magazines holding 22 lead balls a hand pump good for 800psi pressure, ladel and tong for casting the slugs.
Do not try replicating at home even if you are feeling lucky

[aadhaulya]

Dear ganeshn,

I could only see the first video that you posted. There is nothing that requires a warning of not doing it at home.
But it is difficult to imagine that the war against red indians was won because of a mean looking airgun only. Maybe the experts in the USA could through more light on the issue.
But thanks for sharing, it was interesting.

Atul

[essdee1972]

I think Lewis and Clark used this to get food when they ran out of powder. This was probably the only multi-shot weapon they had, the rest being muzzle loaders!

By the way, thanks for mentioning Lewis & Clark. I finally managed to download their journal onto my kindle!