now THIS is an air rifle your great, great,great, great, great daddy might have had
- Thread starter zebra26
- Start date
At what distance were these kindof things lethal? I'm a bit of a history nut, so I'm embarrased to say this is all new to me
Hit Beeman's site and read what he has to say. http://www.beemans.net/lewis-assault-rifle.htm
He actually has a bunch of factual information on the historical side of various airguns there.
I have read some of the various quotes of what actually was written in the Journals, and remain unconvinced that the Girandoni made it across the ocean so soon after it was, essentially, a secret weapon. The parts and pieces that were damaged and repaired, including the use of a file as a source for carbon steel to make a spring from, are underwhelming eveidence to my eye, as the pretty much every blacksmith I have met, would do the same.
Doc Beeman has proclaimed several times in the last 30 or so years, that he had found "the" Lewis and Clark airgun, and coincidentally, that he had it in his possession and it was for sale. Take that as you will. It's still an interesting firearm in it's own right.
But it gets played up in the American way of forming almost cult-like connections between their objects and the short history of their country.
The Girandonis are a really neat mechanism, lots of fragile parts in them, and lots of opportunities for them to get out of sorts. There are a couple different websites out there showing the process that re-creators of the Girandoni military rifles went through, as well as a couple different books that were published, showing how you could make one for yourself.
Well worth further looking in to, if it is of any interest at all.
Cheers
Trev
The wind rifle or whatever the translation of it was, correct?
