Air rifles--peace through superior firepower

[Wayne]

An account of the Girandoni air rifle used by Lewis and Clark

http://www.network54.com/Forum/451309/thread/1296928404/This+is+just+to+cool+not+to+spread+around


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[nord...@yahoo.com]

# An account of the Girandoni air rifle used by Lewis and Clark
#
# http://www.network54.com/Forum/451309/thread/1296928404/This+is+just+...

Thanks for sharing.

And here you'll find a marvelously detailed essay, fine photos, and
detailed drawings of the Girandoni and it mechanism:

http://www.beemans.net/lewis-assault-rifle.htm

[clarkm...@gmail.com]

I think about the Lewis and Clark pellet gun bluff a lot.

It leaves some unanswered questions.
How powerful was that pellet gun?
Was it just impressive on targets?
It it was a repeater, why were they not more powerful.

When I was 12, I had a Crossman bolt action CO2 22 cal pellet gun.
I bridged the gap between a BB gun and a 22 rimfire.

[Rubaiyat of Omar Bradley]

On Feb 3, 3:20=A0am, "clarkmagnu...@gmail.com" <clarkmagnu...@gmail.com>
wrote:
# It leaves some unanswered questions.
# How powerful was that pellet gun?
# Was it just impressive on targets?

No, those questions *were* answered in the cited Beeman article.

It was about 200fpe - From the article:
"All references to the Girandoni air rifles mention lethal combat
ranges of 125 to 150 yards and some extend that range considerably."

A modern hunting air rifle can kill bison, bears, etc. See
http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/

[Gunner Asch]

On Fri, 3 Feb 2012 10:20:58 +0000 (UTC), "clarkm...@gmail.com"
<clarkm...@gmail.com> wrote:

#I think about the Lewis and Clark pellet gun bluff a lot.
#
#It leaves some unanswered questions.
#How powerful was that pellet gun?
#Was it just impressive on targets?
#It it was a repeater, why were they not more powerful.
#
#When I was 12, I had a Crossman bolt action CO2 22 cal pellet gun.
#I bridged the gap between a BB gun and a 22 rimfire.

It wasnt a "pellet gun"....it was a .54 Caliber and fired a .54 caliber
projectile of at least 240 gr weight.

http://www.beemans.net/Lewis%20&%20Clark%20Airgun.htm


With about the same impact as a 44 Magnum at the same ranges

<VBG>

As to why they were not more powerful..compressed air is capable of only
so much energy when released. Different gases have different
abilities..hence the CO2 guns and so forth, depending on weight of the
gases themselves

Gunner

[Gunner Asch]

On Fri, 3 Feb 2012 19:15:05 +0000 (UTC), Rubaiyat of Omar Bradley
<cowar...@yahoo.com> wrote:

#On Feb 3, 3:20=A0am, "clarkmagnu...@gmail.com" <clarkmagnu...@gmail.com>
#wrote:
## It leaves some unanswered questions.
## How powerful was that pellet gun?
## Was it just impressive on targets?
#
#No, those questions *were* answered in the cited Beeman article.
#
#It was about 200fpe - From the article:
#"All references to the Girandoni air rifles mention lethal combat
#ranges of 125 to 150 yards and some extend that range considerably."
#
#A modern hunting air rifle can kill bison, bears, etc. See
#http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/

Oh sweet!! I was aware of the Quackenbush arms..distantly..but..I gotta
have one!!

http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/308_exile.html

Way way cool! and Ive got 30 carbine moulds already.....

Gunner

[TimR]

On Feb 3, 5:20=A0am, "clarkmagnu...@gmail.com" <clarkmagnu...@gmail.com>
wrote:
# I think about the Lewis and Clark pellet gun bluff a lot.
#
# It leaves some unanswered questions.
# How powerful was that pellet gun?
# Was it just impressive on targets?
# It it was a repeater, why were they not more powerful.
#
# When I was 12, I had a Crossman bolt action CO2 22 cal pellet gun.
# I bridged the gap between a BB gun and a 22 rimfire.

It's .46 caliber roundball, so 127 grains at about 500 feet per
second. Huge compared to most modern pellet guns, but not equivalent
to Civil War era conicals.