Air gun of Lewis and Clark

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I heard these boys used an air rifle on their trip x country...anyone know what size they used? From what I hear, it was used to shoot bear,elk etc..had to be quite large..and how come nowdays this isn't an option other than a .177 or a .22?..Could a 50cal air rifle be on the market soon?

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Lewis and Clark's secret weapon - a late 18th Century .46 cal. 20 shot repeating air rifle by Girandoni , as used bin the Napoleonic Wars. A Treasure Gun from the NRA National Firearms Museum. Holds 800 lbs of compressed air and 1500 strokes to load...impressive.

[GoodOlBoy]

Weren't these the ones with the "ball" air chamber on the bottom of them?

GoodOlBoy

[skeeter@ccia.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI
I found this information and is quite an outfit..I am suprised I never heard more about them or they never took off to be marketed today...a nice looking outfit

[GoodOlBoy]

It was always my understanding they carried the English air rifle with the ball chambers on them. See the only two pics I could find below. Must have been my mistake.

GoodOlBoy

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I am not sure what they took with them however, it impressed me that they had air guns way back then of that size shot..Now I wonder just what they did use or maybe they had more than one option?..I have only seen for sale the .177 or 22..where could you buy something like a 44 or 45 today?..or even a 50cal?.

[powell&hyde]

Wow, just did a google search and came up with this, all I can say is I'm impressed as I to thought like skeeter that air rifles were .177 or .22 nowadays. http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/