I think I have seen an old drawing of that rifle somewhere, do you know if it was one shot per charge?
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It is believed to have been able to fire multiple shots per charge, as evidenced by this journal entry:
from: New Page 1Quote:
Originally Posted by (Smith and Swick, 1997) of a little known travel diary journal of a Thomas Rodney, who was a day visitor to Captain Meriwether Lewis while he was traveling down the Ohio River at Wheeling, Ohio in September of 1803, contains a tiny passage which has caused new thinking about the Lewis airgun. The passage reads
In the late 90's I worked for a drafting and design firm and was involved with creating digital renderings of parts of the gun which were lost to history. At that time the rifle was believed to have been a single shot, and made by a gunmaker named Isaiah Lukens. Now it is not certain if Lewis carried a Lukens rifle. The journal entry above suggests it may have been something else.
Thanks mate, I knew I had heard about air guns from times past. That's the exact story I had read, it included diagrams. Now I just wish I could remember where I read it. More than likely from one of the many Australian Shooter mags I have scattered around the joint.
Mick
I'm pretty sure this one was the one used by Lewis,
Girandoni Air Rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here's a video. It's long winded and short on info.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI
Not clear if this is the actual rifle or not.
Yep, ZZZZZ