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Saturday, 6 March 2010

18th Century Airguns For My Airgun Fan Followers!

Well it is 18th century, so I am not really off topic!!! I have been reading some really interesting pieces on blogs that I follow about airguns, mainly the trajectory of the .177 versus the .22, and it made me wonder what the original airguns were like. One of the following images is of a French airgun of only .25 cal, which is quite a modern caliber but this gun is 18th century.
Also known as "wind guns".

You can find more information on airguns here:
http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2008/12/outside-lock-rifle-by-gary-barnes.html
and here:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.beemans.net/images/Gir-hand-pump-BW23k.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.beemans.net/lewis-assault-rifle.htm&usg=__Cy6gYEdTN6Nd5k4qiDOHaBQJTLQ=&h=612&w=400&sz=23&hl=en&start=91&itbs=1&tbnid=C2P1gdVvzjzksM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3D18th%2Bcentury%2Bair%2Bpowered%2Bguns%26start%3D90%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1



French .25 calibre with antler tip loader for seating the ball/pellet.














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2 comments:

  1. Jimmy (pen name)15 March 2010 at 01:06

    I was suprised when you commented on my blog about air rifles. I thought that since they were modern, you would hold them in disdain. Little did I know that there were indeed air rifle of the much older variety. Good post

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  2. Keith15 March 2010 at 04:08

    Thanks Jimmy, I appreciate your comments. But I don't really hold modern equipment in disdain, and certainly not the air rifle. Other than a bow I can't think of any other similar tool that would do as good a job as the air rifle. Quiet, plenty of free air (!), so long as you took along plenty of pellets I would think it would last a long time.
    But a lot of modern items will breakdown in time. The modern firearm requires brass, powder and lead and a loader and sizer. A flintlock can re-use spent lead if retrieved from game, which means you can carry more gunpowder, and less lead. There are other advantages also to using a flintlock for long term survival, but for small game it would be hard to beat a good .22 air rifle.
    Regards.

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