Here is a video I watched a couple years back. Turns out the rifle in the video is the one on display at the museum.
www.forgottenweapons.com
Girardoni Air Rifle
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Other Girardoni (wind rifle) circa 1779
- Thread starter rumaco19
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I'm really interested in higher volume, lower pressure big bore air guns. I have a 100fpe .59 I made out of PVC...I can fill with a bike pump - but only get one shot.
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I think that with alternative projectiles that low pressure/big bore guns make even more sense. You don't need to launch an arrow, bolt or dart at the same velocity as a bullet and guns like the HDR50 and HDR68 are doing similar things with rubber balls and other alternative projectiles. I remember making low pressure airguns back in the day out of PVC and electric sprinkler valves and the results were impressive considering I was working with less than 200 psi.
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Alot of people mistakenly think that old equals inferior. I rebuilt a Benjamin "Franklin" 310 for a guy and was surprised to see that it had lead seals which apparently worked well enough to come with the same thing in the rebuild kit. The engineering was simple and effective. The same quality of today was able to be achieved by craftsmen of those times, albeit at a slower pace.
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Having used a Hatsan 130 for a number of years 500/600 fps does not sound like much but is surprising! It punches though coconuts and cow bones with good effect and round ball as a projectile has an effect all it's own. There is a detailed book online that is about the building of the replicas. I believe it was there I read that one of the major hang ups to it's production was low quality sheet iron and that more tanks were bursting than holding in the beginning production.
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Thanks for posting this. That air rifle has a lot of history and was way ahead of its time.Here is a video I watched a couple years back. Turns out the rifle in the video is the one on display at the museum.
Girardoni Air Rifle
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One of these very rare original Girardoni rifles is included in Hermann Historica's 100th auction o May 15 this year. Hermann Historica is a leading global Germany headquartered auction house focused on historical weapons. They posted some nice pictures of the gun at https://www.hermann-historica.de/en/auctions/lot/id/1047947 and https://www.hermann-historica.de/upload/100/S/352/
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Early pump up guns did result in deaths-by-pumping mishaps, which was one reason they were being phased out long before their modern resurgence. Among the aristocracy it wasn't that bad, since the pumping was never done by the shooters themselves, but by servants.
Ironically, Girardoni himself turned from developing groundbreaking firearms to developing groundbreaking wind guns, because his son was killed by an experimental firearm explosion.
Ironically, Girardoni himself turned from developing groundbreaking firearms to developing groundbreaking wind guns, because his son was killed by an experimental firearm explosion.
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Thanks for sharing this. Looks like everyone who wants this piece of history for the mantle has just less than a month to get their auction affairs in order to bid on her.
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Na, repeating firearms were a definite death nail to airguns. Far more power, faster and easier to operate and maintain, not to mention less cost.
Antique big bore airguns had their time, but there is no way they could ever compare to a firearm.
Girandoni did have a high failure rate of his tanks during manufacturing, but I've always wondered how often there were great failures after they passed.
A museum pressure tested an antique butt reservoir many years ago and it didn't break a rivet until somewhere close to 3K. I really wish I didn't have my books packed up. The gun was photographed with its replacement tank they made for it.
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Repeating firearms were of course eventually rulers of the roost, but that's not the whole truth.
Pump-up airguns were a popular alternative hunting weapon to wealthy woodsmen, especially in the later 1700's. There were many, many manufacturers besides Girardoni, with myriad calibers and power levels. They didn't always have a butt reservoir like the Girardoni, but a separate air tank / reservoir.
There are accounts from the early 1800's where people who used to be enthusiastic airgun hunters said how the potentially lethal pump-up mishaps were the very reason they stopped using airguns.
One period account tells of a servant who had the metal reservoir of an airgun blast through his torso while pumping it up, killing him instantly. Other times, the reservoir exploded from over-pumping or a manufacturing defect, killing people via shrapnel.
This was in the 1700's, long before repeating firearms.
Pump-up airguns were a popular alternative hunting weapon to wealthy woodsmen, especially in the later 1700's. There were many, many manufacturers besides Girardoni, with myriad calibers and power levels. They didn't always have a butt reservoir like the Girardoni, but a separate air tank / reservoir.
There are accounts from the early 1800's where people who used to be enthusiastic airgun hunters said how the potentially lethal pump-up mishaps were the very reason they stopped using airguns.
One period account tells of a servant who had the metal reservoir of an airgun blast through his torso while pumping it up, killing him instantly. Other times, the reservoir exploded from over-pumping or a manufacturing defect, killing people via shrapnel.
This was in the 1700's, long before repeating firearms.
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I agree there... but you'll find the big bore antiques pretty much went away when repeating firearms came about. Mid 1800's
Early 1800's and prior, I think the airgun was a far superior item to have. Especially during the flintlock Era. You can't really shoot a powder gun back then often without fouling quick or going to smaller and smaller shot.
It's as if the antiques were coming into their prime to just be crushed by firearms.
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