Air Rifle the most important gun in US History?

[wwillson]

I had no idea until I watched this video that an air rifle even existed at this time in history.

[Trapper]

Pretty impressive firearm....okay, not a firearm, but a rifle. I don't remember the exact air pressure in the buttstock but it was something like 800lbs and would fire several hundred times before needing to be pumped up again. As I remember though, the pump had to go thru something like 1500 strokes to fully pressurized the cast iron buttstock. I often wondered why there were not more weapons like this during the Civil War. Rapid fire, for the time- extreme accuracy with a rifled barrel, no need to clean after shooting several shots like most front end loaders of black powder days,no powder to keep dry, can be fired in any weather including the rain, shooter only had to carry ball, just a bunch of features that apparently meant nothing to the armys of the Civil War. But then again, the War Dept for the Union thought the Henry rifle was a POS. What a difference it could have made in the war. Just ask Gen Custer about what a repeating rifle can do against an army of single shot rifles.

[BarryinIN]

I had been sent links to that video probably three times over the past week before finally watching it this morning.

I'm glad I did.

I had read they had an air rifle along, but knew next to nothing about it, didn't know they had several of them, and sure didn;t know it was a repeater.

Interesting about the "demonstration" they put on at their stops.

In Jeff Cooper's book "Another Country", he tells about the 1962 expedition he and three others took down the Rio Balsas river in Mexico. This river was known as a "river of no return" down which only savages and murderers dwelled. As such, it was considered off limits, nobody had charted it, and everyone warned them off of making the trip.

Whenever they stopped where other people were present, there was a danger of being attacked because they were almost always outnumbered. So they would put on a shooting demonstration, either with the rifle (a Savage 99) or Col Cooper with his 38 Super pistol. This was done in a friendly way, but delivered the message that they were not to be messed with.

After seeing that piece on the Lewis and Clark air rifle, I had to think they were the inspiration for that trick. Cooper was a rabid historian, and had to be aware of it.

[RLH70]

I read about that gun years ago, pretty impressive really.

[Shannow]

The history of air rifles is long and extensive.

If you were found "sniping" with an air rifle, versus a flash-boom-smoke pole, your end was not a pretty one.

[RebinPA]

You should look into the English air-canes. Quite ingenious!