Quote Originally Posted by greenwayjames View Post
Thanks for the information. I find the subject fascinating. I was shown and read an article many years ago about Merriweather Lewis himself, his life and death, rather than the expedition. It may have been in Readers Digest. He was a very interesting character. The bulk of the article concerned his death. It laid out a conspiracy theory that he was murdered by unknown “government forces” and went into detail about the circumstances. It was illustrated with a portrait of M. Lewis in the article. The other illustration was of more interest. It was of an air rifle. Before the expedition he owned and used this air rifle himself. It was a ball reservoir rifle with an unusual trip mechanism on top of the action. The mechanism, I was told by the owner of the article , was similar to that used by Lukens on his butt reservoir rifles. Lukens and Lewis’s connections regarding the town clock, I seem to remember, were mentioned so its fair to assume that Lewis might have had the air rifle made for him by Lukens. He was definitely an airgun enthusiast.
Yes. I've read the same article. No. That is not the original Lewis air rifle. Everything changed with publication of "A Journey through the West: Thomas Rodney's 1803 Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory" Here's a review: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals...ew/11775/17257

From Rodney's journal, it is absolutely clear that Lewis is operating a Girandoni type airgun. This was the premier air rifle available in the world at the time. They were made in abundance, as was Lewis's, in London. The airguns made by Lukens pale in comparison. For a wonderful example, see the Staudenmayer in the Milwaukee Public Museum. This Staudenmayer is exactly the same as that seen in Baker/Currie Austrian Military Air Rifle M-1780. Of course, what Baker/Currie do not understand is that the gun they examined and reported so well is the product of English manufacturing, so, their title is a bit off. However, the gun was designed in Austria by professor Nemetz and was used by the Austrians.

So, bottom line, Lukens is out of the running.