Originally Posted by
DT Fletcher
In a sense, you are right. The original Girardoni was a mess in that it was unreliable in the field. There was a follow-on model to the original Girardoni designed by professor Nemetz. It is this Nemetz model that is seen so much of today. The Nemetz was produced in England, or at least it's parts were, and it was widely distributed, including the air rifle carried by Meriwether Lewis. These "G" marked Girardoni's often seen are of the Nemetz design.
Just about everything written by Bob Beeman on this subject, I've been saying for years, is wrong. Mostly a product of confirmation bias in that Beeman wanted to prove that the air rifle he owned was a legit Girardoni and, of course, carried by M. Lewis. This "Girardoni invent et fecit" example, if we can confirm it, would be the ultimate proof of my contention that Beeman is in error.