Originally Posted by
ccdjg
If you look at my post 5 you will see that I pointed out that Hawley was already advertising .22 inch calibre for his Kalamazoo air pistol in 1870, before Quackenbush’s first patent. In addition, apart from a few early experimental models that were not a commercial success, and his Model 5 combination air /rimfire rifle, Quackenbush’s pistols and air rifles were in fact all calibre 0.21 not 0.22, and this calibre was kept for all the spin-off air pistols and rifles that he had a hand in (including his own rifle-air pistol contrary to what the Bluebook says, and Bedford’s Eureka, the Champion and the Pope). I think this was deliberate, as you just can’t shoot .22 pellets or darts in these .21 guns and owners would have had to buy Quackenbush ammunition rather than Haviland and Gunn’s. So we can definitely rule out Quackenbush as a contender for introducing and popularising the .22 calibre.
I have a catalogue advert for the Haviland and Gunn air rifles, which predate Quackenbush's air rifles, and it is stated that they were 0.22 caibre.
Concerning the Bluebook description of the combination gun, it is only when the firing pin is place and the gun is set up for rimfire use that there is little air compression in the cylinder. When the firing pin is not there, normal air compression takes place.
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