Well, Hawley's patent is dated 1869, Haviland & Gunn's first patent appeared in 1871, and Hawley's Kalamazoo was already being sold in 1870 in .22 calibre, so I think we can safely say that Hawley pre-empted H & G in introducing the .22 calibre onto the airgun scene. However, we still can't say yet if there were .22 calibre rimfires around before Hawley, which might have inspired him to adopt this calibre for his air pistol. We need someone with very early (pre-1870) firearm catalogues to do some research.
Although there are a lot of pre-1870 airguns known, these are in all sorts of weird calibres, usually very large. I have never come across mention of .22 calibre in any of these.
Just looking back at one of the posts & saw a mention of Flobert. I've seen references say that the rimfire bb cap he invented was from around 1840, in .22, so this could have established a market that believed .22 was the way to go for indoor training/fun shooting. Hence when someone wanted to get into that market with an air rifle the .22 would have been the way to go as it was already an accepted calibre for thst purpose. Dont know why Flobert adopted the .22 in tbe first place though.....
Very interesting. I had a quick look on the net and found this, which describes a signed Flobert pistol dated to about 1855, and definitely .22. https://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/24936
(In France the metric system was in place, so Flobert would have considered his calibre to be 5.6 mm rather than .22 inches)
So we can now push the date of .22 calibre back to the 1840-50’s period, and can assume that airguns played no part in developing this calibre. The question now remains, did Flobert come up with the size himself, or was he just using 5.6mm percussion caps that were already in common usage at the time? We now need an expert historian in early nineteenth century firearms to comment.
Incidentally, it is very true as noted earlier that it is often the simplest questions that are the most difficult to answer. A classic example is the waisted airgun pellet. Despite being one of the most important advances in airgun technoloigy, no one has yet been able to determine who invented them, or who was the first to commercialise them.
Probably shouldn't rely on my memory but if I stick to generalities I might be ok.
Muzzle loading firearms ; originally powder, wads, patches ball or shot were all seperately carried. Then someone decided to use pre measured powder charges possibly in Europe at any rate in France for the first time but then more widely adopted, which was wraped in paper. Some reports suggest they were in use as far back at 14th or 15th Cent, And yes I think that's where the term"cartridge paper" comes from. Then someone decided to add a ball to this & hey presto the next step was taken, then the next stage was someone adding a priming cap to the base of the powder charge to make the needle fire. Dreyse was the first to get all the individual components to come together around 1835/1836 But parented a few years later(?) but he'd been working on it for years before. Then it was a matter of time & increments before the full metallic cartridges both rimfire & centrefire. The thing about the Dreyse system wasnt just the assembly of the components, it probably introduced the breach loader into becomming a popular, practicality.
http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....is-the-history
The other thread covers derivation of .22 as a caliber - first introduced in 1845:
"...A gallery gun, Flobert gun, saloon gun, or parlor gun is a type of firearm designed for indoor shooting. These guns were first developed in 1845 when French inventor Louis Nicolas Flobert modified a percussion cap to hold a small lead bullet." [source: wikipedia]
In the same year: "Flobert modified the cap further by creating a rim at the edge so that the cap and bullet could fit in a chamber of a pistol
So we already know use of .22 in rimfire appears well before airgun.
HOWEVER: I am intrigued to know when the first waisted pellets are invented - I believe someone has already offered this to be after 1900?
I think we are so near to an answer - that it is probably worth putting it as a separate question to others in this section. So if no one minds, I'm going to stop following this thread and pose this as a new thread as follows:
Is Hawleys's Kalamazoo the FIRST example of a .22 airgun?
Invention of the waisted pellet... you are right it's been said by someone that it's after 1900.......
Advertised in Cox's catalogue 1902, not my research but seen it elsewhere
Can't help with .22 but I have a Markham Pacific in 0.18, allegedly from 1885 onwards. As well as the calibration it is remarkable for the lack of metal content. It's in marked contrast to my Giffard from the same period.
The only ancient continental linear measurement I can recall is a pipee - the distance a Frenchman would walk while smoking a pipe although it could just as accurately and meaningfully be the time elapsed. Hardly helpful, I know.
ATB. Mick
When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns .
https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2018...tridge-part-1/
Oddly coincidental US blog.
'Our' original thread (started 5/1/18 in GENERAL) traced the start of rimfire cartridges to Flobert, and the development and history of .22 in rimfire...
http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....is-the-history
...so i'm interested to see where the rest of the series goes and whether they have any ideas mentioned on the 'first .22 airgun' as i'm fairly convinced we've pegged that successfully down to the Kalamazoo:
http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....un-If-NOT-WHAT
I can't see where the rest of the 'article' is. Is it available yet? or am i being very thick and not spotting where i should be clicking to get there...