"flintlock" air rifle

[DT Fletcher]

Up for auction is a beautiful looking "flintlock" air rifle
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/au...0-a8dc01019310

This is the sort of air rifle that I see being produced by a local German gunmaker. I don't see this an attempt to mimic a flintlock; instead, more likely, it's just the lock that the gunmaker had available to him which he then converted into an airgun lock.

[Benelli B76]

The old original types of these are quite collectable and sell for £2000 and more. There are members on here who have quite a few, perhaps they will upload some pics for us. Some have the butt air reservoir which is neater looking , others have the ball type.

Baz

[Unframed Dave]

Here's a few.

https://ibb.co/mdoWNd

Dave

[micky2]

Up for auction is a beautiful looking "flintlock" air rifle
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/au...0-a8dc01019310

This is the sort of air rifle that I see being produced by a local German gunmaker. I don't see this an attempt to mimic a flintlock; instead, more likely, it's just the lock that the gunmaker had available to him which he then converted into an airgun lock.

Hi from what l have read in the past if l remember right, these where made to look like the flintlocks of the day as an airgun and not made up from a spare flintlock lock by a gunsmith. only the rich could afford them at the time. the one on auction is a cracker.

[micky2]

Here's a few.

https://ibb.co/mdoWNd

Dave

Hi Dave what a collection, you lucky fellow.

[Turnup]

According to collectors at my local MLAGB branch, during some war or other (I forget which but possibly France/.Austria?) airguns were being used successfully against the armour of the day and the French considered it unsporting to use a weapon which was relatively silent. smoke free, and had a relatively high rate of fire. They declared that anyone found with such a gun would be summarily executed, so these guns were deliberately made to look like flintlocks in the hope of fooling the uneducated. Dunno if it's true though.

[Geezer]

According to collectors at my local MLAGB branch, during some war or other (I forget which but possibly France/.Austria?) airguns were being used successfully against the armour of the day and the French considered it unsporting to use a weapon which was relatively silent. smoke free, and had a relatively high rate of fire. They declared that anyone found with such a gun would be summarily executed, so these guns were deliberately made to look like flintlocks in the hope of fooling the uneducated. Dunno if it's true though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_air_rifle

I think the summary execution thing might be a myth, but I'm not an expert on these.

[Benelli B76]

A well known gentleman on BBS has just purchased a nice Girandoni.

Baz

[DT Fletcher]

According to collectors at my local MLAGB branch, during some war or other (I forget which but possibly France/.Austria?) airguns were being used successfully against the armour of the day and the French considered it unsporting to use a weapon which was relatively silent. smoke free, and had a relatively high rate of fire. They declared that anyone found with such a gun would be summarily executed, so these guns were deliberately made to look like flintlocks in the hope of fooling the uneducated. Dunno if it's true though.

Across Europe and England, the airgun was considered the weapon of an assassin. Anyone, on any side, caught on a field of battle or in a war zone, with an airgun was likely to be hanged.

The Austrians certainly pioneered the use of airguns as a weapon of war. The earliest recorded application was in the Underground War of siege mining and tunneling, which remained the primary use. For the most part their recorded usage was in sieges, not on a regular battlefield. The big exception being in 1788 against the Turks when the original 1780 Girandoni was widely distributed. Note: the repeating airgun was designed with the idea of using it fighting against the Turks who used primitive field tactics that gave a rapid fire airgun a lot of potential advantage.

The other use of the airgun that was favored by the Austrians was its use "against the pickets" in other words, using the airgun in sneak attacks. The very first use of the original Girandoni was a planned sneak attack on Belgrade as the opening gambit to win against the Turks in a single blow.

However, the longterm use of the airgun was in sieges. On the offense, Tyrollean Sharpshooters, from the most forward trenches, would use the Girandoni to pick off anyone stupid enough to show themselves. On defense, there was always the need, as seen by the Austrian Genie Corp, for airguns in defense of tunnels and mines where blackpowder guns just could not be used. As late as 1866, the Austrian Genie Corp was specifying how many airguns were needed in a defensive siege.

The last recorded use by the Austrians of airguns was in 1809 in the defense of Castle Graz. There are actual records of the number of airguns available prior to the siege and records of the number of airguns surrendered to the French forces after the siege.

The last recorded use of an airgun during the Napoleonic wars was by Russian Colonel Figner who executed a captive French officer with an air cane.

[Garvin]

Fascinating! Thanks DT. Why could black powder not be used in tunnels etc? Too much smoke? Risk of igniting flammable gas? Noise setting off collapse?

[DT Fletcher]

Fascinating! Thanks DT. Why could black powder not be used in tunnels etc? Too much smoke? Risk of igniting flammable gas? Noise setting off collapse?

From what I understand, one problem is all of the smoke generated by black powder; after one shot, everything would be obscured. There is a drawing of an Underground Warfare action where they are shooting arrows at each other. There is also the problem of how to reload a musket inside the confines of a tunnel. The typical weapons used in Underground Warfare were hand weapons; swords, etc. Note: Napoleon did commission a study of utilizing airguns by the French army but specifically for use in Underground Warfare.

There are also descriptions where air guns were used to protect black powder explosives (open fuses were the norm then) prior to setting them off. Plus there were systems of preset explosive mines in arrays of tunnels where setting off a firearm could accidentally setoff the explosives. Same with black powder mills and storage.

I'm also reasonably sure that one of the reasons that air guns were used in defensive siege warfare was that the air guns could still be fired when the cannons were in action. At the time, circa 1800, the standard fuse was still an open fuse, and the powder was kept in casks near the guns, so that firing a flintlock in the same area was to invite an accidental explosion. On the other hand, using an airgun around the cannons would be perfectly safe.