I agree that the barrel and receiver don't flow together but that goes with this design that invites a variety of barrels to be attached. Look at the single shot version of this gun and it too looks weird. http://www.vintageairguns.co.uk/wp-c...1781.jpg?ver=1Originally Posted by greenwayjames
More pictures would be nice but the description of it as a hybrid is about right especially when viewed from above. The two parts dont "flow" together at all well. My guess is that it is an early Heiberger, of around 1750 or so when he was listed as an airgun maker in Wien, butt reservoir and action married to a later Girardoni style repeater front end. The so called wild hammer style is earlier than the typical Girardoni if you look at pictures of contemporary butt and ball reservoir guns.
I bow to your superior knowledge on most things but you are to blame for sparking off my interest in researching these old masterpieces
The chances of this Heiberger being circa 1750 is near zero.
When studying the evolution of airgun locks, the one thing that becomes pretty clear is that initially airgun locks are little different from flint locks. Then, as airgun designs developed on their own, the hammers look less and less like they would work on a flintlock. The hammer on this Austrian gun looks very much like the hammers seen on some of the 1800-1820 London Staudenmayer airguns which also look nothing like a flint lock. So, based on that observation, I think this hammer, along with the gun, are circa 1820-1830. Of course, that's just an (somewhat) educated guess. The history of Austrian airguns has yet to be written.
One thing that might be possible to investigate is the operations of Heiberger in Vienna. By the early 1800s, it required a special license to manufacture airguns, so, presumably there should be some records on that. I know of other Vienna airgun manufacturers being investigated this way.
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