Quote Originally Posted by trajectory View Post
Just wondered if any other manufacturers (not necessarily gunmakers) around these times was already making tubing with an internal diameter of .177. That way perhaps if an experimenter wasn't into barrel making they could source some tubing or perhaps commission a maker of tubing to produce some with a thicker wall more suitable to their requirements for developing an 'airgun'. I'm not saying an airgun inventor wouldn't or couldn't produce their own barrels but if there was already some sort of tubing available it might free them up from one aspect of airgun development, & if the size chosen was already established for one use or industry, then maybe it could conceivably become adopted or adapted for use by a new one.& if it was already common in one industry then perhaps it might explain how .177 caught on & spread...? Don't know, just a thought ...
Worth pursuing. Obviously I'm referring to 'spring powered' airguns (as various CO2 and 'PCP' predate in different bores and calibers)...
...wouldn't it be great to find the 'first' of each!

One of the first who seems to be working in .22 is Mr Henry Quackenbush. His first patent is down as June 6th, 1871 for the Eureka Air Pistol.

If I look at Haviland and Gunn, I find references for the '1872' airgun, and this maddeningly 'incomplete' entry (datewise i mean) from the Blue Book:
http://bluebookofgunvalues.com/Airgu...D_GUNN_HISTORY

"Most of the rifles produced by Gunn or Haviland & Gunn were combination guns which could function as either an air rifle or as a .22 rimfire firearm. Some models were strictly air rifles and some may have been strictly rimfire. A "patch box" in the buttstock of the combination guns stored the firing pin and/or breech seal. When used as a rimfire gun, the firing pin was installed in the air transfer port on the front of the cylinder face. When the trigger was pulled, the piston moved forward, without significant air compression, and struck the firing pin which in turn crushed and detonated the primer of the rimfire cartridge. The patch box on the Haviland and Gunn rifles underwent several changes in shape, style, lid type functioning, and location, finally ending up as round on the right side of the stock.
A traditional "tee bar" breech latch is found on most Haviland and Gunn air rifles and combination rifles. A side swinging breech latch on smooth bore air rifles probably was an earlier design.
Haviland & Gunn developed numerous "improved" modifications of their various models during the 1870s. They produced their last catalog in 1881. In 1882, H.M. Quackenbush purchased at least part of the Haviland and Gunn Company, including patent rights, machinery, existing stock, and equipment related to gun and slug manufacture. George Gunn agreed to work for H.M. Quackenbush but Benjamin Haviland did not.


The Good News is the highlighted section sort of bears out a previous thought: 'was there a barrel around that was adapted from rimfire to air rifle...?'

But the entry then refers to the air rifle mode as "without significant air compression". If that's the case, then i can't really see how this can be claimed as an example of an early air rifle. Seems more like the description is an accidental air rifle by nature of the rimfire trigger mechanism. Or am I reading this wrong?

However, the article also says "Some models were strictly air rifles" but frustratingly - NO DATES!!!!

So: does this mean Quackenbush is our winner of first .22 air rifle?