What’s the earliest pump up pistol?

[ptdunk]

Does anyone know the earliest example of a pump up pneumatic Airpistol?

This is in response to ccdjg’s excellent thread about an early Oscar Will pneumatic pistol,

https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...an-anyone-help

Thanks,
Matt

[AC all day]

Okay, I'll start,

Paul Giffard was making them in 1870s...

[Vic Thompson]

Please note that the following guess at dates might only be bad guesses and misleading, and if so, apologies.

TMBK there were pneumatic Air Pistols available maybe in mid to late 18th Century or so, including butt reservoirs, ball reservoirs and barrel reservoirs (and maybe other types too). Also, I suspect from a distinctly bad memory (but still an imaginative one) that some of the rifles of that era (at least) had an integral pump mechanism, making them all but self contained. A search for Pistols with a similar facility awaits my enthusiasm but it wouldn't surprise me to find an example of one, albeit I suspect that they will be well into the minority %age wise of all available types.

I haven't done so, but a search on the Web would show lots of historic firearms of that ilk and would be a relaxing task for a rainy day.

Vic T

[ccdjg]

I would say a strong contender would be the Kalamazoo pistol, patented by E.H. Hawley in 1869.







Several examples and an interesting contemporary account in the June 1870 Scientific American are shown in the Vintage Airgun Gallery

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....r-rifle-boxed/

[Buck25]

The advertisement for the Hawley target air pistol shown is based on the second patent, #118,886 issued 12 September 1871. Patent #90,749 issued 1 June 1869 was for the air pistol in the following pictures. This piece was came up for auction in 2019 and unfortunately I was not the lucky winner.

[ccdjg]

Wow! I knew about the patent but had no idea an actual example had survived.



What an acquisition for someone! Thanks Bruce.

John

[micky2]

Does anyone know the earliest example of a pump up pneumatic Airpistol?

This is in response to ccdjg’s excellent thread about an early Oscar Will pneumatic pistol,

https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...an-anyone-help

Thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt, l think you will find that some were made as early as the 1700s if memory serves me well.

[ptdunk]

Thanks all,
Some very interesting examples there.

So the early ones seem to be either straight line pumps or separate pumps filling a reservoir, what were the first Crosman style under lever pump up pistols?
I only ask as the Oscar Will example in ccdjg’s post seems to fit into this category and I wonder if anything earlier with a pivoting lever is known.

Cheers,
Matt

[BIGRAY]

First rifle pre 1632 pistol 1655