Quote Originally Posted by greenwayjames View Post
With respect you have misunderstood what I posted. I was referring to Meriweathers owning an air rifle before the expedition and that likely to be a Lukens. Thanks for the references, I will be a busy bee
Okay.

Meriwether was a wealthy young man and could certainly have indulged in airguns prior to the expedition. Most likely, he would have acquired airguns imported from England. From what we've seen, airgun manufacturing in America was extremely limited and took place later in the 1800s. England was producing large quantities of excellent airguns on the basic Austrian butt reservoir system from about 1796 on. The combination of modern mass production and British command of the trade routes is why we see the same basic English 11mm Girandoni type around the world.

In addition to the Rodney evidence, there is the information (from Michael Carrick, as I recall) that shows Lukens didn't open his shop until well after the expedition.

If you are really interested in the subject of Lewis's air rifle, you owe it to yourself to visit the Staudnemayer at Milwaukie Public, although I sort of doubt that it's on display. I had the opportunity of seeing it up close during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and the Smithsonian's traveling exhibit which visited Portland. The Rodney journals had just been published so they knew what they wanted, the Staudenmayer was one of the few possible candidates. The first impression of the Staudenmayer is dramatic to the eye: it's entirely black. Black as night over every single bit. Which, when you think about it, would be exactly what we should expect from any gun that has been carried every day for years straight. It was also very common for military weapons to be blackened in the field, we also know from the journals that all of the guns on the expedition early on rusted. So, we should expect a gun that is heavily weathered. The Staudenmeyer appears to be exactly the same design as seen in Baker/Currie. I stood by the gun for the entire time of my visit (how long you could stay in the exhibit was timed) and after some time realized that the rear sight was missing. The empty space where the sight belonged was as black as the rest of the gun, so, not a recent event.

My conclusion is:
1) this gun has the legit looks of a weapon that has been hand carried in the field everyday for years. I have seen no other Girandoni with the same weathered looks.
2) the missing rear sight matches the account in Lewis's journal about the rear sight suddenly, on it's own accord, going missing. Well, it went missing again.
3) The Staudenmeyer is the Girandoni with the earliest known history of being the US. This gun was among the original collection donated prior to 1900.
4) best candidate to be the original Meriwether Lewis air rifle.

Note: other than for the Staudenmayer marking, there is no substantial difference between Beeman's air rifle and the Staudenmayer. On the point of what type of airgun Lewis had, there is complete agreement.