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The Galleries

  • Robert E. Petersen Collection
  • Ancient Firearms - 1350 to 1700
  • Road to American Liberty - 1700 to 1780
  • A Prospering New Republic - 1780 to 1860
    • Case 7
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  • For the Fun of It
  • Modern Firearms - 1950 to Present
  • Hollywood Guns

English Smoothbore Muzzle Loading Air Rifle

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A similar air gun incorporating a buttstock reservoir and pump was carried on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Due to the noiseless nature of these guns, frontier hunters were able to shoot game without telegraphing their presence either to animals or to potentially hostile native populations. Lewis and Clark also demonstrated the operation of their air rifle to Indians encountered during their expedition.


A similar air gun incorporating a buttstock reservoir and pump was carried on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Due to the noiseless nature of these guns, frontier hunters were able to shoot game without telegraphing their presence either to animals or to potentially hostile native populations. Lewis and Clark also demonstrated the operation of their air rifle to Indians encountered during their expedition. Lewis and Clark also demonstrated the operation of their air rifle to Indians encountered during their expedition as noted more than once in their journals, "After the council was over, we shot the air gun, which apeared to astonish the natives much . . . " Captain Clark, 29 October 1804.

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