Girandoni Air Rifle
Bartholomäus Girandoni · Rifle · Discontinued · 1780
Also known as: Girardoni Air Rifle, Windbüchse, Girandoni Repeating Air Rifle, Girardoni M1780
Overview
The Girandoni Air Rifle is a repeating pre-charged pneumatic rifle designed around 1779 by Austrian gunsmith Bartholomäus Girandoni. Firing a .46 caliber lead ball, it used a detachable, club-shaped iron air reservoir for a buttstock that could deliver roughly 20 to 30 full-power shots before needing to be re-pressurized with some 1,500 hand-pump strokes. A spring-fed tubular magazine held 22 balls that were chambered one at a time by a transverse sliding breech block, letting a soldier fire all 22 rounds in under a minute, far faster than the muzzle-loading muskets of the era, while producing little smoke, flash, or report. Adopted by the Austrian Imperial Army as the Windbüchse, it was one of the earliest repeating military firearms and was famously carried on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 4500 g (158.7 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1200 mm (47.24") |
| Barrel Length | 833 mm (32.80") |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 22 rounds |
| Magazine Type | Tubular |
| Muzzle Velocity | 150 m/s (492 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 111 J (82 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 125 m (137 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 150 m (164 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 22 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Conventional |
| Frame Material | Iron |
| Barrel Material | Iron |
| Stock Material | Iron Air Reservoir |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- .46 Caliber Ball · primary — also known as .46 caliber round ball, 11.7mm ball
Features
- Firing modes: Repeating
- Feed systems: Gravity Spring Fed Tubular Magazine
- Features: Pre Charged Pneumatic, Detachable Air Reservoir Buttstock, Spring Fed Tubular Magazine, Transverse Sliding Breech Block, Smokeless Operation, Low Report
Service history
Operators
- Austrian Imperial Army · adopted 1780 · as Windbüchse
- Lewis and Clark Expedition · adopted 1803
Conflicts
- Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
- Austro-Turkish War (1788-1791)
Production
Production years: 1780-1815
Issued in limited numbers to Austrian sharpshooter and Tyrolean sniper units; complex maintenance and skilled-armorer requirements limited adoption and led to its eventual withdrawal.
Origin
Country of origin: Austria
Designer: Bartholomäus Girandoni
Discontinued: 1815
Notes
Mechanically a magazine-fed repeater operated by a transverse sliding breech block rather than a single-shot or muzzleloader; powered by compressed air rather than a powder charge, so no powder-era action_type or firing_mechanism enum applies. Sources disagree on caliber (commonly cited as .46, with .51 examples also recorded) and on shot count per reservoir charge (roughly 20-40 depending on how velocity falloff is measured).
Background
When Captain Meriwether Lewis demonstrated the Girandoni's rapid, smokeless, near-silent fire to Native American tribes during the 1804-1806 expedition, it astonished onlookers who had never seen a gun fire repeatedly without reloading and may have deterred hostility along the route.