Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Full Bore PCP Air Rifle

Made in the 1940s during WWII, this gun doesn't look like a Girandoni, but examination shows that it clearly was built by someone familiar with the Girandoni repeating airgun system. The story is that this gun was built in Austria by a partisan bicycle maker during the Nazi occupation in WWII.
The repeating magazine is spring fed and on the left side of the barrel, for the convenient use of a right handed shooter. The gun was charged with the accompanying bicycle type pump. Smoothbore, as would be expected, but firing an 11.76 mm lead ball (.463" caliber) the very same caliber as the original Girandoni Austrian military repeating air rifles! This would have been a fearsome weapon against sentries, drivers, military leaders, etc. at ranges up to perhaps 100 yards.

To a freedom fighter, the lower discharge sound and the lack of flash or smoke would have been huge values. And it did not need powder, primers, or bullets—only easily cast lead or soft-metal balls! No forensic evidence left on the shooter (not that they had too much forensic evidence in those days).

The builder surely drew his inspiration from an Austrian museum which displayed a Girandoni system airgun.
Note that this gun has a spring fed magazine, rather than the gravity fed magazine of the original Girandoni military air rifle. While a gravity feed mechanism might be simpler, and even more dependable, the spring fed magazine has great advantages for the purposes of this gun. It is more suited for operation from a vehicle or firing slot where it would be impractical to tip up the rifle for loading and it allows firing with minimal motion at the firing point very important to a sniper.
Basic Specifications: A husky 12.2 lbs., 45" overall, glare-free, and almost camo anodized type finish.

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