The .46 Caliber Semi-Automatic Rifle That Changed the World

[Feuer Frei!]

Behold the Girandoni air rifle, a 20 round high capacity tubular magazine and air reservoir which fired at roughly the same velocity as a modern .45 ACP. It can punch straight through a 2x4 at 100 yards.

Beautiful-looking Rifle....

SOURCE

[Platapus]

Nice weapon, not so sure about the "changing the world" claim though.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Nice weapon, not so sure about the "changing the world" claim though.

I agree, maybe saved a few scalps, but we were headed west regardless.

[Platapus]

Lesson to be learned: Don't find yourself caught between an expansionist country and a coast line. It does not bode well.

[Armistead]

There use to be a show, may still exist, that scored the top 10 weapons in a class, pretty cool show. I think the AK won top rifle spot.

I'm looking at a few .25 Air Rifles that have a heck of a muzzle velocity.
Prices are really great on them also.

I had an old pump .177 years ago that would punch through 1/2" plywood at 100 feet easy.

The .25's I'm looking at should do pretty well at 400+ feet easy.

[Stealhead]

We "Won the West" by wiping out the food supply of the Native Americans the Bison(Buffalo) the most popular rifle for hunting where versions of the Sharps rifle differing calibers but all large originally they came in .52-caliber 475-grain many where converted to .45-70 both man and beast droppers.

Hunters would sit near a heard and shoot one Bison at a time one shot one kill until there where none left.If you tried this with a pansy Winchester lever action rifle most of which where sold in much weaker calibers(for killing large game) you would have to shoot each animal several times or be very close both of which would scare away the heard.

With a Sharps on the other hand you could post yourself far enough away that you could kill a buffalo but not startle the rest of the heard allowing you to shot all day long.

The Sharps really helped win the west because the real weapon was not or soldiers but our thirst for buffalo hide.

Ironically at Little Big Horn the US troops had a cavalry version of the Sharps while many of the Sioux that had firearms carried Winchester repeaters the US Army never officially adopted the Winchester though their enemy often did proving that the Winchester did not win the West it actually lost it.Even though pound for pound the Native Americans had much better warriors than the US government did.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Even though pound for pound the Native Americans had much better warriors than the US government did.

One of the lessons the armies of the world, including America's, learned was the one taught by the ancient Romans: with a very few exceptions, trained soldiers following orders and acting as a unit are always better than even the best warriors.

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

We "Won the West" by wiping out the food supply of the Native Americans the Bison(Buffalo)

???

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

???

The US Army sanctioned and actively endorsed the wholesale slaughter of bison herds. The federal government promoted bison hunting for various reasons, to allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from other bovines, and primarily to weaken the North American Indian population by removing their main food source and to pressure them onto the reservations. Without the bison, native people of the plains were forced to leave the land or starve to death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_h...ry_bison_hunts

And
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bison

[Feuer Frei!]

I certainly get the history and relevance of importance of the Bison to the American Indian and why there was a 'protocol' put in place to slaughter bison, not for food but to push back Native Americans onto reserves and restricted zones.
However, to suggest that the 'Wild West' was won by this one action is a little far-fetched.
There is no doubt of the importance of the Bison to the survival of the American Indian, however, to ignore forceful removals, killings, mutilations for reasons not just for mining, land for settlers to settle on or to sell for profits, the exposure to the 'white man's illnesses/diseases(small-pox), alcohol(moonshine), and to insinuate that killing bison was the real reason the west was won is a little far-fetched, ignorant and rather an easy way out.
It is thought that 70 to 90% of American Indians died as a result of the Western Man's diseases, smallpox was the biggest, along with the others: measles, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, and scarlet fever.
My point is, the killing of Bison certainly did impact the survivability of the Indian,
however, the bigger picture must be looked at.

[Sailor Steve]

Gotcha. I thought you didn't understand the statement. My mistake.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

One of the lessons the armies of the world, including America's, learned was the one taught by the ancient Romans: with a very few exceptions, trained soldiers following orders and acting as a unit are always better than even the best warriors.

Yep.

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

I certainly get the history and relevance of importance of the Bison to the American Indian and why there was a 'protocol' put in place to slaughter bison, not for food but to push back Native Americans onto reserves and restricted zones.
However, to suggest that the 'Wild West' was won by this one action is a little far-fetched.
There is no doubt of the importance of the Bison to the survival of the American Indian, however, to ignore forceful removals, killings, mutilations for reasons not just for mining, land for settlers to settle on or to sell for profits, the exposure to the 'white man's illnesses/diseases(small-pox), alcohol(moonshine), and to insinuate that killing bison was the real reason the west was won is a little far-fetched, ignorant and rather an easy way out.
It is thought that 70 to 90% of American Indians died as a result of the Western Man's diseases, smallpox was the biggest, along with the others: measles, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, and scarlet fever.
My point is, the killing of Bison certainly did impact the survivability of the Indian,
however, the bigger picture must be looked at.

That is why I put it the term in parenthesis to imply that I do not agree the idea or the term.In the United States though you will find many that do feel that the West was some how won.

The killing of the Bison had a massive impact on native tribes by wiping out the thing that had the most important effect on their way of life you have a huge impact.The plains Indians where nomads and followed the movement of Bison by killing them off wholesale you in effect kill off the natives.It was not the only thing this is true but it was a very important factor.If you want to control or even destroy a race you have to wipe it and everything about it out wholesale.Killing of the Bison was a very important factor.

You can force people to move but if they see a way to live as they wish (having Bison to hunt) they will do so.By killing of the Bison you take away their ability to sustain themselves in manner that outside the control of the white man.The killing off of most of the Bison was the closing blow.

[em2nought]

Imagine what happens if your 800 PSI buttstock is hit by enemy fire.