Thanks for a great post and link. It hits close for me, literally, I live 3 miles from the island mentioned (Brunot) and the gunmaker that did some restoration work on that piece built a .62 cal. Smooth bore French Fusil for me 10 years ago. That's how I found out the story almost word for word. He had other types of 19th century air rifles in his shop for restoration, one that had a heavy copper ball reservoir that had the original pump that went with it. It's shocking how many were actually in use and how lethal and accurate they were. We never learned about that stuff in our American History classes! I'd love to try one, even a period correct reproduction. In fact, when I mentioned that to the gunsmith, he said that he or no one he knows would even attempt it for fear it would blow up. He said that cast iron buttstock air chamber was thick and the cast iron was superior to anything he could find now.
