A pneumatic musket?

[AppalachianAirgunner]

The title says it all: Imagine a muzzle loaded (ram rod included in a slot beneath the barrel)
PCP rifle that launches a .35 - .50 caliber ALLOY projectile. Small 25cc onboard air-tank, capable of being pumped in a few minutes or less (bottle or compressor filled in practically seconds) that jettisons a LARGE alloy projectile   with enough force to embody Mel Gibsons Ben Martin. Call it 1776 or Pneu-Musket or whatever, just give it as many foot pounds as @#$%^& possible. Who wouldn’t want it?

[rsterne]

By alloy, do you mean Tin?.... Aluminum?....

Bob

[AppalachianAirgunner]

By alloy, do you mean Tin?.... Aluminum?....

Bob

Aluminum, steel and aluminum, lead core aluminum, etc. you’d want enough mass for a solid impact but it couldn’t be so heavy that it fired like a mortar. 

[SILENT SQUIRREL]

The title says it all: Imagine a muzzle loaded (ram rod included in a slot beneath the barrel)
PCP rifle that launches a .35 - .50 caliber ALLOY projectile. Small 25cc onboard air-tank, capable of being pumped in a few minutes or less (bottle or compressor filled in practically seconds) that jettisons a LARGE alloy projectile   with enough force to embody Mel Gibsons Ben Martin. Call it 1776 or Pneu-Musket or whatever, just give it as many foot pounds as @#$%^& possible. Who wouldn’t want it?

Oh shoot!
I thought you had one for sale

[tennx]

 Didn't Lewis and Clark have one… just asking….good luck

[maraudinglizard]

Didn't Lewis and Clark have one… just asking….good luck

Yes Phil, they did have one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girardoni_air_rifle

[splitbeing]

They did. Part of Pittsburgh's great history as they set off from here, the gateway to the west. If memory serves, they acquired the air rifle way back when the same way we acquire air rifles to this day in Pittsburgh: get them from Ohio. [chuckling]

[c_m_shooter]

Dennis Quackenbush used to offer muzzleloading varients of his big bore pcps.   For some reason they fit the definition of a muzzleloader for a couple state's primitive weapon seasons.

[LegionAir]

The girandoni wasn’t a muzzleloader

[Blowpipe Sam]

A muzzle loaded big bore PCP makes a certain amount of sense.  Eliminate the Bolt/Breech and you could save a lot in manufacturing costs.  An extraordinary amount of projectile choices make it very appealing too.  Patched round balls, Minie balls, Maxi balls, Bolts, and everything in between.  Strikes me as more of a Home-Built project though.  Simple enough to put together.

Musings of an experienced Muzzle Loader and traditional air rifle hunter.  I can load my 36 cal flintlock squirrel rifle just as fast as I can charge my Crosman 1400 with eight pumps and load a pellet.

I could load a muzzle loading PCP much faster.

BTW.  The L&C gun was a breech loading tube fed repeater.   

[splitbeing]

Imagine a repeater in the age of the muzzle loader. Awe inspiring magic that could also terrify.

[Insanity]

Imagine a repeater in the age of the muzzle loader. Awe inspiring magic that could also terrify.

I remember reading about that during a war that air guns were used. When the gunners were captured they were treated and executed in a particular terrible way.

[AppalachianAirgunner]

A muzzle loaded big bore PCP makes a certain amount of sense.  Eliminate the Bolt/Breech and you could save a lot in manufacturing costs.  An extraordinary amount of projectile choices make it very appealing too.  Patched round balls, Minie balls, Maxi balls, Bolts, and everything in between.  Strikes me as more of a Home-Built project though.  Simple enough to put together.

Musings of an experienced Muzzle Loader and traditional air rifle hunter.  I can load my 36 cal flintlock squirrel rifle just as fast as I can charge my Crosman 1400 with eight pumps and load a pellet.

I could load a muzzle loading PCP much faster.

BTW.  The L&C gun was a breech loading tube fed repeater.

This was my thought process. With a muzzle load instead of a breech, it’s all weight and air output. You could launch a 100 grain slug or 100 grains of rat shot, to anything inbetween. Removing the need for a breech and opting for an over sized hammer like a classic flint lock would make it virtually idiot proof. Musings indeed, a fun thought experiment but I find myself thinking about this concept a lot.

[SILENT SQUIRREL]

A muzzle loaded big bore PCP makes a certain amount of sense.  Eliminate the Bolt/Breech and you could save a lot in manufacturing costs.  An extraordinary amount of projectile choices make it very appealing too.  Patched round balls, Minie balls, Maxi balls, Bolts, and everything in between.  Strikes me as more of a Home-Built project though.  Simple enough to put together.

Musings of an experienced Muzzle Loader and traditional air rifle hunter.  I can load my 36 cal flintlock squirrel rifle just as fast as I can charge my Crosman 1400 with eight pumps and load a pellet.

I could load a muzzle loading PCP much faster.

BTW.  The L&C gun was a breech loading tube fed repeater.

This was my thought process. With a muzzle load instead of a breech, it’s all weight and air output. You could launch a 100 grain slug or 100 grains of rat shot, to anything inbetween. Removing the need for a breech and opting for an over sized hammer like a classic flint lock would make it virtually idiot proof. Musings indeed, a fun thought experiment but I find myself thinking about this concept a lot.

WOW!!
Now
Imagine that in multi-shot!!!

[Blowpipe Sam]

A muzzle loaded big bore PCP makes a certain amount of sense.  Eliminate the Bolt/Breech and you could save a lot in manufacturing costs.  An extraordinary amount of projectile choices make it very appealing too.  Patched round balls, Minie balls, Maxi balls, Bolts, and everything in between.  Strikes me as more of a Home-Built project though.  Simple enough to put together.

Musings of an experienced Muzzle Loader and traditional air rifle hunter.  I can load my 36 cal flintlock squirrel rifle just as fast as I can charge my Crosman 1400 with eight pumps and load a pellet.

I could load a muzzle loading PCP much faster.

BTW.  The L&C gun was a breech loading tube fed repeater.

This was my thought process. With a muzzle load instead of a breech, it’s all weight and air output. You could launch a 100 grain slug or 100 grains of rat shot, to anything inbetween. Removing the need for a breech and opting for an over sized hammer like a classic flint lock would make it virtually idiot proof. Musings indeed, a fun thought experiment but I find myself thinking about this concept a lot.

WOW!!
Now
Imagine that in multi-shot!!!

Kinda defeats the whole purpose don’t it?

[AppalachianAirgunner]

A muzzle loaded big bore PCP makes a certain amount of sense.  Eliminate the Bolt/Breech and you could save a lot in manufacturing costs.  An extraordinary amount of projectile choices make it very appealing too.  Patched round balls, Minie balls, Maxi balls, Bolts, and everything in between.  Strikes me as more of a Home-Built project though.  Simple enough to put together.

Musings of an experienced Muzzle Loader and traditional air rifle hunter.  I can load my 36 cal flintlock squirrel rifle just as fast as I can charge my Crosman 1400 with eight pumps and load a pellet.

I could load a muzzle loading PCP much faster.

BTW.  The L&C gun was a breech loading tube fed repeater.

This was my thought process. With a muzzle load instead of a breech, it’s all weight and air output. You could launch a 100 grain slug or 100 grains of rat shot, to anything inbetween. Removing the need for a breech and opting for an over sized hammer like a classic flint lock would make it virtually idiot proof. Musings indeed, a fun thought experiment but I find myself thinking about this concept a lot.

WOW!!
Now
Imagine that in multi-shot!!!

Kinda defeats the whole purpose don’t it?

Unless it was a Timothy Murphy style two barreled muzzle loader. You’d have a combination gun flintlock running on air. One large slug for medium sized critters and an under barrel loaded in 20 gauge. Even then, tho, it takes away from the simplicity of the device which to me is the biggest appeal. Harpoons, pellets, buck and ball handloads. A golf ball. There’s no high temperature explosion so you could feasibly launch a golf ball into the next county!