The Gillardoni air rifle is the name of an individual airgun, which was part of the equipment of the imperial Austrian Hungarian imperial army towards the end of the 18th">

 

Air rifle

The Gillardoni air rifle is the name of an individual airgun, which was part of the equipment of the imperial Austrian Hungarian imperial army towards the end of the 18th century.
It was the first air rifle to be used in military operations.
Its name comes from Bartolomeo Gilardoni (1744-1799), watchmaker and iron monger, from Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The air gun was adopted by the Austrian Hungarian army on the express command of Emperor Joseph II, who created special army detachments and equipped them with these guns.
Nearly 1300 air rifles were produced and mainly used in the last war against the Turks Ottomans (1787-1788).
Their effectiveness is proved also by the command by Napoleon to shoot anyone who was found with this gun.
However successful in war, the rifle was too fragile and frequently needed fixing and repairing. It was replaced in 1801 by the muzzle-loading Stutzen rifle.

The Gilardoni air rifle did not produce smoke nor it was too noisy. It could fire 20 shots without reloading. The compressed air tank (about 200 atmospheres) was located in the rear of the rifle.

The air rifle exhibited is a hunting air rifle belonging to Colli-Lacedeli.