Undaunted Courage – HBO miniseries

HBO is currently filming an adaptation of “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose.  (HBO miniseries)  They contacted me to acquire a Girardoni for filming.  A contract was signed and off went my rifle to Canada.  There,  two hard rubber props were made for filming.  One of the props was partial compensation for use of the gun.  My replica and that prop are seen in this post.

I donated the prop to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana.  It will be displayed and featured in talks given by the park rangers.

Hopefully,  the series will be completed and aired.

 

Later,    Martin

1/24/2016

The display is currently up!

IMG_1896

3 thoughts on “Undaunted Courage – HBO miniseries”

  1. Hello Martin. First, I hear that the HBO miniseries ‘Lewis And Clark’ will resume production In spring. So that’s great news. I look forward to that show.

    I am building a replica of the Girardoni air gun based on the information in Geoffrey Baker’s and Colin Currie’s book. Since you have an intimate knowledge of the gun, I was wondering if you could confirm the measurement of the cross bolt housing for me. Page 32 of the book shows a diagram of the bolt housing and it shows that the length is 1.20″ (3.06cm). However, the measurement lines are is a weird place and so I am not able to determine if that is meant to be the actual overall length or not.

    Does this measurement sound right to you? I also would appreciate your confirming the length of the male thread that screws into the receiver (thread callout 3/4 x 16). I appreciate any assistance you are willing to provide.

    Best,

    Gianluca Greco
    Los Angeles, CA

  2. Greetings Gianluca,
    Congratulations on your endeavor! The book you are using has many missing and misleading measurements and it is the best source available to the general public!
    The original barrels were possibly made integral with the breech block. The book intimates this. I feel differently after making our two examples. The 1.20″ is the distance from the face of the receiver to the edge of the flute marking the transition from square to the octagonals of the barrel. I made the breechblock 1.50″ long with .375″ long thread going into the receiver (original was ~.250″). The length ahead of the breech hole is threaded for the breech end of the barrel. See the Lapping barrels section for the threaded end of the barrel. See the end of Tapering barrels for the assembly of the breech block to the barrel before filing the octagonal flutes in the block. See: http://orro.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/breech.jpg and the junction of the barrel and block is evident. This same junction is evident on several specimens of original Girardonis.

    Good Luck! – Martin

  3. I believe this is one of the most significant information for me.
    And i am happy studying your article. However want to remark on few general issues, The web site taste is ideal, the articles is in reality excellent :
    D. Excellent task, cheers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *