When Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their Corps of Discovery they selected 15 men to accompany them. They chose firearms that would be reliable over the course of a two-year expedition, necessary for that most essential pursuit - hunting!

Largely unknown to the general public is a singular weapon that never belched out gunpowder or killed a single human being in the United States, but that was perhaps the single most influential weapon in the opening of the American West: the Girandoni air rifle, the secret weapon of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

This is an extensive list of antique guns made before the year 1900 and including the first functioning firearms ever invented. The list is not comprehensive; create an entry for listings having none; multiple names are acceptable as cross-references, so that redirecting hyperlinks can be established for them.

Throughout the journals, the writers frequently mentioned the fusils they observed in the hands of Native peoples. Near Fort Pierre, South Dakota, on September 26, 1804, Clark noted that some of the Sioux were "badly armed with fuseis." Why would Clark describe his gun as “eligant?”

Entries are listed below in alphanumeric order (1-to-Z). Flag images indicative of country of origin and not necessarily the primary operator. This listing also includes other small arms of the period such as hand grenades, infantry mortars, and related man-portable systems.

The original dueling pistols used by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in the 1804 duel that killed Hamilton were on exhibit from May 25 – September 16, 2018. This rare public showing marked the first time these pistols have been displayed in Washington, D.C.

On 10 May 1804, in preparation for their departure from Camp Dubois on the fourteenth, Clark ordered “every man to have 100 Balls for ther Rifles & 2 lb. of Buck Shot for those with mussquets & F[uzees].”

All the firearms of the Lewis and Clark expedition were single-shot, muzzle loading, black powder guns with flintlock ignition, the notable exception being Lewis's air gun, which on several occasions astonished native Indians with its repeating operation. Two kinds of guns were the main reliance of the explorers, military muskets and rifles.

This is the index to a website project documenting the early gunsmiths, gun designers, and accoutrement makers of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. This photo of a vintage Bedford County percussion rifle is courtesy of the NRA Museums, nramuseum.org and is included here with their express permission.