Thomas Jefferson's "Assault Rifle"

By Bob Owens | 8:48 PM | June 11, 2014

High-capacity magazine? Check.

Capable of firing 22 aimed shots in a minute? Check.

A military weapon? Check.

Manufactured during the American Revolutionary War? Check.

The Girandoni was 22-shot, magazine-fed, nearly silent .46 caliber repeating rifle issued to elite Austrian troops from 1780-1815. Thomas Jefferson purchased two of these rifles, which he sent west with Lewis and Clark.

Remember it the next time some know-it-all—perhaps someone who used to have a cable show before he was fired for low ratings—says that the Founding Fathers only knew of muskets.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun. He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.