air guns

Airsoft guns are not airsoft guns as they work very differently and are much more powerful. They are classified as pneumatic guns (that means using gas to work science and technology, thanks Wikipedia) and have many different operating styles.

One should know that air pistols are not new, in fact they date back to the 15th century. They were favorable to alternative types of firearms due to their speed (it was fast back then), silence, and low visibility. Air guns could be fired more times than other times and did not make very loud sounds or emit clouds of smoke. They are also very powerful, and that is what is covered below.

There are three main methods available to power BB guns; spring piston, gas and pneumatic ram. Spring piston air pistols are pumped by cocking the barrel or a level. The force required to cock is directly proportional to the power of the airgun. Spring-loaded pistons typically shoot pellets at the speed of sound. They work via a spring-loaded internal piston, which is pulled back and locked in a catch. After the trigger is pulled, the piston is released and strongly compresses the air in a chamber directly behind the pellet, and that pressure pushes the pellet through the barrel. Many modern spring-piston pistols have a battery to automatically cock the weapon, and while many are single-shot and load through a breech (like a shotgun), advances have allowed spring-piston pistols of multiple shots.

Gas air pistols are quite interesting, in that their spring is the gas itself. There is a small amount of gas in a chamber behind the pickup, and after cocking, that air becomes much more pressurized. Gas rams are much more efficient and generally better than spring pistons due to their durability and advanced precision, although they do cost more.

Finally, there is the tire, which is divided into several different categories. First of all, pneumatic guns use only gas to project the pellets; you pump, the gas is compressed, you pull the trigger, the gas pushes the pellet. This sounds a lot like gas-ram but, although it is similar, it is not the same. In gas-ram there is already some gas inside the chamber, and that gas is further compressed, but in pneumatics, each pump has fresh gas. There are two types of regular pneumatic guns; multitime and single time. In multi-stroke pistols, the pump must be turned once to get a sufficient shot, while single-stroke pistols only require one pump. Multi-Stroke Pneumatic Air Guns are the most popular and cheapest type of air gun.

Pre-Charged Pneumatic Air Guns, PCPs, are filled with air using either a high-pressure hand pump or a scuba cylinder (like the kind used by scuba divers). After filling the gas chamber with gas, you can shoot without constantly having to refill the chamber. The number of shots one gets is completely dependent on how long the PCP weapon is used.

Due to the speed and ammunition used with BB guns, they cannot be used in a game like airsoft. Unlike airsoft guns, there are several different calibers available, ranging from 4.5mm to 6.35mm, and ammunition includes lead shot (the most popular) and steel BBs. You don’t want to get shot with one of those!

Airguns are often the hunters’ weapon of choice due to the near silence and adequate power of an airgun. Airguns can easily kill small or, in some cases, large animals, and the shots do not scare away nearby targets (unlike firearms). Airguns are primarily used for target practice, hunting, pest control (that’s right), and target shooting. The Olympics have featured marksmanship events that used air guns, and this attests to their relative popularity.