Remember when air guns were simple?

[BluejayLaw14]

I got a pellet gun when I was pretty young. It was a single-shot, break-open style air rifle. I shot it in my unfinished basement into plywood without any problems.

But now you can get a .357 caliber air rifle. I saw a commercial where a guy shot a deer with it. It's more sophisticated than my deer rifle. Has anyone seen these and/or used one? It's pretty cool, even if a little extreme.
http://www.crosman.com/airguns/rifles/pcp/BPE3571LE

[bk09]

For that price tag I would rather get a nice rifle. Browning X-Bolt White Gold Medallion comes to mind... :drool:

[SemperFiGuy]

First, They Were Complicated:

[Sourced From http://home.comcast.net/~burokerl/air_guns.htm]

"The first air guns were seen in the 1500's, and they reached the peak of popularity in the 1600's and 1700's. Later, the invention of cartridge bullets drove down the demand for air guns.

"During their heyday, they were preferred over black powder guns because they were smokeless (black powder created clouds of smoke that both blinded the shooter and gave away his position), they could be loaded faster than black powder guns, they could be used in damp weather, they never burned the shooter, and they were quiet and did not scare away the game.  This silence, however, led them to be a chosen weapon of snipers throughout their history.  The nobility tried to keep them out of the hands of the poor, fearing crimes committed with the weapons would be too easy  to get away with.

"Air guns were generally more expensive than black powder guns.  Pricey models geared toward the rich came with two barrels, one a shotgun barrel, and the other a high caliber barrel.

"During that time period, there were calibers ranging from .30 to .51.  They were charged using pumps and effective up to 150 yards.  After charging the tank anywhere from 100 to 1,000 times, the gun could fire up to 20 times in a row at speeds ranging from 600 to 1,100 feet per second.

"The Austrian Army used air guns against Napoleon in the late 1700's.  Though Napoleon was ultimately victorious, the silent killers demoralized his troops and became so feared that any enemy soldier captured with an air gun was executed as an assassin.

"The most famous air gun was carried on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Meriwether Lewis purchased it with his own money before leaving in 1803.  It was used for hunting on the expedition, but mostly was used to impress the Indians who only had experience with black powder guns.  Lewis wrote in August 1804, "We showed them many curiosities and the air gun which they were much astonished at."

Given time enough, History will have its cycles.

sfg

[AAllen]

Big bore air rifles have been around for a long time.  Here is a story about a model that had been carried by Lewis and Clark, it dates back to just before the American Revolution.  Also it had a 27 round magazine and was basically silent, so it was the first silenced high capacity assault rifle...

[BluejayLaw14]

I had no idea. My gun history is clearly lacking. That Lewis and Clark rifle is pretty interesting; I've read accounts about the expedition and had never come across that.

[sparky]

I had no idea. My gun history is clearly lacking. That Lewis and Clark rifle is pretty interesting; I've read accounts about the expedition and had never come across that.

Don't feel bad, that's news to me as well.

[Kendahl]

..... it dates back to just before the American Revolution.  Also it had a 27 round magazine and was basically silent, so it was the first silenced high capacity assault rifle...

Something to mention when people claim that the founding fathers never envisioned ARs and AKs with large capacity magazines.

[unfy]

silenced high capacity assault rifle

*giggle*

[wallace11bravo]

Just to point out:

This is an excellent comeback to the "2A only applies to muskets" argument we have all heard. In addition to the printing press simile.

[DarryH]

Actually, these military airguns are loud. They will sound a lot like a firearm.
You can get modern ones with moderators, or shrouds, and those are quiet.

Factory guns are available in 9mm, .357, .45, and .50 caliber.
Of course, .777, .20, .2, and .25 are pretty much the standard calibers.
If you go to a custome build, .30, .32, and .36 are popular.
The biggest I am aware of is a 20mm. The slug weighs about 900 grains.
It has been used to shoot wild hog, deer, and some African game too.
I have shot it myself, and I still have an unfired bullet/pellet.
A modified 12 gauge slug mold is used to cast the projectiles.

Good Shootin!!
DarryH

 

[GreyGeek]

When I was a kid,  in the late 1940s, my "bedroom" was in the basement, half of which was unfinished.   I slept on an army cot, in an army mummy sleeping bag, with a canvas tarp thrown over to keep the snow that blew in under the sole plate from collecting on my non-water proof sleeping bag.  I slept like a bug in a rug.   I used my paper route money to buy my first gun, a Daisy "Little Beaver" lever action bb rifle, the one which allowed you to put around 200 bbs in a tube which surrounded the barrel.   I passed many an evening shooting mice and rats that ventured out along the dirt paths in the unfinished portion.  After a while they were all killed by head shots.

In 1954, when dad took a vacation, we drove from Colorado to Yellowstone,  up through Idaho, over to Coos Bay, Oregon and down Highway 1 to the Golden Gate bridge, across California, through Nevada to Grand Junction, and on back home to Denver.    I took my bb gun and about 5,000 bb's and target practiced out the right rear window at just about anything along side the road.   Never got stopped once.   I shot that bb gun in every state we passed through.    My step brother and I would compete at shooting sparrows and only counted those that were more than 20 yards away and only shot in the head.

When I was about 14 my paper route supplied me with a Sheridan Blue streak 5mm air rifle,.   It had rifling and was extremely accurate.  The pellets were Aluminum and lead, had two  band that the rifling groves could cut into,  had a conical front and a conical depression in the rear.    I always shot 8 pumps.    Shooting off hand at targets  100 feet away I could over a 5 shot group with a dime.

About four years ago I purchased two air-riles so my grandsons and I could do some affordable plinking and I could teach them how to shoot and about gun safety.   One is a .22 Benjamin 392,  which looks nearly identical  to  the  Blue Streak, and a .17 Gamo  break barrel, which  is also remarkably  accurate and powerful, even though  it is single stroke.  With the proper backing one can shoot  them in the basement on a home made 10 yd range.