The History of Air Rifles........More stuff I never knew about.

[Bigtanker]

Watching Midway USAs Gun Stories and their show of air guns. This technology goes back to the 1580. Some of the designs are amazing. Lewis and Clark had one on their expedition out west. They had the power equivalent to a 9mm (9x19)


400 Years of Tradition

[video=youtube_share;-pqFyKh-rUI]http://youtu.be/-pqFyKh-rUI[/video]

I'll post more info when I find it.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I saw that the other day. I was amazed as well.

 

[Bfish]

I'm on "limited internet" due to data usage for it at the moment. I'll be watching this later though, subbed for interest!

 

[bulletsmith]

Very interesting. I have never heard that story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bigtanker]

The stock was the air tank. It would be pumped up to about 800 psi, by hand. It took about 1,500 pumps to do so. Tanks lasted about 20 shots.

 

[Mgderf]

I learned of Lewis and Clark's airguns some time back, and it prompted me to look further.
Now I want a new airgun...

Quackenbush Air Guns

 

[Spear Dane]

I saw this too. 1,500 pumps! Ouch.

 

[jspy5]

I saw this episode the other day and had no idea air guns had been around this long. Makes a lot of sense for the Lewis and Clark expedition.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Every few months someone posts about the Lewis and Clark expedition airguns and it always amazes me more people don't know about this.

I got in to PCP (precharged pneumatic) airguns a few years ago and rapidly became a fan. Today's PCP guns go up to 3500psi+ and can hit with as much as 500ft-lbs of energy, more than most .45acp. It is a whole different world today compared to the pellet guns most folks had as a kid. Kind of like the difference between a first bike with training wheels and the ones used in the Tour de France.

The smaller ones in .17, .22, .25 are excellent for small game up to rabbit. The mid sized ones are good for coyote and the like, and the larger ones (.45 and .50) can be used for deer, hogs, etc (obviously not deer in Indiana but some states allow it). The .458 Quakenbush has been used for buffalo, but that really isn't something I'd seriously consider. A company even just introduced a PCP shotgun.

In particular the smaller calibers are cheap to shoot and there has never been a shortage of pellets and you can even make your own pellets. My .45 uses bullets I cast for reloading my .45acp (230gr round nose) and as I have a bullet trap and recycle the lead, the shooting is free. The guns are a little more expensive in general matching quality for quality with powder burners, but an entry level gun of decent quality will run about $200. You also need a way of filling it and a high pressure hand pump (50-70 pumps for the smaller caliber ones for 20+ shots) is $150-250. A SCUBA tank or SCBA tank adapter is about $80 and an 80CuFt SCUBA tank will fill most guns a bunch of times. I have a Sam Yang .45 and it shoots with about 300ft-lbs of energy and it has the extra large tank and it takes about 200 pumps for about 15 shots. A small "Shoebox" compressor to fill up to 4500psi costs $600.

With the shortage of .22lr I've been advocating for youth groups and the like to invest in some PCP air rifles. A tin of 500 .22 pellets runs about $5 if you shop around, and in my Benjamin Discovery .22 will shoot one ragged hole at 50'. I've shot my .45 out to 50 yards and kept a 3" group with iron sights. My .25 will shoot 2moa at 100 yards with the right pellets and retain enough energy to kill a squirrel. Shrouded barrel airguns can be almost silent.

For 3 decades I have been a serious rifle shooter and I love long range precision shooting and if you would have asked me five years ago if I could have ever enjoyed shooting an airgun this much I would have told you to bugger off since my only experience with them was the guns of my youth, but now the PCP airguns I have have become my favorite to shoot and I probably shoot them 10 to 1 for the rest of my rifles as I'm putting about a hundred rounds a week through them.

 

[Alamo]

...I got in to PCP (precharged pneumatic) airguns a few years ago and rapidly became a fan. Today's PCP guns go up to 3500psi+ and can hit with as much as 500ft-lbs of energy, more than most .45acp. It is a whole different world today..

Very interesting. I knew airguns had more zing today than when I was shooting the flagpole at the end of my yard with the lever action bb gun, but I didn't realize how much. Hmmm, hmmmm..

 

[Fullmag]

Another one with renewed interest in air guns. Thought about the starting with break barrels. Anyone have an opinion on the HATSAN 95 in 22cal?

 

[trucker777]

Watching Midway USAs Gun Stories and their show of air guns. This technology goes back to the 1580. Some of the designs are amazing. Lewis and Clark had one on their expedition out west. They had the power equivalent to a 9mm (9x19)


400 Years of Tradition

[video=youtube_share;-pqFyKh-rUI]http://youtu.be/-pqFyKh-rUI[/video]

I'll post more info when I find it.

This is great! Thank you.