CO2 Pistols and Rifles Query

[Thomas Traddles]

CO2 users, can you school me on the advantages and disadvantages of using CO2 as a propellant for air rifles? How do these types of guns compare to pumps and/or springers?

[Multigunner]

Main disadvantage is temperature sensitivity of CO2 capsules. At temperatures below 70 degrees velocity drops off after every shot unless you let the gun warm up a bit between shots. At much lower temperatures the velocity drop really is noticeable and affects accuracy and striking power.

At 70+ degrees F consistent velocity between shots is much better.

If you intend to fire few shots per session you end up with much of the CO2 unused and leaving these guns charged for extended periods can damage the seals over time. If Urethane seals are used you can leave the gun charged for extended periods with little chance of damage so long as the gun isn't stored a hot environment.
Never leave a charged CO2 gun in the trunk of a car on a hot sunny day, or expose it to excessive heat in any way.

Few CO2 guns can compare in power to the multipump or spring powered guns, but the CO2 power plant is far more compact and lends itself to double action or semi auto operation which the other systems do not. CO2 is an excellent platform for accurate replicas of real steel handguns and autoloader rifles and SMGs.

[bangerjim]

They are good........IF you use all the CO2 at one time. Most guns (even expensive one ones like I have) LEAK!!!!! You go to grab one and all the gas is gone.

I own and shoot both CO2 and Propane powered pistols and rifles and always plan on re charging them with new carts/gas when I want to shoot. And temp, as said, REALLY has an influence on the FPS you get.

I prefer my high-end high-power single cock 22 competition pellet rifle. It is ALWAYS ready for that odd "pest" that needs eliminated. One cock action and it is full "go".

A friend is looking into hi-pressure (4K PSI) N2 rifles. At $2-4K, I will stick with regular primer/powder rifles.....and several of them at that rediclous price. The refil of the tanks is costly and the home-based compressor-ish charger is well over $600.00....and still needs your 150# BIG home compressor to run it.

[Thomas Traddles]

Thank you for the replies. I was curious about the temperature sensitivity. I saw a youtube vid by a fellow named Sonic -- lives in Nova Scotia, and had a CO2 rifle. I would think that there would be serious disadvantages in that climate. But he seemed very happy with it. Now I don't live that far north, but I'm not sure I want to invest in CO2 if I am only going to be able to use it 4 months out of the year or so.

[Multigunner]

I've used my CO2 revolvers for backyard plinking at 40 degrees. The velocity was within limits so long as I took the pistols inside to warm up between reloads.

We've been discussing just this problem on another board and there are several fixes suited to handguns but not adequate for long guns.

One is to put several of the chemical hand warmer or foot warmer packets under a folded hand towel in a shoe box. When taking a break put the pistol in the shoe box to warm up a bit.
A shoulder holster worn under a winter coat will keep the pistol plenty warm enough.

An engineer member of that board invented an electronic warming insert for the frame of a Vigilante revolver. It has sensors to prevent over heating.
He had invented this to allow as near as possible to exactly the same pressure shot to shot while developing high velocity modifications for a revolver based carbine he is working on.
Hopefully he will put this add-on onto the market one day soon and work out a method to adapt it to long guns.