Mind blown

[Tazman1602]

OK, I’m not perfect, never even been on this part of the forum because, respectfully, I’ve never taken airguns seriously. Recently - it’s been COLD here this winter, I’ve wanted to shoot out my kitchen door to keep my trigger skills up and for general fun.

SO…I had left my “good” GAMO up north at our UP place and one visit to midwayusa and I bought a “high end GAMO” in 22 caliber!

Then I started poking around the web and I found…..a forum and places like this:

https://airgunwarriors.com/

I had ZERO idea that you could get an airgun , albeit pricey, in calibers up to .50. I hope, at these prices I hope I do not develop another addiction….

Art

PS - what is PCP?

[foesgth]

PCP is Pre-charged pneumatic. They fill them off of a high pressure tank (like a SCUBA tank). I have never gotten one as the price of the compressors is a bit stiff. However, with the new list price on primers they are starting to look better.

[Tazman1602]

PCP is Pre-charged pneumatic. They fill them off of a high pressure tank (like a SCUBA tank). I have never gotten one as the price of the compressors is a bit stiff. However, with the new list price on primers they are starting to look better.

I figured something like that because of the pressures I read. Man some of those airguns are more than $2K…..and thank you…

Art

[Outer Rondacker]

My PCP in .22 cal will outshoot my ruger 10-22 and most other of my stock 22s. Its quieter, and cost used to be less to shoot then a .22. This is the best part. I can shoot it next to any house as it is not a gun. I have taken a fox or three with it. Wish I could drop the 2k on one of those 30 cal or 35 cals. Man that would be fun.

[MrWolf]

Check with your state's hunting regulations before dropping serious cash to hunt with them. West Virginia only allows you to take small game with an air gun.

[fixit]

You don't even have the full understanding, there are production PCPs all the way up to.72 caliber! Custom ones in 82!

[M-Tecs]

OK, I’m not perfect, never even been on this part of the forum because, respectfully, I’ve never taken airguns seriously. Recently - it’s been COLD here this winter, I’ve wanted to shoot out my kitchen door to keep my trigger skills up and for general fun.

SO…I had left my “good” GAMO up north at our UP place and one visit to midwayusa and I bought a “high end GAMO” in 22 caliber!

Then I started poking around the web and I found…..a forum and places like this:

https://airgunwarriors.com/

I had ZERO idea that you could get an airgun , albeit pricey, in calibers up to .50. I hope, at these prices I hope I do not develop another addiction….

Art

PS - what is PCP?

A little behind the times?????? :kidding:

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2016/12/13/lewis-and-clarks-girandoni-air-rifle/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girardoni_air_rifle#:~:text=The%20Girardoni%20air% 20rifle%20was%20an%20air%20gun,part%20of%20North%2 0America%20in%20the%20early%201800s.

There is some evidence that French troops summarily executed anyone caught carrying a Girandoni, but the enduring myth that this was ordered by Napoleon Bonaparte has no substance. Nonetheless, Bonaparte issued an Imperial Edict banning the use of airguns in France.

https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/threads/air-rifle-from-1780.190686/

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/americanvintageairguns/1796-napoleon-the-tyrol-airguns-t6658.html?

Did any say cannon's???????? Pre-radar steam and pneumatic saw lot of research and had some limited combat use. Its advantage was no muzzle flash so the enemy had no way to locate it when it was dark. Targeting radar made them obsolete.

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_Zalinsky.php


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dZLeEUE940&t=5s

[georgerkahn]

I, too was surprised when, a few years back, I read that in the Lewis & Clark expedition, air rifles were used! Written was:
"Lewis's air gun was an unusual property of the expedition. Widespread agreement is that it was a Girandoni-style air rifle, a design originally designed and built for the Austrian army. Girandoni-style airguns were made by several European gunsmiths. They were typically about .46 to .49 caliber, had a magazine for 20 round bullets, and were repeaters. The air reservoir is the hollow steel butt, and hundreds of strokes of a pump were needed to give it a full charge of air. Lewis used his personal air gun to impress Indians in council. It was smokeless, and could fire 20 shots in one minute. The Indians were impressed, except for the Teton Sioux. The air gun was the most unusual piece of equipment on the expedition, and served some role in negotiations with the natives, but was otherwise not an essential part of the expedition in any way. It was then, and remains, a curiosity, not "the gun that opened the west." Lewis and Clark could have done all they did without it. Incidentally air guns of that period and caliber are not silent and make a very loud crack; what impressed the Indians was the air gun's repeating operation, not silent operation."

I thought you may find this of interest,
geo

[chutesnreloads]

It's too late to avoid the new addiction, you done stepped in it. Some of the PCPs can be filled with a hand pump more easily than others.
Was pleasantly surprised that hand pumping didn't turn out to be the chore I worried it would be.
Air gunning has a lot going for it

[elmacgyver0]

That was impressive video of the 1800s air rifle.
I have several air guns I play around with some CO2 BB and pellet and some break action pellet.
I use a break action Hatsan in .25 caliber to terrorize the squirrel population.
I never had an issue with the squirrels until they ate holes in my canoe, garbage carts and siding.
Now it's war.

[clodhopper]

Search USS Vesuvius. A small warship that served in the Spanish American war.
She had two air guns, charged by on board compressors.
Projectiles were pretty much kegs of dynamite.
She did shell Havana from the harbor.

[TCLouis]

A little correction on PCP air supplies.
There are had pumps to keep ones PCP tank topped off.

A work out if you let the pressure drop a lot.

The air supply many use are air tanks.
PCP's use SCBA tanks, not SCUBA tanks for supplying refill air.
SCBA tanks are filled to approx 4500 psi which is far above the SCUBA pressures.

[Tazman1602]

Boy if my mind was blown before it’s destroyed now. How interesting that is! I literally had zero idea air rifles were anything but a 20th century invention….

Art

[brassrat]

I read a comment on a airgun forum where someone mentioned a .30 cal rifle that had more energy than a 30.06. Mind blowing

[chutesnreloads]

From literature I've read, air guns and powder burners date back pretty close to the same times.
Believe I read somewhere that Leonardo DaVinci had made an air gun

[Capt Keith]

Oh, it’s getting big, and it’s a blast! I have a .457 that shoots a 350 gr bullet at almost 900 fps. That’s almost 500 fpe—plenty for big game. I cast my own bullets, shoot them with regular air into a trap, then recast them—perpetual shooting with no powder or primers! Of course you can buy bullets also. Here’s mine. I also have a .22 that shoots 25 gr slugs, I’ll put it up against a regular.22 any day!295662

[Outer Rondacker]

Nice rifle. I have been researching what to get for a second PCP. My intent is to keep the cost of pulling the trigger down.

[Calamity Jake]

PCP air guns priced $600 and up, there accuracy is outstanding.
I shoot both indoor .177 cal. AG bench rest at 54 feet and outdoor AG BR to 50 yard with a 22 cal
Indoor,3 paper targets require 20 to 30 record shots each at 10 points each, a lot of times it takes a tie breaker shot,
(located at the bottom of last target) to determine a winner.
Outdoor we shoot a 25 shot bull target, possible total score 250, read the wind right and score 235-245

[Racing]

As Fixit writes above..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izvy5hIBsmI

FWIW i just ordered a Kral semi in 25cal. For small critters i´ve come to use that caliber a lot.

Currently though working on an Artemis (Snowpeak in the US) P15 in 22cal. Very very compact little gun that i hope to have shoving slugs downrange at 1000fps 24/7 when done.

https://i.postimg.cc/0jyKdYC7/1.jpg