The Air Rifle. A Big One!

I would not like to have to rely on that one, it is neither accurate or consistant and is likely to be very air pressure hungry. Ill stick with the good old reliable .22 rimfire which will handle most situtions with good
shot placement and sensible ranges and you can store a lot of .22 ammo in a very small space.

 

High powered air rifles have been around for a long time. The Lewis and Clark expedition was armed with air rifles. There have even been military applications in the 1700s. The plus for these weapons is that you don't have to haul and keep powder dry. But the biggest thing back then was that they were capable of fast and repeated firing that was much faster than a powder based muzzle loaded rifle. It had a 20 round magazine and would fire as many as 40 rounds between chargings. It would put a 46 caliber ball through a 1" pine board at 100 yards. For its time it was very impressive. The new versions are Deer level guns out to about 100 yards and capable of pin point accuracy. Benjamin makes a .357 caliber rifle that will drop deer or hogs with one well placed shot.

The down side to the Lewis and Clark Girandoni rifle was that it took 1500 strokes of a hand pump to recharge the reservoir to 800 psi. The Bengamin uses a big tank the size of a dive tank that you compress with a compressor then that tank charges the rifle a bunch of times. Not practical for survival but a very interesting weapon.

 

I have all manner of .22 subsonic ammo, from CB longs down to rounds that have no powder just primer. On a bolt target rifle, I've heard the firing pin hit the primer. A decent hand clap is louder than their report. Silence is golden.

Poachers go with the quietest round with the heaviest bullet. In rimfire, one can purchase 60 grain bullets at subsonic velocities. These will knock a hole through the skull of a good-sized critter. Loping trajectory, so go out to the range and learn where the beast places with your rifle. Try these in several rifles to see which rifle best stabilizes these long bullets. A 1:16" twist will likely NOT stabilize these puppies. If it is a 5 yard head shot, these bullets will do the deed. Remember that during the Holocaust, the Jewish resistance forces would pop NAZI soldiers in the head with crap revolvers, then take the soldiers' decent weapons.

An old .32 revolver is not very loud. My paternal grandfather used to spotlight critters from his car and pop off their heads for the stew pot -- this with a .32 long. He shot a robber through the robber's family jewels with the same revolver -- the idiot had brought a knife to a gunfight. The whole robbery thingy went south for that felon (do excuse the pun).

Sometimes, bigger ain't better.

 

I have several expensive air rifles and they are fun, quiet, and good practice.
I've taken squirrels and rabbits but I must say the .22 rim fire rifle is much more
practical.
Still the air gun has a place in my arms inventory.
If nothing else, quiet and less expensive practice.