Doomsday Self Defense Part 2: Compressed Air Guns Prologue Many of us are already familiar with compressed air guns to some degree. For example, some of us have been to a paintball games arena over a holiday vacation, and many of us have also owned small pellet rifles while growing up, so countless people already have some experience actually shooting compressed air firearms. Ok, so why would a discussion about compressed air guns be relevant? A discussion about compressed air guns is relevant because these types of f irearms offer the great unwashed masses a set of tools to stave - off oppression and genocide — that's why. As an example, let's start by looking at the tale of the "Silent Holocaust." Well, most of us have already had a good belly - full of force - fed boondog gle, spinnings, and dribblings about the not so silent holocaust, and more people are learning about the Armenian Genocide and the mass murders of Holodomor, which is good; yet despite these positive developments, surprisingly few people are hip to the Sil ent Holocaust. For those of you who are yet to join the secret - handshake club of Silent Holocaust woke - a - zoids, this little - known mass genocide officially got the trigger of its starting gun pulled back in 1980 when the government of Guatemala commenced with their plan for genocide that was dubbed "Operation Sofia." Although some degree of civil war had been happening in Guatemala since the early 1960s, government - on - Mayan violence peaked between 1978 and 1986, and Operation Sofia marked the most intense stretch of whole - sale mass killings in this land of bright fabrics beloved by hippies and premium shade - grown coffee. While the music was still playing and the booze was still flowing at the Operation Sofia pool party , the Guatemalan military and countless pa id mercenary death squads systematically destroyed 626 peaceful villages inhabited by the native Highland Mayan people and around 200,000 Mayans went missing along with the villages. Yes, the Village People were quite chuffed over that whole episode, and many Mayan village people did not get to stay at the Y.M.C.A; but instead, they were forced to permanently relocate to unmarked holes in the ground, so you could say that this whole episode was really the pits for these folks. Besides keeping the village people down to earth, and well - grounded, the Guatemalan government also destroyed buildings, poisoned wells, burned crops, killed livestock, and erased as many traces of Mayan culture as possible; and let's not forget, the Guatemalan government also issued those poor old Mayans entirely too many unwarranted parking tickets. 2 So why did the Guatemalan government have such a bone to pick with these Mayans? That is a rather good question, because if you have ever read the comments section on 4chan or The Dai ly Stormer, then you would notice that you never hear the fellas that congregate around these online watering holes ranting about how those terrible Guatemalan Highland Mayans need to be gassed. It seems that the Highland Mayans were targeted for genocide because they were the most outspoken dissidents against the heavy - handed Guatemalan government of those days. The Highland Mayans were also trying to gain more political representation for themselves as early as the 1960's because they felt that their grie vances were not being heard by the government, nor was their culture or their land being treated with much respect — who would have thought? The Mayans are worth mentioning here because they could certainly have benefitted from having access to firearms o f any type during the dog days of Operation Sofia. Not surprisingly, before Operation Sofia began, the Guatemalan government passed sweeping anti - gun laws and went to great lengths to ensure that the Mayans had no firearms or ammunition. As the trope goes, disarming is a precursor to mass killings. Despite the rantings of anti - gun nuts, I am a firm believer that if the Highland Mayans would have maintained a decent cache of black powder or compressed air weapons, then they could have prevented a genocide. Sure, one could argue that compressed air - driven - guns are not nearly as good as "regular guns," and this is true for the most part, but if the Highland Mayans would have even possessed very basic guns, like air rifles, or even muskets for that matter, the n they could have thwarted the government's attempt at genocide. As an old retired Pittsburgh cop one told me, "Whatever criminals have in mind, they are not going to want to have to bleed to do it." — and the same goes for crooked governments. So, let it be said that if a populace is armed in sufficient numbers, and is even if the people are equipped with totally inferior guns, then the folks on a bad government's payroll will have to bleed to do their dirty work, and having to bleed to play reindeer games changes the formula. The Problems with Black Powder The previous article titled Rethinking Black Powder discussed using black powder as a back - up propellant for firearms in the event that conventional ammunition loaded with standard smokeless powder b ecome scarce. Yes, conventional smokeless powder is likely to grow scarce if basic infrastructure is out of commission for months or years, so it does make sense for people to think about designing and building firearms that will work with black powder Black - powder - burning guns w ere chosen as the first alternative to conventional firearms because black powder is kind of like Spider Man. So, how is black powder like Spider Man? Well, remember kids , Spider Man does whatever a spider can , he spins a web any size — catches crooks just like flies — watch out for Spider Man! So, j ust as Spider Man does whatever 3 a spider can, black powder can pretty easily fill all of the same job descriptions as smokeless power So, the next logical question would be this: If smokeless powder is such a great problem solver , then why waste time by discussing any other alternative propellent methods for fir e arms? In answer to the previous question, yes, we have to admit that black powder makes a great second choice as a prom date when ev er conventional smokeless powder is not around ; however, just as making good old home - cooked Southern biscuits from basic ingredients requires a bit of time and love , so does making black powder from scratch. According to the website survival - manual.com, t he chief ingredient in pretty much every recipe for home - brew ed gun propellant is saltpeter, and the process of making salt peter in - house typically lasts around three months at the very least , provided that the local climate is hot and humid . By contras t, the process of procuring saltpeter can take up to a year in a spot that is notably dry or cold. In places like Michigan, the summer is hot and humid, so getting bacteria to turn the nitrates in animal manure into usable potassium nitrate is not too ha rd during the warmer months of the year . On the other hand, Michigan gets very cold winters, so the cold temperatures in the winter will halt saltpeter production; thus, in colder climates saltpeter production is really a seasonal thing, so the cal e ndar imposes limits on saltpeter's su pply potential in many places India's has a year - round steam - bath climate , a bottomless supply of cheap labor, and vast quantities of cow manure, so it is no surprise that the British eventually saw India as the ir go - to spot for obtaining the huge quantities of saltpeter they needed to keep their subjects so loyal So, there you have it, black powder has many nice qualities, and yes, it can be made in - house with some wood ash, urine, manure, and a bit of plant matter, but the problem is time ; namely, making bla ck powder simply takes too long. Yes, one decent - sized farm can make hundreds of pounds of saltpeter per year, and the task of making saltpeter is nowhere near as involved as that of producing smokeless powder ; however, the process of making saltpeter stil l takes a little bit of know - how and a fair amount of patience. As a point of refence, the Foxfire series of books dedicates a section of their repository of information about Appalachian back - woods wisdom to a discussion about making gunpowder on a home stead Foxfire's section on making gunpowder says that old Uncle Elmer can get about one pound of good possum - shootin g black powder for his musket every three months by digging - up the soil in his backyard chicken coup and milking it for saltpeter So, the basic run - down on the speed of saltpeter production adds up to one backyard chicken coup being able to produc e about four pounds of gunpowder per year. Producing four pounds of gunpowder a year is fine if you are just using your homemade propellant to hu nt . On the other hand , larger - scale campaigns of self - defense like s e curing a county - sized area will require large quantities of black powder. Likewise, larger campaigns of 4 localized resistance to tyranny or genocide could easily create dwindling stocks of black right along with dwindling supplies of smokeless powder. S ince the concept of firearms first arrived in a meaningful way, and before the mass adoption of smokeless powder, wars and periods of protracted conflict were always accompanied by troubling conce rns about shortages of saltpeter. For example, during the American Revolutionary War, the colonial army led by General George Washington was so short on saltpeter supplies that they had to pay blockade - runners to use their light, fast, and shallow - drafted sailing ships to bring this precious powder in from the British Virgin Islands at a very high cost, or else the Continental Army would have been forced to surrender to the British 1 Although not every army fighting a war back in the days when black powder ruled the roost faced shortages of saltpeter ; but still , running out of saltpeter was a constant concern. Not surprisingly, soon after the American Civil War started, the Confederate government set - up a special depart ment called the Niter Bureau on Ap ril 1, 1862 . The Confederate Niter Bureau's only purpose was to ensur e a continual supply of saltpeter for the C onfederate army. The Confederacy managed to avoid running - out of gunpowder by creating a decentralized network of small saltpeter production fac ilities along with a decentralized distribution network ; however, a huge amount of industrial capacity and manpower had to be sacrificed from the war effort just to keeping the supply lines of saltpeter flowing 2 The saltpeter must flow. Image courtesy of nme.com Creating a decentralized production network for black powder is important because finding the locations of large powder - making facilities is not too hard on ac count of the huge buildings that are required and the large workforces that are need ed to operate the se facilities ; plus, destroying these large plants will always be a high priority for the bad guys. So, in summary, decentralized and resilient production systems for black powder are crucial because centralized production inevitably leads to supply vulner abilities. 5 The end results of getting disarmed. Image courtesy of pictureflip.com Y es, it is possible to maintain a sufficient flow of saltpeter even when times are tough, but advanced planning and preemptive infrastructure building are necessary to k eep saltpeter supplies flowing , and getting the finished product to the places where it is need ed can also be a problem , so a solid and redundant distribution network has to be built alongside any decentralized production infrastructure. Some t ime is ne eded to produce saltpeter from scratch, and it takes time to build a robust distribution network , so it is best for people to start developing the needed saltpeter production networks and infrastructure right away before the need for gunpowder becomes truly desperate There is a lag in production time associated with making saltpeter, plus it takes time to build an effective means of distribut ing finished gunpowder , so it would also be wise for people to have a bac kup plan if — or when — black powder supplies get tight. In light of black powder's slow and cumbersome production process, f irearms powered by compressed air are worth considering as a compliment, or even a s a parallel back - up plan The first reason that compressed air - based firearms should be given serious consideration as self - defense appliances because they are effective. At this time, the most effective compressed air guns are long - range air - powered sniper rifles The truth is, th e compressed - air - powered hunting rifles that are currently sold on the civilian market work well as sniper rifles . The current crop of big - bore air rifles that are sold on the market also offer a few immediate and practical advantages over their powder - dri ven rivals , which make s a good case for choosing these rifles even when conventional smokeless - powder - burning sniper rifles are readily available. T he second reason air guns should be valued as a technology of self - defense is because they require no propel lant other than the air that is almost always surrounds us. 6 The image shown above is included to provide a sample image of a modern air rifle that is sold to the hunting market, yet a rifle like the one seen above could easily be repurposed as a sniper rifle. The rifle pictured above does not have the optimal design for long - range shooting, but it is still a capable long - range rifle. Image courtesy of rpsolutions.nl A little History of Air Guns True, many of us ha d BB guns as toys when we were kids, and most people still imagine compressed air guns to be nothing more than implements of animal cruelty that naughty little boys use to inflict undue suffering and loss of life on poor backyard - dwelling fauna like squirr els, lizards, and small birds . Indeed, plenty of smaller air guns definitely fit th is description, but larger air guns that are able to abrupt even the largest , meanest , smelliest, and most - snortin of animals certainly do exist Fact is, big hairy - chested specimens of gassy air gun bravado that are capable of killing big game have actually been around for a while. As listed on Wikipedia, t he earliest known air gun is powered by a steel spring and a set of leather bellows and dates from 1580 . This earlies t of known air rifle s is on display at th e Livrustkammaren Museum in Stockholm , Sweden; and references to large caliber and small - bore air rifles can be found from many parts of Europe over the centuries 3 . Early air rifles were difficult to produce with the materials technology of that era , and early air guns were more mechanically complex than their gunpo wder - driven peers, so these devices were primarily a provenance of the aristocracy. Many early air rifles were rather small , and many early air guns were also used primarily for indoor recreational shooting . Additionally, most of these small indoor - shoot ing air rifles from the age of quill pens , along with the air - driven pistols from those days of men wearing leg stockings , were powered by leather bellows that were compressed by springs. By contrast, even 7 as early as the 1600s, large .30 - caliber to .51 - caliber rifles with metal air tanks that were able to tak e - down game as large as deer and wild boar were also around Early big - bore air rifles were expensive because they required a level of workmanship similar to that required to mak e fine clocks of the same era . Ear ly air guns were all unique , and e very early air rifle was a work of art on account of these guns needing precise springs , tight part clearances, smooth metal surfaces, and good airtight seals on their tanks in order to function. The earliest big - bore hunti ng rifles were also luxury items of the idle rich because they required a manservant of his lordship to strain with a single - stage pump for about an hour in order to provide enough juice for a single pig - killing shot. The image above shows a classic En glish air rifle from the 1 8 00's. Image courtesy of forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com The Japanese also got into the business of making expensive luxury air guns for the wealthy in the first decade of the 19th century. Image courtesy of metmuseum.org Despite basically functioning as toys for the wealthy, old - time c ompressed air rifles even saw a bit of military service in the late 18th century . T he Girandoni air rifle was the only know air rifle to have ever been pressed into military service, and this type of rifle was invented by a Tyrolean named Bartholomäus Girandoni . Girandoni's rifles were o fficially in service in the Austrian Empire from 1780 until 1815 , and they offered many nice advantages D espite their nice feature, Girandoni rifles ultimately fell out of favor because of their high production cost , 8 l engthy production times, and their constant need for maintenance. For example, t he gaskets in Girandoni's rifles were made of oil - saturated leather, so the gaskets on these rifle s had to be continuously oiled and replaced or else these old projectile - mov ers would not work . In addition to constantly needin g to keep the leather gaskets of his rifle oiled, any solider who was issued a Girandoni rifle also had to constantly keep the internal mechanical parts of his firearm oiled and clean Aside from other maintenance issues, the compressed - air reservoirs on Girandoni's rifles were made from pounded sheet s of iron that were rive t ed together then braised with brass Girandoni rifles were braised with brass in order to ensure an airtight seal, so the air reservoirs on Girandoni rifles did hold ai r, but they were troublingly prone to developing leaks. Not only were the air reservo i rs in Girandoni's rifles prone to slowly losing air, they were also known to spontaneously explode on occasion and cause serious injuries , or even death , to their users The air rese r vo i rs attached to Girandoni rifles also ran the risk of exploding if there was a very rapid rise in temperature ; for instance, events such as filling the air tank in a cool cellar and then bringing into the sun on a hot day would create a dang erous risk of an air tank explosion. The image above shows a Girandoni Air Rifle on auction from the Rock Island Auction Company. Image courtesy of rockislandacutions.com Despite seeing a successful, but rather brief , run of military use, big - bore air rifle s declined in popularity over the following decades because black - powder - filled cartridges offered powerful rifles that lacked the high cost and reliability problems associated with compressed air rifles. Despite a steady decline in popularity, a small number of expensive high - end air rifles remained in production until the 1920's in various parts of Europe ; however, a fter the introduction of black powder cartridges , compressed air rifles remained in use, but only as hobby shoot ing novelties and toys for e rrant boys. Despite remaining in use into the 20th century, two factors greatly reduced the popularity of big - bore air rifles. First, the wide - spread introduction of brass bullet casings filled with black powder arrived, and this created a real decline in the demand for air guns Next, the mass arrival of brass bullet casings filled with smokeless powder happened , so the effects of these two successive technical innovations meant that interest in using air rifles for military applications or hunting larg e a nimals almost completely disappeared until the early 1990s. 9 Despite the drawbacks associated with airgun s , the nobility in previous centuries loved to hunt with big bore air rifles because these expensive toys offered some advantages over their powder - driven competitors . The advantages of air guns in the realm of hunting included perks such as producing less noise, having less recoil, being less affected by rain or moisture (flintlock rifles were notorious for no t working in the rain) , and producing no clouds of smoke. From th e military perspective of the 1700s , compressed air rifles offered all of the advantages that made them popular hunting rifles for the nobility, except compressed air guns also offered the advantage of not having a muzzle flash that would give away a shoot er's position in low - light conditions. So, yes, we have established that big bore air rifles are not a new invention, nor a new idea, yet this old technology got a new lease on life in the early years of the 1990s thanks the efforts of Dennis Quackenbush who owns the Quackenbush Air Rifle company which is headquartered in the fine state of Missouri. Quackenbush is a machinist by trade , and he started his company with small production runs of custom air rifles inspired by the designs of large air - powered hunting rifles that were used by European a ristocracy for several centuries. It seems that Mr. Quackenbush made his reproductions of early air - powered hunting rifles as a hobby activity that he enjoyed; however, his products eventually acquired a small but dedicated fan club. Quackenbush is credi ted for catalyzing the renaissance in modern big bore air rifles 4 , but a few manufacturers in Korea also manufacture d larger air rifles capable of turning deer into venison steaks , and the Koreans got into the groove of making really b ig and powerful air rifles back in the 1990s. Back in the 1990's , a few companies in Korea developed a handful of really big air guns that were capable of knocking - down deer because there were such strict regulations place d on regular firearms In Korea , air guns beca me the ticket for all types of hunting because the government saw these pneumatic pellet - pushers as nothing more than toys , or just tools for hunting small animal s Additionally , Korean apparatchiks never saw air guns as tools of murder , n or did they see air guns as devices suitable for resisting the government , so big - bore air rifles offered Korean outdoorsmen the p rospect of hunting larg e game with few legal hassles Another significant development in the modern big - bore air rifle indust ry was the founding of the Airforce Air Gun company in Fort Worth, Texas back in 1994. Airforce originally offered lightweight small - bore air rifles made from aluminum that were designed for pest control on farms ; however, in 2015 , 5 th is company released the Texan s eries of big bore air rifles that were capable of producing over 500 foot - pounds of energy and firing large .457 caliber bullet s The development of Texan big - bore air rifles was a significant change for the fi eld o f pneumatic firearms because these guns offered levels of performance compara ble to modern rifles that fire smokeless - powder - filled rounds. Since the release of the Texan series , other air rifle manufactures such as Spain's Gamo Air Guns, have developed less expensive knock - off competitor models that are clearly based - on the Texan series , and several companies that provide aftermarket enhancements for Texan rifles 10 have sprung up , like the Lethal Air company in Virginia It should come as no surprise that a ground - breaking design like the Texan series that lends itself to milking the most shooting - power out of a bottle of compressed air w ould inevitably become a big seller . It also stands to reason that the Texan series would also inspire imitators and entice entrepreneurs to start companies that sell aftermarket products for these fine rifles The two photo s posted above show a new factory - stock Airforce Texan .50 caliber rifle fitted with a new carbon fiber tank. If an aftermarket 4500 - psi air tank is fitted to the rifle pictured above, then the foo t - pound s of energy produced by this rifle will climb to 1200+. Imag e s courtesy of airforceairguns.com 11 Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so it comes as no surprise that other manufacturers are going to copy the basic design of Airforce's line of Texan big - bore air rifles because a good design speaks for itself . The Gamo .45 - caliber air rifle seen above is a bit cheaper than a Texan, but it also delivers less power. Image courtesy of pyramidair.com The Capabilities of Modern Bi g Bore Air Rifles When discussing the capabilities of modern air rifles, and comparing them to their smokeless - powder - driven peers, it is vitally important it understand the basic number s that are used to evaluate the performance of firearms. A n in - depth discussion about ballistics numbers never really took p lace in the previous article about black powder, but that is because there was a lot less need to bring - up ballistics numbers when discussing black - powder - driven ammunition The first measure used to evaluate a firearm ' s actual destructive capability is the term "Foot Pounds" or "Joules " Joules are a metric - based unit used to measure energy in engineering and physics calculations, and Foot Pounds is an English, or Imperial , measurement used to perform the same function. As a point of reference, the webs ite for Eclipse Defense, which is a Seattle - based manufacturer of " less - than - letha " l air guns, says that the American Government's Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms considers any projectile that produces 2 00 or more Joules of energy , or about 153 foot - pou nds, to be lethal from a legal standpoint. Another common measure for evaluating firearms is " Feet - Per - Second " or "FPS" , which is used to measure the traveling speed of bullet s . Lastly, as listed on asknumbers.com, one grain equals .64 grams, and Grains are the unit of measurement used to gage the weight of bullets. Joules can be converted into Imperial Foot Pounds by multiplying the number of Joules a projectile produces by .737 Conversely, Foot Pounds can be converted to Joules by multiplying a measur ement given in Foot Pounds by 1.3 12 To provide a frame of reference, the website ballistics101.com has furnished the ballistics numbers for the following list of bullets : T he average f oot - p ound rating for a 45 ACP pistol round is 411 , with an average speed of between 800 and 1000 feet - per - second ; depending on the manufacturer of the ammunition A 357 - magnum round produces 500 — 700 foot - pounds with muzzle velocities that vary between 1200 to 1600 feet - per - second. A 5.56mm AR - 15 round is listed as producing be tween 1200 — 1600 f oot - p ounds of energy and mov es between 3100 and 3500 feet - per - second ; once again, depending on the manufacturer. A standard 7.62 X 39mm round , like those fired by AK - 47s , produces between 1400 — 1600 Foot pounds on average and travel at around 2300 feet - per - second ; again, depending on the manufacturer. The weight of a 45 ACP pistol round typically varies between 180 to 220 grains , and a 357 - magnum round typically has a grain - weight of around 150 . A 7.62 x 39mm round spit - out by and Ak - 4 7 typically weighs - in at around 120 grains ; conversely, AR - 15 rounds tip the scales between 40 and 70 grains. So, basically, common assault rifles that fire conventional smokeless - powder - driven projectiles are shooting relatively small chunks of metal at h igh velocities to achieve their killing power. By contrast, a souped - up aftermarket Airforce Texan big - bore air rifle sold by Appalachian Air Guns produces 1210 Foot pounds of energy by driving a 613 - grain bullet at 943 feet - per - second. One of the big ba d aftermarket Texan air rifles sold by Appalachian Air guns uses air that is pressured - up to 4,500 - psi to move their lead. Likewise, the company website for Airforce Airguns lists their latest factory - stock 50 - c aliber air rifle that operates at 3650 - psi as producing around 800 foot - pounds of energy Conversely, t he latest factor y - stock 50 - caiber Texan air rifle gets it swagger by driving 553 - grain bullet s at around 900 feet - per - second. Airforce' s website lists their old factory - standard 45 - caliber big - bor e rifle that operates at a plebian 3,000 - psi as producing around 50 5 foot - pounds of energy by driving a 4 05 - grain bullet at around 750 feet - per - second. And lest we forget, the Wikipedia entry lists the old Girandoni rifles as having produced a rather measly 117 foot - pounds by driving a 200 - grain lead ball at a rather - constipated 500 feet - per - second. After reading the previous paragraph , is becomes clear that big - bore air rifles get their gusto by shoving big - old ch unks of lead out of their barrel s at comparatively low speeds. We can also conclude that typical big - bore air rifle s used for hunting deer, like the 45 - caliber Airforce Texan rif l es , ha ve about the same ballistic figures as a very powerful handgun s , like 3 57 - Magnum s ; however, some of the larger air rifles pack some serious power. Besides the 50 - caliber Texans, other manufactures have tentatively offered some really hard - hitting air rifles. For example, AEA Airguns is a new - kid - on - the - block manufacturer ou t of China that is still struggling with production issues and low customer satisfaction ratings; however, they do presently offer a 72 - caliber air rifle that produces over 1500 foot - pounds of muzzle energy. Unfortunately, AEA's " Zeus " 72 - caliber big - bore air rifle is really not well - designed, but it does sling bullets as big - around as quarters and produces muzzle energy that is no joke 13 The image above shows the host of the YouTube channel called American Airgunner holding the AE A Zeus 72 - caliber air gun at AEA's company tradeshow booth . The photo above is a screen capture from a video filmed at the May, 2019 International Air Gun trade show in Las Vegas. Yes, AEA's Zeus is undeniably an absolute monster of a rifle. A few other manufac turers have mentioned that they are developing 20mm air rifles that are slated for release which will toss 1750 - grain bullets at around 900 feet - per - second Just for reference, the ballistics number s mentioned earlier translate to a little over 3,000 foot - pounds of muzzle energy! Just to put th e previously stated muzzle energy number in perspective, 3,000 foot - pounds of muzzle energy adds - up to twice the muzzle energy of an AK - 47 and around 20 - times the official American BATF legal line of lethality ; plus, a 20mm compressed air rifle top s all conventional hunting rifles on the market when measuring muzzle energy ; except , it pack s a bit less spunk than a Winchester 300 - Magnum Yes, a 20mm compressed - air rifle may pack a bit less machismo than the Winchester 3 0 0 - Magnum , but the Winchester 330 - Magum is pretty much the big daddy of all conventional hunting rifles. 14 The image above is a screen capture showing a portion of a YouTube video where the host of the American Aigunner channel holds an 1100 - grain 20mm air rifle bullet. No question, that bullet seen above is a monster of a round , but as far as 20mm air rifle bullets go, th e projectile seen above is kind of small. As impressive as the bullet pictured above might seem, s ome manufacturers of big - bore air ri fles are shooting experimental bullets as large as 1750 - grain s The image above is another screen capture from a video posted on the YouTube channel called American Airgunner . This image is included to show how a 20mm big bore air rifle might appear. 15 The image above shows a n air rifle enthusiast who built his own experimental 20mm air rifle. This particular rifle wins the blue ribbon for the Biggest Beast of an Air Rifle contest at th is - year's county fair. Image courtesy of tirmaillyforum.com T he image above shows a ballistics chart for the air rifle shown in the image above. Image courtesy of tirmaillyforum.com So, a basic snap - shot of the ballistic capabilities attached to big bore air rifles reveals that they do have the potential to work as stand - ins when conventional bullets are in short supply , and 16 big - bore air rifles will suffice when black powder supply lines are also compromised for whatever reason. As for the issue of shooting at a distance, the newest Texan factory - stock models that a re designed to operate with tanks compressed to only 3650 - psi can easily hit targets at over 500 - yards , and that number arrives without performing any aftermarket upgrades to the se rifle s Information gained from a few email message exchanges with manuf acturers of souped - up aftermarket Texans revealed that augmented aftermarket 50 - caliber Texan air rifles are able to consistently nail targets at 1000+ meters. One of the pearly advantages offered by these really big air guns is that fact that the se huge air - d riven bullets furnish minimal loss es o f energy at long distances. As listed i n various forum posts on sniperhide.com and firarmstalk.com, the average sniper shot in an urban area is less than 75 yards, and in war zones outside of congested urban confines, the average snipe r s hot is still well below 500 meters, so compressed air works just fine as a powerplant for sniper rifle s . Yes, very long - ranged sniper shots above 500 meters are taken in areas of conflict, but they are rare , and air rifles are also up to the job when shoot ers need to make these select long shots Small bullets that travel at high speeds offer shooters the perk of having very flat bullet arks that require no scope adjustments a t shorter ranges , and fast - moving bullets typically require minimal scope adjust ments at medium ranges ; however, the downside to putting fast little bu llet s on your payroll is that they lose a lot of energy with distance. The upside to shooting large bullets is that they keep their enthusiasm over the course of their walkabouts, but f or larger bullets, the trade - of f to keeping the ir love over their long strolls through spring meadows is the drawback of hav ing somewhat droopy sets of ballistics profiles Basically, the faster a bullet travels, the less drop there will be in its travel trajectory, so bullets that travel at relatively low speeds will have more of an issue with b ullet drop tha n their more - speedy compatriots . Fact is, even shots made with relatively fast - moving bullets fired by conventional smokeless - powder - driven rifles s till require scope adjustments to compensate for bullet drop if shooter s want to hit any targets at long ranges ; however, big - bore air riles need more scope adjustment s for long - distance shots on account of their lower bullet speeds. The solution to havi ng droopy travel plans for bullets that sail for long distance s is to adjust the scope s on air rifles in order to accommodate this more pronounced bullet trajectory droop. As a way to compensate for the problem of droopy bullet arcs, t he manufacturers of h ot - rodded aftermarket 50 - caliber Texans also sell special mounts for the scopes attached to their rifles in order to permit the steep scope angles shooters must set to compensate for high - levels of bullet trajectory droop. Luckily, even the really big air rifles have fairly flat bullet trajectories that require no scope adjustments if they are sho oting under 100 — 150 yards. 17 Advantages O ffered by Compressed Air Firearms - Advantage #1. Compressed air firearms have relatively low recoil , e ven for rifles that hurl very large projectiles Air rifles move their projectiles by using gas that is at a much lower pressure than that of a smokeless - powder - driven firearm, and even a black - powder - driven gun for that matter , so this low barrel pressure tr anslates to less recoil The website closefocusreseach.com provides a chart that lists common bullet pressure for conventional smokeless powder driven rounds, and typical barrel pressures for smokeless powder pistols rounds and rifle bullets are between 20,000 and 50,000 psi, which is a whole lot more than the plebian pressure exerted in the barrels of air guns which generally top - out at around 4500 - psi. - Advantage #2. Compressed air firearms need to be cleaned a lot less frequently. If air rifles are filled with clean and dry air, then there will be very minimal reside build - up anywhere inside these guns , which translates to far less need for regular cleaning. Filling a compressed - air firearm with clean and dry air is generally not too hard because fill lines can easily be fitted with inexpensive filters that catch almost all moisture and pretty much every small particle that might enter an air gun's tank - Advantage #3. Compressed air firearms generally use smaller individual units of ammunition Compressed air firearms use air stored in external tanks to push their products , so the actual ammunition shoved - out by air guns requires less storage space because no casings filled with power are ever needed. - Advantage #4. Compress ed air firearms are less prone to jamming Jamming as a result of screwed - up casing ejections are a big cause of weapon malfunction for conventional firearms Firearms that are semi - automatic , gas - actuated , and fire bullets driven by smokeless powder are now standard fare, and these mechanical mechanisms that are powered by gas pressure from burning smokeless powder offer plenty of opportunities for jams and malfunctions. H owever, compressed - air - powered guns completely sidestep any problems with sh ell casing ejections because there are no bullet casings to eject - Advantage #5. Compressed air firearms make less noise than black powder or smokeless - powder - propelled guns when fired. An added bonus that comes with operating at lower barrel pressure is producing less noise. The big gassy burps that come out of l arger compressed - air - operated firearms 18 are actually quite boisterous and far from quiet, yet th ese big hick - ups from big air rifles s till produce notably less noise than the rantings of their combustion - powered counterparts. Even very large and extremely powerful compressed air rifles can be muffled to the decibel level of a sneeze if they are outfitted with good suppressors — the point is, even the big - uglies of the comp ressed air gun world can be made shockingly quiet. The image above is a screen capture f rom a YouTube video posted by the channel called Up North Airgunner . The screen - capture featured above is from the video titled " DonnyFL Emperor Air Gun Suppressor for the AirForce Texan Big Bore: Quieter Than Raindrops?" A screen capture from this video is included to provide a sense of how a suppressed big - bore air rifle appears. The air rifle featured in this video makes about as much n oise as a sneeze. Many of you have probably already seen this image, but hey, even artillery can be fitted with suppressors. Image courtesy of snopes.com 19 - Advantage #6. Compressed air - powered - guns themselves typically weigh less than their power - dr iven counterpart s, r egardless of the grain - weight of the ammo get ting t ossed Compressed air guns may be kind of bulky because they typically have tanks of air attached to them; none the less, most air guns themselves can be made from much lighter materials than their powder - driven counterparts . Some of the lighter materials that can be used to make compressed air guns include aluminum , hard plastics, and carbon fiber , and using lighter materials results in lighter guns. Entire firearms made f rom nothing except aluminum have been produced , and they work quite well . All - aluminum firearms generally last as long as steel - parted rifles, but all of these totally aluminum guns that have been produced so far have been custom - made to be sporting equ ipment used by target shooting enthusiasts. So far, every one of t he all - aluminum rifles that have been produced and used by target shooters fire .22 - caliber match - grade conventional smokeless ammunition that produces barrel pressures of aroun