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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 firearms 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 boondoggle, 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 Silent 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 paid 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. 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 Daily 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 grievances 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 of 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, then 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 become 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 were 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, just as Spider Man does whatever 2 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 firearms? In answer to the previous question, yes, we have to admit that black powder makes a great second choice as a prom date whenever 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, the chief ingredient in pretty much every recipe for home-brewed 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 contrast, 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 hard 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 calendar imposes limits on saltpeter's supply 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 their 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 black 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 still 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 homestead. Foxfire's section on making gunpowder says that old Uncle Elmer can get about one pound of good possum-shooting 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 produce 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 hunt. On the other hand, larger-scale campaigns of self-defense like securing a county-sized area will require large quantities of black powder. Likewise, larger campaigns of 3 localized resistance to tyranny or genocide could easily create dwindling stocks of black right along with dwindling supplies of smokeless powder. Since 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 concerns 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 British1. 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 department called the Niter Bureau on April 1, 1862. The Confederate Niter Bureau's only purpose was to ensure a continual supply of saltpeter for the Confederate army. The Confederacy managed to avoid running-out of gunpowder by creating a decentralized network of small saltpeter production facilities 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 flowing2. 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 account of the huge buildings that are required and the large workforces that are needed to operate these 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 vulnerabilities. 4 The end results of getting disarmed. Image courtesy of pictureflip.com Yes, 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 keep saltpeter supplies flowing, and getting the finished product to the places where it is needed can also be a problem, so a solid and redundant distribution network has to be built alongside any decentralized production infrastructure. Some time is needed 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 distributing finished gunpowder, so it would also be wise for people to have a backup plan if — or when — black powder supplies get tight. In light of black powder's slow and cumbersome production process, firearms powered by compressed air are worth considering as a compliment, or even as 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, the 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-driven rivals, which makes a good case for choosing these rifles even when conventional smokeless-powder-burning sniper rifles are readily available. The second reason air guns should be valued as a technology of self-defense is because they require no propellant other than the air that is almost always surrounds us. 5 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 had 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 squirrels, lizards, and small birds. Indeed, plenty of smaller air guns definitely fit this 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, the earliest known air gun is powered by a steel spring and a set of leather bellows and dates from 1580. This earliest of known air rifles is on display at the 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 centuries3. Early air rifles were difficult to produce with the materials technology of that era, and early air guns were more mechanically complex than their gunpowder-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-shooting 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 6 as early as the 1600s, large .30-caliber to .51-caliber rifles with metal air tanks that were able to take-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 make fine clocks of the same era. Early air guns were all unique, and every 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 hunting 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 English air rifle from the 1800'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 compressed air rifles even saw a bit of military service in the late 18th century. The 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 officially in service in the Austrian Empire from 1780 until 1815, and they offered many nice advantages. Despite their nice feature, Girandoni rifles ultimately fell out of favor because of their high production cost, 7 lengthy production times, and their constant need for maintenance. For example, the gaskets in Girandoni's rifles were made of oil-saturated leather, so the gaskets on these rifles had to be continuously oiled and replaced or else these old projectile-movers would not work. In addition to constantly needing 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 sheets of iron that were riveted 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 air, but they were troublingly prone to developing leaks. Not only were the air reservoirs 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 reservoirs 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 dangerous 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 rifles 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, after the introduction of black powder cartridges, compressed air rifles remained in use, but only as hobby shooting novelties and toys for errant 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 large animals almost completely disappeared until the early 1990s. 8 Despite the drawbacks associated with airguns, 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 not working in the rain), and producing no clouds of smoke. From the 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 shooter'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 aristocracy 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 credited for catalyzing the renaissance in modern big bore air rifles4, but a few manufacturers in Korea also manufactured larger air rifles capable of turning deer into venison steaks, and the Koreans got into the groove of making really big 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 placed on regular firearms. In Korea, air guns became 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 animals. Additionally, Korean apparatchiks never saw air guns as tools of murder, nor did they see air guns as devices suitable for resisting the government, so big-bore air rifles offered Korean outdoorsmen the prospect of hunting large game with few legal hassles. Another significant development in the modern big-bore air rifle industry 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 this company released the Texan series of big bore air rifles that were capable of producing over 500 foot-pounds of energy and firing large .457 caliber bullets. The development of Texan big-bore air rifles was a significant change for the field of pneumatic firearms because these guns offered levels of performance comparable 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 9 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 would 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 photos 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 foot-pounds of energy produced by this rifle will climb to 1200+. Images courtesy of airforceairguns.com 10 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 Big 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 numbers that are used to evaluate the performance of firearms. An in-depth discussion about ballistics numbers never really took place 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 website 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 200 or more Joules of energy, or about 153 foot-pounds, 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 bullets. 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 measurement given in Foot Pounds by 1.3 11 To provide a frame of reference, the website ballistics101.com has furnished the ballistics numbers for the following list of bullets: The average foot-pound 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 between 1200—1600 foot-pounds of energy and moves 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-47 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 high 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 bad 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-caliber air rifle that operates at 3650-psi as producing around 800 foot-pounds of energy. Conversely, the latest factory-stock 50-caiber Texan air rifle gets it swagger by driving 553-grain bullets at around 900 feet-per-second. Airforce's website lists their old factory-standard 45-caliber big- bore rifle that operates at a plebian 3,000-psi as producing around 505 foot-pounds of energy by driving a 405-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 chunks of lead out of their barrels at comparatively low speeds. We can also conclude that typical big-bore air rifles used for hunting deer, like the 45-caliber Airforce Texan rifles, have about the same ballistic figures as a very powerful handguns, like 357-Magnums; 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 out 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. 12 The image above shows the host of the YouTube channel called American Airgunner holding the AEA 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 manufacturers 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 numbers mentioned earlier translate to a little over 3,000 foot-pounds of muzzle energy! Just to put the 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 tops all conventional hunting rifles on the market when measuring muzzle energy; except, it packs a bit less spunk than a Winchester 300-Magnum. Yes, a 20mm compressed-air rifle may pack a bit less machismo than the Winchester 300-Magnum, but the Winchester 330-Magum is pretty much the big daddy of all conventional hunting rifles. 13 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, the projectile seen above is kind of small. As impressive as the bullet pictured above might seem, some manufacturers of big-bore air rifles are shooting experimental bullets as large as 1750-grains. 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. 14 The image above shows an 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 this- year's county fair. Image courtesy of tirmaillyforum.com The 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 15 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 are 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 these rifles. Information gained from a few email message exchanges with manufacturers 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 these huge air-driven bullets furnish minimal losses of energy at long distances. As listed in 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 sniper shot is still well below 500 meters, so compressed air works just fine as a powerplant for sniper rifles. 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 shooters 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 at shorter ranges, and fast-moving bullets typically require minimal scope adjustments at medium ranges; however, the downside to putting fast little bullets 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 for larger bullets, the trade-off to keeping their love over their long strolls through spring meadows is the drawback of having 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 bullet drop than their more- speedy compatriots. Fact is, even shots made with relatively fast-moving bullets fired by conventional smokeless-powder-driven rifles still require scope adjustments to compensate for bullet drop if shooters want to hit any targets at long ranges; however, big-bore air riles need more scope adjustments for long-distance shots on account of their lower bullet speeds. The solution to having droopy travel plans for bullets that sail for long distances is to adjust the scopes 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, the manufacturers of hot-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 shooting under 100—150 yards. 16 Advantages Offered by Compressed Air Firearms - Advantage #1. Compressed air firearms have relatively low recoil, even 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 translates 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. Compressed 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. However, compressed- air-powered guns completely sidestep any problems with shell 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 larger compressed-air-operated firearms 17 are actually quite boisterous and far from quiet, yet these big hick-ups from big air rifles still 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 compressed air gun world can be made shockingly quiet. The image above is a screen capture from 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 noise 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 18 - Advantage #6. Compressed air-powered-guns themselves typically weigh less than their power-driven counterparts, regardless of the grain-weight of the ammo getting tossed. 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 from 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 equipment used by target shooting enthusiasts. So far, every one of the 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 around 24,000 psi6, and air rifles typically operate at 4500-psi, so it is quite possible to make good air rifles by using nothing but aluminum. The point to remember here is that building good smokeless-powder-burning firearms by using nothing but aluminum is very possible, and recent advances in 3D-printing and plastics technology have also opened the door for manufacturing light-weight firearms out of all sorts of light-weight polymer components. Additionally, if steel is chosen as the material for building a big-bore air rifle's barrel, then the steel tubing and other components chosen to form this air gun can be much thinner and lighter than they would be in a powder-driven rifle, and all of the steel components in an air rifle can be made much lighter and thinner because the internal pressures in air rifles are so much lower. Examples of air gun barrels being made from nothing but aluminum can be noted by examining an air rifle made by Modoc Air Ordinance. Besides just the barrels, many other parts of air rifles, like receivers and triggers, can be manufactured by using materials other than steel. The possibility of making many parts of air guns besides the barrels out of light materials other than steel alloys is so attractive because the shock and vibrations produced by firing air guns are also much lower on account of the gas pressure used to drive the bullets being so much lower. 19 The image above shows an all-aluminum and custom-made target-shooting rifle. Image courtesy of wkikmedia.com The image above shows a custom-built all aluminum match-shooting rifle in use at a firing range. Image courtesy of bulletin.accuarteshooter.com As for the issue of how much air tanks weigh, newer carbon fiber cylinders are quite strong and actually weigh surprisingly little for the volume they occupy, so the weight of air cylinders themselves is not necessarily a big issue. On the other side of the equation, steel air tanks may be heavier, but are very cheap to produce, surprisingly shock-resistant, and they are quite durable. Aside from being just cheap and durable, steel air tanks effectively resist taking damage from exposure to oxygen in the atmosphere, solvents, salts, and other corrosive chemicals. So, making the air tanks for compressed-air firearms from steel is the way to go? Well, no. Making the compressed air storage tanks for any kind of air gun from any type of metal is a bad idea because metal tanks can get hot enough to burn a person's skin if they are left out in the hot sun or if they are left too close to a cooking fire. Metal air tanks could also become very cold in low temperatures and cause damage to a person's skin if they touch them without gloves or another layer of protection. A very cold air 20 tank actually poses danger to a person's skin in the same way that touching a metal light post with your tongue in very cold weather can lead to your tongue getting stuck to the metal. In short, touching very cold metal with unprotected skin can easily lead to receiving tissue damage from frostbite. Metal tanks can also conduct electricity; admittedly, getting an electric shock through an air gun's pressure tank is not likely to be a very common occurrence, but it is worth mentioning. One solution to the problems associated with the conductivity of heat, cold, and electricity in metal air tanks is to keep them covered with layers of some type of cloth, as was done with the air tanks on Girandoni rifles back in the day, but cloth layers can easily get very dirty, worn, and unsanitary over time, so it is best to just use easily cleaned, and non-metallic carbon fiber tanks. Metal air tanks are also a bit heavy, so it is always best to use carbon fiber tanks to save weight because every extra pound starts to count when a gun is carried for a long time. True, if a carbon fiber air tank under high pressure were to rupture, then this situation could pose some dangers to the air gun's user, but metal tanks pose additional dangers that will be discussed later. - Advantage #7. Compressed-air-powered firearms are much less likely to overheat than their powder-powered peers. Overheating is generally not an issue for powder-burning sniper rifles, assault rifles, and pistols, but overheating can be an issue for larger machine guns that fire conventional smokeless-powder-driven bullets. Although no large fully automatic compressed-air- driven machine guns are currently on-offer to the public, several small, yet fully automatic compressed air firearms are presently sold on the civilian market. Based on current offerings, producing effective compressed-air-driven machine guns could easily be done because making large and effective air-powered machine guns would simply be a matter of scaling-up many of the currently available compressed air weapons that are small and fully automatic. So, despite the advantages offered by conventional powder-burning guns, compressed- air-powered guns will always offer the advantage of producing less heat because there is no combustion happening anywhere. Additionally, compressed-air-powered guns are not likely to overhead because they are taking high-pressure air and turning it into atmospheric pressured air, so, unless there is some combustion happening, expanding gasses will always create a cooling effect. Taking gasses from a state of high pressures to a state of lower pressure creates cold, and this principle forms the basis for modern refrigeration technology, so it seems that any fast-shooting air gun that is continuously sucking-down air will not have much of an opportunity to overheat. 21 - Advantage #8. Compressed air driven firearms do not produce any smoke clouds, nor do they release any noxious vapors after sending bullets on their merry way. Although the problem of black-powder-driven firearms producing large amounts of irritating and blinding smoke can be minimized to a tolerable level, there is still an issue with some irritating smoke getting released. Likewise, "smokeless" powder is not entirely smokeless when it is being put to work. Moreover, regardless if the powder being burned to move a bullet is conventional smokeless powder or old-school black powder, then there will inevitably be some noxious gasses released that will not be nice to breath. Unfortunately, some unpleasant inhalation of noxious gasses happens whenever a powder-driven weapon is discharged, and this is particularly true when a powder-burning gun is discharged in a confined and poorly ventilated location; however, compressed-air-powered firearms offer no such issue. - Advantage #9. Compressed air firearms produce no muzzle flashes. True, muzzle flashes that give-away a shooters position in lowlight conditions can easily be suppressed; none the less, compressed-air-driven firearms offer the advantage of never producing any muzzle flash that would ever need suppression in the first place. Unlike powder-based firearms, compressed air guns never produce any light flashes from their barrels because there is never any combustion taking place. - Advantage #10. Compressed-air-powered firearms do not need any propellant beyond the air that surrounds everybody pretty much all of the time. Not needing any powder or propellant other than the air we breathe is a definite advantage for air guns. True, most people take the air around us that we breathe for granted — at least until it goes missing. Examples of the air we take for granted going missing are situations like being trapped in a confined space, encountering some sort of poison gas, or doing something under water. So, yes, there are situations where the air we breathe cannot be take for granted, but for most of our lives, not having access to air is really not a big concern. Given the nearly constant availability of air, owners of compressed-air guns are almost guaranteed to never have to concern themselves with the problem of running low on propellant for their guns. - Advantage #11. Compressed air firearms can be easily, quickly, and inexpensively manufactured from plastics by using 3D printers. An air rifle's comparatively low operating pressure offers designers and builders the possibility of not only producing lighter and thinner components from steel along with the possibility of producing lightweight parts from aluminum, but the comparatively low operating pressures inside air guns allows builders and designers to use lightweight 22 plastics to build barrels, receivers, and many other crucial components. Having relatively low operating pressures inside air rifles opens the possibility of fitting these types of guns with barrels that are really just tubes of high-strength plastic with thick sidewalls that have been created by applying layers of toothpaste-like molten plastic from the heated nozzles of 3D printers. It may not be possible to make effective compressed-air driven-firearms without using at least some metal components in places like firing hammers or air-flow-valves; however, many critical components in air guns such as pressure tanks, barrels, firing chambers, receivers, and high-pressure air tubing can all certainly be made from high- strength 3D-printable polymers such as carbon-fiber-impregnated PEEK plastics. So far, nobody has actually done the research, but it may be possible to produce a functional 3D-printed air gun suitable for self-defense that is totally made from 3D- printed polymer parts. For example, it may be possible to substitute rubber tubing for springs, and it may be possible to make a functional firing hammer from polymer that is simply made larger to compensate for polymer's lower weight-per-volume than steel. Previously, a few experimental, yet functional, 3D-printed guns were tested that used rubber bands in place of springs and the only metal parts in each of these experimental guns were the metal firing pins that were made from common wood nails7. As discussed earlier, building conventional smokeless-powder-driven firearms from nothing but aluminum is totally doable, and materials engineers regard newer types of fiber-impregnated plastics to be virtually complete substitutes for aluminum for any applications that a designer wishes. Although there are 3D-printing machines that build parts from steel and many other metals, these metal-shaping 3D-printing machines are typically much more expensive (50,000—1M USD8) than the machines that simply print with plastics; therefore, using 3D-printing machines intended to make metal parts is not a viable option for everyone. Many people would dislike the idea of building compressed air firearms from plastic components because plastic parts are perceived to be less durable and to have a less appealing aesthetics, so it is understandable that people would prefer high-quality metal components to plastic parts whenever building with metal is possible. On the other hand, building as many parts as possible for air guns out of inexpensive 3D-printed plastics makes sense if other options are limited and people are staring down the possibility of getting disarmed then becoming the unfortunate victims of a bloody genocide. 23 The image above shows an all-polymer 3D-printed pistol barrel complete with rifling. The barrel shown above is calibered for 380 ACP pistol rounds that produce barrel pressures of around 21,000-psi. The barrel shown above has lasted for more than 8 successive firings with 380 ACP rounds in testing sessions, so it is totally possible to print all-polymer gun barrels that can easily handle the paltry 4500-psi shooting pressures that are found in compressed air guns. A 3D- printed plastic gun barrel that can withstand 8 shots at 21,000-psi worth of gas pressure could easily survive countless shots at 4,500-psi without taking any damage. The 3D-printed gun barrel shown above is part of Cody Wilson's controversial design for a 3D-printed pistol called the Lulz Liberator. Photo courtesy of extremetech.com 24 The image above shows a completed Lulz Liberator pistol. The Lulz Liberator 3D-printed pistol was a product of a company called Defense Distributed that was founded by Cody Wilson back in 2012. The Lulz Liberator had an all-polymer barrel that could withstand more than one shot with smokeless powder shells, so the polymer barrel of this gun design could easily handle the comparatively mild barrel pressures found in compressed-air-based firearms. Image courtesy of fobres.com 25 The image above shows a Patrick 3D-printed pistol named the PM522 Washbear .22LR revolver. Patrick is the surname of an American undergraduate university student named James Patrick who was studying mechanical engineering back in 2015 when his invention first got the attention of the 3D-printing community. Patrick's pistol is made of nylon parts that were printed on an inexpensive 3D printer, and the only metal part of the gun is a nail that is used as a firing hammer. Sets of rubber bands also substitute for springs in this pistol design. The pistol seen above is designed to fire .22-Long rounds filled with conventional smokeless powder, so this pistol can accommodate over 20,000-psi worth of barrel pressure without breaking. Patrick's design was an attention-getter because the only metal part was the firing pin, and the firing pin on this gun is a simple roofing nail; lets also keep in mind that James' pistol was also a head-turner because it was not limited to firing a handful of shots before it broke, unlike the performances of previous designs for 3D-printed firearms that were made from polymers. Patrick's 3D-pinted plastic firearm is mentioned here because the existence of this weapon proves that building very effective firearms that are powered by compressed air can be done by using 3D-printers that apply layers of common and inexpensive polymers. Image courtesy of slashgear.com, text information references courtesy of 3dprint.com Problems with Compressed-Air-Driven Firearms ★ Problem #1. At this time, no compressed air guns that shoot bullets larger than .22 caliber are able to achieve the speeds needed to create hydrostatic shock. Yes, a few YouTube videos feature experimental air rifles shooting small bullets at more than 2,000 feet-per-second9, but any larger bullets thrown by air guns will not be able to achieve the speeds needed to create hydrostatic shock—at least for the foreseeable future. For those who are not familiar with the concept, the term "hydrostatic shock" refers to the shock waves that are created when a bullet moving faster than 2,000 feet-per- second strikes a living animal. Creating hydrostatic shock is a desired outcome when 26 hunting animals because the shock waves generated from really high-speed impacts damage every organ near the spot where a bullet strikes, and these strikes from fast moving projectiles can cause almost instant death. Inducing hydrostatic shock is also desirable for military purposes because it ensures that an enemy solider that is struck by a hydrostatic-inducing bullet will not be coming back to work real-soon if he is hit anywhere in the torso. Solution to Problem #1 Add barbed and serrated internal pieces of hard metal to hollow-point air gun bullets. Ok, let's just face the facts, bullets shot from compressed air rifles will not achieve velocities of 2,000 feet-per-second or more; however, large and heavy hollow-point bullets with serrated internal spikes will do a lot of damage to any man, beast, or beast- man they greet. Consider this, getting hit with a 650-grain bullet that delvers 800 foot- pounds of energy is going to give old slow-witted Johnny quite a little ouchy, and Johnny just might have to have his mom write a sick not and send it to the principal because he will not be riding the short bus back to school for a while. So, let's face it, even if an air gun bullet cannot produce any hydrostatic shock, getting hit with a 20mm hollow-point bullet that has a barbed steel spike in the middle and produces 2800 foot-pounds is not going to be fun — no sir. The image above shows large-caliber hollow-point ammunition for big-bore air rifles that has steel internal pieces which are intended to pierce their target while the rest of the bullet flattens-out and delivers a huge amount of raw kinetic energy. Image courtesy of corbins.com 27 The image above shows large .457-caliber 385-grain hollow point ammunition that is designed for killing big, nasty, and dangerous game. The ammunition shown above has hardened brass centerpieces designed to penetrate even the thickest skin and heaviest bone, so even if an air gun cannot achieve muzzle speeds capable to inducing hydrostatic shock, bullets like the ones seen above are still going to be effective. Image courtesy of mrhollowpoint.com ★ Problem #2. Compressed air guns typically offer a very limited shot count. Big-bore air rifles genearlly use a lot of air per shot, so a typical air tank attached to a large compressed-air-driven rifle will only offer the shooter between 3—8 shots. Semi- automatic air guns are presently sold on the market; however, being forced to sacrifice some compressed air to reload their bullets gives these semi-automatic air-actuated firearms limited power and limited shot counts. Having a limited shot count is a bit of a problem, particularly for this gentleman from Romania. Image courtesy of Hollywood.com 28 Solutions to Problem #2. Hose lives matter! The first thing to mention when discussing solutions to the issue of low shot counts for compressed air guns is to consider supplying these weapons with air from hose hook-ups. Hoses are great tools for increasing the shot counts of compressed air driven firearms because they offer a cheap and easy way to connect air guns to larger air tanks, compressors, and sets of smaller tanks; all of which can keep the ravers gyrating for quite a while at your next disco party. Hoses are great tools for supplying compressed air guns because they are cheap and they do not weigh very much; but most importantly, using pieces of hose offers air gun designers the possibility of permitting a flow of compressed air to turn corners without losing much energy. Hoses are able to guide air currents in different directions with minimal energy loss because they do not force moving air to make any sharp turns. Hoses maintain their efficiency for the same reason that fast-moving cars can make very gradual turns at high speeds without needing to slow down; however, drivers who are controlling any and all types of cars have to slow down considerably if they want to make any sharp 90- degree turns. By contrast to using air hoses, fixed air piping arrangements will greatly restrict the flow of air if there are any turns in the system that are not very gradual. Remember the old plumber's adage: Three 90-degree turns adds-up to a blockage. Given the nice capabilities offered by high-pressure hoses, it is no surprise that many of the bigger compressed-air-driven rifles presently on the market work by drawing air from a cylinder that is attached to the gun, but these same firearms are also able to work by drawing compressed air by way of a remote hose connection. One fix for the problem of having to live with low shot-counts in smaller compressed- air-powered firearms is to have multiple 500cc tanks of air available that are attached to the guns themselves and mounted under the barrels of these same guns. Besides just attaching multiple supply tanks directly underneath the barrels of air guns, additional air cylinders can be placed on the sides of gun barrels as well. Attaching the air cylinders that power a rifle under the barrel of that gun, and perhaps attaching additional air tanks on the sides of the barrel as well would be a good design practice because in this type of layout the air tanks are not placed too close to a shooter's body. Equipping the 500cc air tanks needed to power compressed-air firearms with quick- release fittings is also a good practice because it facilitates rapid air tank replacements in a pinch. Despite all of their shortcomings, the AEA Airgun company from China has developed a decent set of 500cc compressed air cylinders that hold 4500-psi worth of air and can be simply twisted on and twisted off with one quick flip of the wrist. 29 In order to be useful, large fully-automatic air guns that fire any useful caliber of bullet need to be hooked-up to air hoses that can continuously supply volumes of air that are sufficient for continual operation, but if a sufficient and continuous supply of high- pressure air is available, then shooters can have themselves quite a ball and a biscuit firing these heavy, air-powered, machine-guns. The photo posted above shows an Airforce Texan big-bore air rifle firing from a connector hose that is attached to a large cylinder of highly compressed air. Image courtesy of pyramidair.com 30 The image shown above is a 50-Caliber Piledriver rifle made by the Hatsan air rifle company. Notice how at least one more air tank like the one already attached to the rifle could easily be fitted underneath the barrel in the front portion of this gun. It seems that two more tanks like the one that is already attached to this rifle could easily be fitted under the barrel if weapons designers do not mind having a bit of air tank jutting out past the tip of the barrel. Each additional air tank like the one pictured above could be fitted under the barrel in order to gain a larger shot count. A set of high-pressure air tanks capable of delivering a respectable shot-count could be made from light-weight carbon fiber and connected to the firing valve by lengths of flexible air hose, and the fittings of each hose could easily be equipped with emergency low-pressure shut-off valves. Each of the brackets holding a carbon-fiber air tank could also be equipped with quick-disconnect tank fittings like those developed by AEA Airguns in order to facilitate fast reloading. Image courtesy of airgunwire.com The rifle pictured in the illustration above has a spherical air tank mounted under the barrel in a perpendicular arrangement that places the tank's outlet at a 90-degree angle to the barrel of the weapon. This illustration is included to show that several spherical carbon-fiber air tanks can be mounted in a row under the barrel of a tactical air rifle and connected to the firing valve with high-pressure air hoses. Spherical air tanks offer the advantage of being stronger and harder to rupture than oblong cylinders; however, spherical air tanks do not lend themselves to efficient packing and storage in the same way as oblong air cylinders. Image courtesy of heritagearmssa.com 31 The photo posted above shows how multiple smaller air tanks could be placed along the sides and bottom of a tactical air rifle and then connected to the firing valve with sections of high- pressure air hose. Image courtesy of utahairguns.com The image above is a screen capture from a video, and the image above shows a quick-connect air hose designed to hold air compressed to 4500-psi. The equipment seen in the photo above caters to the paintball gun industry, and the paintball gun industry may be a bit different business than the big-bore air gun market; none the less, this industry is a nice potential source for many cheap components that are designed to work with air pressured to 4500-psi which could be incorporated into big-bore air rifles. Image courtesy of ANSgear.com Although they do not exist at this time, medium-ranged tactical air rifles designed to fulfill the role of assault rifles could draw their mojo from several air tanks mounted under their barrels. Tactical air rifles that draw their power from multiple sources could take air from not only tanks mounted under their barrel on their front ends, but they 32 could also draw air from tanks mounted on the sides of their barrels. Tactical air rifles could additionally get their courage from air hoses connected to light-weight and armor- plated carbon fiber backpack units filled with many small air bottles that are connected together by high-pressure hoses. Tactical air rifles could also be supplied by a combination of tanks mounted on the rifles themselves that would work in conjunction with modest-sized backpack units filled with many small carbon-fiber cylinders. Building with redundancy is a good idea when designing proper air guns that are suitable for self-defense applications because having many sources of air ensures that these weapons will not easily fail, nor run out of air quickly. Admittedly, the paintball gun shown above is a bit over-the-top and gonzo, but this photo is useful because it shows how a tactical air rifle could draw its power from many small cylinders hooked-together by high pressure air hoses. Although the paintball gun industry is a bit different than the big-bore air rifle industry, there are some components and technologies that can be applied in both types of products. Image courtesy of mcarterbrown.com ★ Problem #3. Structural failures and large leaks in high-pressure air cylinders pose danger. Yes, having a cylinder containing air compressed to 4500-psi that is kept near to a person's body is like having a hand grenade pressed to their body. Sure, keeping a cylinder pressured up to 4,500-psi near to your body is like keeping a hand grenade that could potentially explode and inflict grievous bodily harm a little too close to the body for comfort. Indeed, having a cylinder filled with very pressured air that is held very near to a person's chest or arms certainly poses some type of endless potential danger. 33 Solutions to problem #3. The first issue to address is the question of how likely the tanks that are mounted on air guns are to rupture in the first place. The truth is, tales of tank breaches are almost unknown for modern air guns, and this information comes from Pyramid Air, which is one of the biggest international retailers of air guns that incorporate high-pressure tanks. True, there were recorded incidents where the old Girandoni air rifles suffered from tank ruptures that caused injuries, and even deaths; that having been said, the air cylinders used on modern air guns are typically able to withstand about three times the pressure of their official ratings, so petty issues like leaving an air gun too close to a camp fire, or accidentally leaving an air rifle out in the sun on a hot day are not likely to result in any air tanks exploding. The only recent example of an air rifle having a dangerous breech was noted because the idiot whose air rifle exploded on him was filling his tanks past capacity and using pure oxygen from a welding tank as the filling gas10. Incidentally, the oxygen-tank-filling moron from this tale of woe was not actually injured when his air rifle tank exploded; doofus was just startled. OK, let it be established that air tank breaches are not really a problem for the air gun sporting market; right, but the issue of dangerous tank breaches still has to be acknowledged if air-powered-firearms are to be used for self-defense purposes. The first solution to the problem of having a lot of stored energy lurking within air bottles is to diversify the holdings. So, what is meant by the term "diversify the holdings"? In this case, diversifying the holdings means that the compressed air that powers these guns is stored in bottles no larger than 500cc. However, anti-material compressed air rifles may be an exception to the rule mentioned previously because they are so big, plus these types of shooting appliances are not carried around by a single person, unlike with other types of compressed air guns. The idea behind storing firing air in multiple small bottles is the principle that if one smaller air tank ruptures, then having an individual small tank break will limit the amount of damage possible. Basically, for safety purposes, the compressed air needed for a swinging party at the bachelor pad can be stored in more than one small tank on an individual gun. So, for safety sake, each of an air gun's small storage tanks could be connected to a set of high-pressure hoses, as opposed storing all of the powering air in a single large tank that would make a huge explosion if it were ever to get breached. Air guns could also get their fix of compressed air by way of armor-plated carbon fiber backpacks filled with many small compressed air cylinders. These light-weight, yet sturdy, carbon-fiber backpack supply units could also be designed to channel high- pressure air out to designated outlet channels within the backpack's casing in the event of a cylinder breach, and this set of high-pressure air emergency outlet channels would exist in order to keep the wearer safe if a tank should ever spring a really big leak. Likewise, a set of air cylinders mounted under the barrel of a tactical air rifle could be 34 encased in a light-weight carbon-fiber shell that would channel any high-pressure air from a cylinder breach out to designated safety outlets in the event of a tank rupture. High-volume leaks in any high-pressure air hoses or piping could also easily be shut- down almost instantly by vales designed to work by spring pressure, or by rubber bladders filled with compressed nitrogen. Several designs exist for valves that close when unsafe levels of low-pressure develop, and these low-pressure cut-out devices are also cheap and easy to manufacture. Several low-pressure cut-out valves could also be set in redundant patterns that would close any high-pressure air hoses or piping whenever pressure levels drop below a certain level. The image above shows a low-pressure cut-off valve. Spring-loaded low-pressure cut-off valves are cheap, plus they could easily be installed in many different locations within an air gun's supply system. A network of low-pressure shut-off valves could be added to multi-tank air gun designs in order to function as a preventative measure against dangerous high-pressure air leaks. Low-pressure cut-off valves, like the one shown above, are simple devices that use a diaphragm and a spring to regulate pressure. Spring-loaded low-pressure cut-out valves like the one seen above will close if the pressure in the pipe or hose drops too low. An example of an unsafe drop in pressure would be something like having compressed air is rush out of a broken hose, and a valve like the one seen above would close automatically in a situation like this because the internal spring-loaded diaphragm would push down and seal the line when the pressure dropped too much. Devices like the one above are installed to halt leeks on water lines, gas lines, and conduits that carry all sorts of substances. Image courtesy of BES.co.uk Another safety precaution worth incorporating into defense-grade air-driven weapons would be to avoid using any metal in the main bodies of the air tanks. Metal parts could be incorporated into air tanks in a safe manner, provided that the metal pieces are only 35 used for things like the valves and connectors for tanks, but it is best to never use any metals to make the bodies of the air tanks themselves. Metal should always be avoided as a construction material for air rifle tanks because metal cylinders that are made from steel, aluminum, or titanium create fragmentation and jagged edges if they rupture, so using carbon fiber to make air tanks for defense-capable air guns is the way to go. In previous centuries, fashioning pressure vessels for air rifles from copper was a popular practice because copper was relatively easy to work with; however, copper air tanks became the way of choice because they offered the advantage of not producing jagged edges or shrapnel if they were to explode. So, it seems that making air tanks from copper or brass might be a solution to issues concerning the safety of high- pressure air vessels; on the other hand, both copper and brass are relatively expensive and heavy, plus both of these materials have all of the problems with temperature and electrical conductivity that are endemic to metals in general. True, making pressure vessels from copper or brass will work for constructing high- pressure air guns because copper-based alloys are strong enough to hold the needed pressure, and they are easy to form and fashion into the desired shapes, plus using copper-based alloys like brass makes for safer air tanks. None the less, due to their weight, and all of the other problems associated with using metal cylinders, air tanks made from copper or copper-based alloys should be viewed as a practice to avoid if other choices are available. The image posted above shows an old English compressed air rifle that has a braised copper pressure vessel with a threaded connector that lends itself to being easily replaced. Making pressure vessels from copper was a popular practice for old-time air rifle craftsmen because copper is a softer metal that is relatively easy to shape; moreover, air tanks made from copper will not produce shrapnel or jagged edges if they explode. Image courtesy of beemans.com Lastly, for high-pressure air tanks mounted on big-bore air rifles that are designed to be used as sniper rifles, placing an air tank made from any workable material, including steel, in the stock of the rifle may not really be much of a problem because the people 36 using these slug-throwers out in the field are generally not participating in close- quarters shooting matches where tank breaches are most likely to happen. ★ Problem #4. You need a suitable pump to charge an air gun. Yep, some type of suitable high-pressure pump will be necessary to fill an air gun's power supply; and regrettably, just puffing on a straw will not provide the pressure needed to move bullets at the kinds of speeds we are seeking. So, how does one go about ensuring that there will always a means to fill their little Easter basket with candy? Solutions to Problem #4. Electric pumps powered by AC and DC currents that are capable of achieving the pressures needed to operate modern air rifles are cheap, quiet, fast, and compact. Small air pumps that can operate out in the field can also be powered by tiny piston engines that could run on all sorts of fuels such as gasoline, propane, vegetable oil, and ether. In addition to using electrical pumps or piston-engine-driven pumps to fill air gun tanks, muscle-powered manually driven pumps that can recharge depleted air cylinders out in the field are also very effective, cheap, and easy to get. The image above shows a Nomad II portable air gun compressor unit. The Nomad unit shown above is capable of producing 4500-psi, and this unit runs off of standard wall-socket current plus 12-volt DC electrical sources found on boats, other types of vehicles, and stand-alone car batteries. Image courtesy of mountiansportairguns.com Many manufacturers now produce very inexpensive 3-stage hand pumps that are capable of creating pressures up to 3650 psi. One manufacturer of hand-operated pumps now offers inexpensive 4-stage pumps that are easily capable of reaching 4500 psi. 3 and 4-stage high pressure air pumps look like traditional bicycle pumps, except they are a bit wider in their bodies. Multi-stage air pumps achieve their high pressures by having pump plungers of different sizes compress the gas. In a multi-stage manually powered pump, the first stage has a large plunger head that creates lower air pressures, the second stage has a smaller plunger head than the first stage which creates higher air pressures than the initial 37 pump chamber, and the 3rd and 4th stages have plunger heads that are very small so that they can achieve super-fly air pressure. The image above is a screen capture from a listing for a high-pressure manual air pump on ebay.com Notice that the pump pictured above does not cost very much, nor is it very heavy or bulky. The image above shows a listing for a 3-stage hand-operated air pump that is likely to be capable of pressuring an air gun's power reservoir up to 4500 PSI. Image courtesy of ebay.com 38 Air rifles from the 1500s—1800s only used single stage pumps that were capable of pressuring an air tank to around 800 psi, and operating pressures as low as 500 psi were also used to power big-bore hunting rifles. The big-bore hunting rifles of those days often used rotating cams as opposed to springs and hammers to open their firing valves after their triggers were pulled. The old low-pressure big-bore antique air rifles from previous centuries could achieve around 300 foot-pounds of energy by shooting 200— 400-grain lead balls that were pushed out of the rifles by air compressed to around 500—800-psi. So, yes, it is actually possible to make large air rifles that operate on surprisingly low pressure. The point behind mentioning the pressures inside of old air rifles is to emphasize the fact that air guns can be powered-up to useful levels of pressure even with air pumps that are home-made, powered by a person's arms, and rather basic — welcome to the ghetto. In contrast to newer air rifles, the very old types of compressed air rifles got their power by keeping their firing valves open for as long as possible, and by having long barrels, so this method of shooting by using low air pressure that pushes a piece of lead down a long runway does work, but this way of doing thigs offers limited power compared to the high-pressure "hard air" types of modern air guns. The best power offered by old- style low-pressure big-bore air rifles is around 400 foot-pounds. Thing is, 400 foot- pounds is enough muzzle energy to kill a large boar or an enemy combatant. The take-away from a discussion about low-pressure big-bore air rifles is to remember that if times become desperate, and even black powder is hard to acquire, then air guns can be still be made and used for hunting and rudimentary self-defense. Functional large-bore air rifles can be made with basic tools, even when nothing else is available, and crude hand-operated single-stage air pumps that are made from whatever materials are available can be also be used to charge hand-made braised copper pressure tanks. So, remember sports fans, it is possible to make rudimentary, low-pressure, home-made air rifles when other options for community and individual self-defense are limited11. 39 The image above features a Japanese Kunitomo air rifle. The image of a Kunitomo is included to provide a visual example of a low-pressure big bore air rifle that has a firing mechanism that is actuated by a rotating cam as opposed to a striking hammer. Image courtesy of blog.livedoor.jp The image seen above depicts a Japanese Kunitomo air rifle from the 1820s. An image of the Kunitomo air rifles from Japan is posted to provide an example of a low-pressure air rifle that uses a cam to actuate the release of air from the storage tank, as opposed to using a spring and hammer like most modern high-pressure air rifles. Image courtesy of blog.livedoor.jp 40