homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

Dux:

It seems I've always had an air gun of some sort most of my life. I don't know much about them other than that I, my son and his son have had lotsa fun shooting them.

I guess an air gun (also air rifle or air pistol) is a rifle, pistol, or shotgun that fires projectiles by means of compressed air or other gas, in contrast to a firearm, which burns a propellant. Most air guns use metallic projectiles as ammunition. Air guns that only use plastic projectiles are classified as airsoft guns.

In the 17th century, air guns, in calibers .30�.51, were used to hunt big game deer and wild boar. These air rifles were charged using a pump to fill an air reservoir and gave velocities from 650�1,000 feet per second. They were also used in warfare.

There are different types of air guns available here. One type the most well known brand name of which I think is Benjamin is the air pump type and it can be used to dispatch small varmints, doggies, kitty cats, or your neighbor's dining room window. You are lucky to have that old gun. Do you shoot bbs or lead pellets in it? I do not know of any prohibition or regulation regarding the power or caliber of an air gun here. Each municipality and state probably has its own specific regulations.

We have several "air" rifles. I have an original "Daisy Eagle" that I received for my birthday at some point in the 50's after my Red Rider carbine shed its stock. My grandson has 5 "air" guns. Four are air soft guns and one is fully automatic. He has 3 air soft pistols. He also has an official Red Rider carbine. None of those are especially powerful.

We do not have an air rifle with a rifled barrel. I have an air gun catalog somewhere that is filled with the most magnificent match grade air rifles with glistening barrels and hand rubbed checkered stocks made from exotic woods. I have yet to buy one but I'd like to have one.

Back in the 80's I chanced to see and advertisement for a "machine gun" bb gun in a hunting magazine I was reading while waiting my turn in the chair at the barber shop. With permission, ( I was in plain sight and the barber was about to cut my hair). I clipped out the ad and ordered the thing. It came to us in good order and we had great fun with it.

The weapon looked deadly, somewhat like a military submachine gun and it was powered by a readily available (at the time) standard can of Freon or it could be attached to an air compressor. The power of that thing was remarkable. It held 1,000 bbs at a time and it would cut tin cans, cardboard boxes, 2 liter plastic soda bottles and small trees to ribbons. We still have it stored in the attic.

Sometime later I was reading a hunting book by one of my favorite authors, Peter Hathaway Capstick. In this interesting and humorous book he devoted an entire chapter to air guns and another to the same "machine gun" bb gun that I had bought. I was quite surprised and amused by that.

Reading his book was enough to get me to pull old "Deathspitter" out of its cardboard coffin and shoot it for another week or so before storing it again. Freon was much more expensive by then due to new EPA regulations. I only had a few cans saved up. when that ran out I put the gun in the attic where it remains today.