Humans have been developing handheld projectile weapons for a very long time, from the spear-throwers of the Paleolithic period to the gunpowder-loaded “hand cannons” which appeared in China around the 10th century. Air-powered projectile weapons are a newer development, but not as new as you might think. They’re actually one of the oldest types of pneumatic technology. You can find the earliest known example of an air rifle, which dates back to the late 1500s, in a museum in Stockholm. In the 1700s, the Lewis and Clark expedition utilized a Girandoni repeating air rifle — a 10-pound, 4-foot-long, .46-caliber behemoth of an air rifle — on their 8,000-mile voyage across the North American continent. The Girandoni took about 1,500 individual pumps to fill up the reservoir with enough air to fire a 22-round magazine, but it didn’t require a supply of consumable and highly volatile gunpowder.
These days, modern air rifles have powerplants much more efficient at pressurizing air, and there are several methods to accomplish this task:
Spring Powered: Also known as a “springer,” this style uses a coil spring and pump piston to compress air in a chamber separate from the barrel. Typically, a user must use a cocking lever to pull the piston back, compressing the spring. Pulling the trigger releases the spring, pushing the pump piston forward, and generating the pressure needed to fire a pellet or BB.
Pneumatic: Pneumatic air guns use air that’s been pressurized
