Air Gun Home :: View topic - What is your primary reason for airgunning?

prapor · Member

Before I just was repairing air rifles, and two years ago I designed and made his air rifle, now I work with her. boast not good, but took first place Smile

I love to shoot at the target and do air rifles

Remtom1200 · Member

Not sure if I posted anything here before. My primary reason for airgunning has to do with it being my childhood obsession and how I enjoyed it soo. I have my first and second air rifles today, and they are still as lethal as when I was 8 and 10 years old. I passed them down to my son,which he thinks they are the best pick up and go accurate of all our collection. Secondary its about a dad teaching his son safety, common sense, and the fun airguns can be. I am a single dad showing my son how I grew up and how I entertained myself as there was no internet and only one watchable TV station. Third is my addiction to small shop machining. I have made soon many things on my mini lathes over the years enhancing performance and appearance of my now custom airguns that the sky is the limit. Just sharing to the poll thanks

Mike Lanum · Banned

I do animal control and air guns allow me to remove unwanted pests in town without bothering to many people. Of course I have had the police called by people thinking I was some deranged sniper. So now as a matter of course I call the city police every time I go into a particular town and inform them of my intensions. Saves me having to go home and change my shorts whenever I get excited police officers pulling there weapons on me. That and I really enjoy shooting whenever I can.

rws48 · Member

I'm addicted to shooting.
I love the a.g. because they can be really accurate within a.g. range, can take small game, are quiet, and there is no shortage of pels.

Ledbetter122 · Member

I originally got into airgunning because every time I would go outside I would see Rabbits or Squirrels just sitting there almost saying "Cheese" waiting for a picture (and I love Rabbit and Squirrel).

The thing is I live in the city and could not fire my 12 GA or 22LR, and every time I seen a Rabbit or Squirrel I thought to myself "Man I could have popped him".

So I went to WalMart and seen some Pellet rifles (getting my nephew some airsoft pellets) and decided to try them out.

Now I plink targets on the weekends and do what I call "Laundry Room Window Hunting"

Robw · Veteran Member

Other -All of the above.

whosurmomma · New Member

my reason for owning a Crossman 1088 is simply because
I found it in a ditch all rusted and full of mud. I took it apart to clean and don't know how to put it back together.

'

icuppu · New Member

I got into air guns because I can't play with artillery pieces in a residential area, anymore, at least in this country.

The laws of physics are not just really good ideas, they actually apply to artillery pieces and air guns, so I love the calculations and maths involved.

For example,

Lead (Pb) has an atomic mass: 207.2 u ± 0.1 u, or 0.0002072 m^3 / mole, and an air molecule, at STP, has an atomic mass of 28.96 u, on average, or 0.02241396827 m^3 / mole.

So, 0.2241396827 / 0.0002072 = 108.1755225 rounded to 108 air molecules are needed to impart their kinetic energy to 1 lead molecule at STP, I suggest you wear a warm coat.

So what does that mean? It means that you can predict the future closer by having the most variables, and that in itself is exhilarating! The fun part is where you take the theoretical into the shop and onto the range to confirm the prediction with empirical data. Then its more than exhilarating when you get closer and closer to the theoretical by adding unknown variables being discovered until they both meet as they evolve with each new discovery.

For instance, have you ever wondered what the velocity change would be by changing the mass of a projectile? Say a 0.177 4.2 grain alloy pellet to an H&N 20 grain PileDriver lead pellet on the same gun?

I have and its a simple formula that changes very little from gun to gun, but you need two base values to predict a closer approximation with any other projectile, similar to finding the position of the ballistic coefficient (BC) on the curve because BC changes gradually in an upward curve once the projectile leaves the muzzle.

Keeping in mind that the heavier the projectile in the same gun will travel slower in the barrel, which translates to a longer time (t) for the compressed gas to accelerate it to a higher velocity, and allowing the momentum to increase and thus inertia change.

The analogy: the H&N 20 grain PileDriver is a semi truck, while the 4.2 grain alloy pellet is a Volkswagen Bug.

Putting the fpe increase from using the heavier projectile and the 120% velocity increase for the alloy pellet having less barrel resistance, the quick and dirty conversion would be the following:

4.2 gr x 1,650^2 / (2 x 9.80665 / 0.3048 x 7,000) = 25.4 fpe

sqrt(25.4 x (2 x 9.80665 / 0.3048 x 7000) / 20 gr) = 756 fps

feet per second (fps)
foot pound energy (fpe)
7,000 grains per pound
1,650 fps (A) for 4.2 grain (A) alloy pellet
756 fps (B) for 20 grain (B) lead pellet
9.80665 meters per second per second (gravity) by definition
25.4 mm per inch; reciprocating 1 / 25.4 = 0.3048
trips in an arc, one up and one down equals two (1 + 1 = 2)
square-root (sqrt())
299,792,458 meters per second (speed of light for quantum ballistics)
9,192,631,770 oscillations of Cesium 133 atom at 0 kelvin per second for quantum ballistics)
1.616229x10^-35 meter (the Planck length for quantum ballistics)

So, the formula would look something like the following, excluding quantum effects:

fps^2 A / fps^2 B = gr A / gr B (using ratios and proportions, isolate the unknown and plug in the knowns to calculate)

Say you didn't know what the velocity would be to use a 20 grain, but you chronograph-ed your 4.2 grain at 1,650 fps, e.g., the 0.177 GAMO Magnum advertised velocity, but no projectile mass given, so I'll assume the 4.2 grain was used, barring any dieseling effect, and a 1:1 resistance of alloy to lead.

(1,650 fps)^2 x 4.2 gr / 20 gr = (756 fps)^2

Or, vice versa

(756 fps)^2 x 20 gr / 4.2 gr = (1,650 fps)^2

The same can be done to reverse engineer back to the pressure required to push the mass at a certain velocity, even to interpolate a pressure peak curve using minor calculus with mechanical statistics. All the while obtaining new data on unknowns, but discovered variables to fine tune the final equation as it evolves into fruition.

That's why I got into air guns over 55 years ago and then took a 23 year break to play with artillery pieces. I got so good that on a calm day with good meteorological data I could hit a house at 25 Km with a 155 Howitzer. Who cares if the round went off then. BAM!

I'm back again and this time I'm armed with a 99 cent scientific calculator and a slide rule as back up. The abacus has been officially retired. You know what's weird? My counterparts still use the abacus and they're faster at calculating with it than most people using a scientific calculator.

Lets predict what that GAMO Magnum would shoot a 14.8 grain hunting pellet and adjusting for the increase lead resistance.

(1,650 fps)^2 x 4.2 gr / 1.2 / 14.8 gr = (802 fps)^2;

for 21 fpe. The magic pellet would be at or below 12 grains to obtain the maximum power with the best efficiency combination. Minor tweaks would only be required, but not major ones.

Cool?