The most powerful airgunPart 3

by Tom Gaylord

The most powerful big bore airgun is something that will always be in flux. Whatever I say, it will be wrong tomorrow when somebody tweaks a design or shoots a bullet that is 100 grains heavier.

When we held the Big Bore Airgun Championships in Maryland at the Damascus Airgun Show, we got to see a lot of great ideas. But one by Ray Apelles sort of typified what I just said. He took a Career 9mm single-shot and loaded a 275-grain lead slug in it. Through the chronograph he got credit for a lot more energy than that rifle is usually capable of. But at 50 yards there was not much accuracy. It wasn't a combination anyone would choose to hunt with. So on paper it was powerful - but not a combination anyone would ever use.

I am also talking about guns that can move autonomously in the field and can be fired from the shoulder. There are air cannons that are much more powerful than what I'll mention, but I would not consider them because they are mounted on a gun carriage.

Today, however, there are large-caliber airguns that do have accuracy. You can hunt with them and they will not fail you in the field. So I'm going to nominate one of them as the most powerful. Big Bore Bob has made a .79 caliber rifle that shoots a 1,005-grain lead slug generating over 1,000 foot-pounds. A bison was taken with this airgun.

There may be another gun I have overlooked, but this is the most powerful big bore I know about at this time.

If you have read all the postings to this topic, you begin to see why it is impossible to answer the often asked question, "What's the most powerful airgun in the world."

The most powerful airgun Part 2

by Tom Gaylord

The most powerful CO2 gun I know about is a cannon named CO2Much, built by Mike Chilco. It shoots a 3,123-grain cylindrical lead slug that's 1.12-inches in diameter (112 caliber). That is almost twice the size of the largest elephant rifle bullet known, which was a Holland 4-bore that weighs 4 ounces. It registered 395 f.p.s. through a Oehler 35P chronograph, which gives a muzzle energy of 1,082 foot-pounds.


It's a cannon, but CO2Much is the record-holder for powerful CO2 airguns.


A 7-ounce lead bullet shot from a long barrel is where the power comes from.

The gun weighs 16.5 pounds and has to be supported on a rest because it's too long for a man to hold comfortably. It kicks like a .50 BMG. It is smoothbore and only "barn-door" accurate at 50 yards. However, due to the mass of the bullet, if you were hit by it it would likely tear a hole clear through you or tear off a limb, like the Civil War cannons often did, when soldiers reached out to touch them and they bounced past.

The most powerful airgun Part 1

by Tom Gaylord

People like extremes, and new airgunners are always asking me what the most powerful airgun is. I will attempt to answer that today without being too cute.

You have to look at the powerplant
The type of powerplant determines the potential maximum for all airguns. Unlike firearms whose variables are few, airguns have one additional variable in the way the compressed air or gas is either generated or supplied. That variable makes all the difference in how much power can be generated by a gun.

Airguns come with many types of powerplants. The "big three" are spring piston, pneumatic and CO2. And right away, we have an "air" gun that doesn't really use air. The CO2 gun should actually be called a gas gun, I suppose, but then you'd have to differentiate between that and Freon, green gas, red gas, propane and I don't know how many others. So for this discussion, a CO2 gun is an airgun.

But it doesn't end there. There are also catapult guns that launch the projectile mechanically. Some are like slingshots, which is where the name catapult comes from.

And pneumatics break into three main types - precharged, multi-pump and single-stroke. So each of them has to be considered separately.

And let's not overlook the classic BB gun action seen in the Daisy lever action guns. It's a hybrid combination of a catapult and a spring piston powerplant. And, as long as we are talking BB guns I suppose we should consider the Crosman 350's strange poppet valve. The same valve is found in the M1 Carbine from Crosman. It's a type of spring piston in which the compressed air is restrained by the valve until the pressure rises over a certain point. Then it bursts through the poppet and blasts the BB on its way.

Let's consider spring piston guns first.
The most powerful spring piston airgun that I know of is the JW80 by Whiscombe. It has opposing pistons that come together like clapping hands. Each is powered by a separate mainspring and the rifle is cocked by three strokes on the cocking lever. I don't own a JW80, whose dual pistons are separated by 80mm, but I do have a JW75, which is nearly as powerful. I have seen 32 foot-pounds from my rifle, though 35 are possible with the heaviest pellets. A JW80 should exceed that by a foot-pound or two.


This JW75 is an underlever spring piston air rifle with dual opposed pistons. Separate springs drive them together like the clapping of hands, producing more power than any other spring piston gun, to the author's knowledge.

John Whiscombe has stopped making airguns, so the few that he made (a few hundred of each model, I'm guessing) are all that exist. Expect to pay at least $2,500 for a nice one with one barrel today. Many of them have interchangeable barrels and the one I own has all four calibers, which makes testing different caliber pellets in the same gun a breeze.

"It's a Daisy!" book is back in print!

by Tom Gaylord

Every new Daisy collector has to have this book that highlights the history of Daisy from the start through 1976. The author is Cass S. Hough, grandson of the founder of Daisy and, parenthetically, the first pilot to break the speed of sound.

Please buy several!
The original paperback book has been selling for $60-100, because so many people are interested in this subject. Here is a chance to get one for under $10 - something that probably won't happen again for another 30 years. If you buy several you'll have spares to sell at high prices in five years when people start asking where the book is again. Daisy has made this a 30th anniversary edition, which means there is a limited printing. When they're gone, they're gone for good and the prices start to climb again.

You can buy your copy(s) at the Daisy Museum store. They don't have a shopping cart, but just call 479 - 986 - 6873, 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday.


A book every BB gun enthusiast must have!

To protect collectors, this book is marked as a special edition, so we'll always be able to tell it from the first printing. And to protect the book, it was made 1/8-inch wider so the gutters could be larger. The original books often cracked at the spine from being opened too far.

This book has provided me with inspiration for my writing ever since it was first published. There are behind-the-scenes anecdotes on how Daisy grew, some of the competition they battled and even how certain pivotal decisions were made. If you have an interest in BB guns you must read this "It's a Daisy!".