Gas rifles

Gas cylinder

— a type of pneumatics powered by interchangeable cartridges of gas, usually liquefied carbon dioxide. The most popular volume of such cartridges is 12 g, such tanks are very compact and at the same time contain enough gas for at least several dozen shots. There are rifles for larger, 88-gram containers, but even they often allow the installation of 12-gram containers through an adapter.

One of the advantages of gas-ballooned rifles is simplicity and ease of use: no need to fiddle with the cocking of the spring or refilling the built-in reservoir, changing the cartridge is easy and simple (often without any additional tools at all). At the same time, carbon dioxide keeps a stable pressure for a long time: it is maintained as long as carbon dioxide remains in the canister in the form of a liquid. This gives good repeatability of shots on a fresh gas station, although closer to the exhaustion of the charge, the speed of the bullet drops noticeably. But it is difficult to achieve high power in rifles of this type: only a few models provide an initial speed of more than 200 m / s. It is also worth noting that the gas pressure in the canister depends on the air temperature, in the cold it decreases; as a result, the ballistic characteristics of such pneumatics also depend on the weather.