One of the really intriguing itens seen at Media Day and SHOT is the Benjamin Pioneer Airbow.
It is based loosely on the Crosman Bulldog magnum air rifle. (Benjamin, Sheridan, and Crosman used to be separate companies. Benjamin and Sheridan combined years ago, then Crosman bought up both. The names still live on, but are under the Crosman banner.)
The Crosman Bulldog is a bullpup style PCP airgun that fires a 145 grain .357 cal bullet!
It needs a 36" barrel to develop suffient velocity, hence the bullpup design.
The brand new Benjy Pioneer Airbow is similar in style to the Bulldog, with some important differences.
The barrel is replaced with a long thin hollow tube. A special arrow is then slid down over this tube.
The special arrows need to be open at the rear end in order to slip over the tube, but as no bowstring is used, this is no problem.
The claimed velocity is ~450 fps.
For a gun, this is not very impressive, but is is wildly fast for an arrow!
And it is accurate as well. During the day, at least two "Robin Hoods" (one arrow impaled into the back of another) were shot.
More info here:
http://www.crosman.com/connect/introducing-the-benjamin-pioneer-airbow/
Buddy bottle shown also.
Bulldog, on which the Pioneer is based.
Crosman's Chip Hunnicutt