Why are air rifles so heavy ?

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GunStuff308

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Owned a few different ones over the years and just picked up a Crossman Vantage due to its low noise.i
Why are they all so heavy, it's got to be 8 pounds minimum
 
I assuming due to the nature of a fast moving piston and a spring compressing. They make the tubes thicker. But even PCP can be heavy. My Kral was 11lbs.
 
Depends on the air rifle. The PAL rated ones are particularly heavy. I had a Gamo Hunter Extreme over 10 years ago, and that thing was 10lbs at least. Add a scope to it and it was a bit of a haul.

All of my non-PAL air rifles back then were much lighter - 5-6lbs on average. The most plastic ones were lighter and the wood frame ones (which I believe the Vantage is) are heavier.
 
thegazelle said:
Depends on the air rifle. The PAL rated ones are particularly heavy. I had a Gamo Hunter Extreme over 10 years ago, and that thing was 10lbs at least. Add a scope to it and it was a bit of a haul.

All of my non-PAL air rifles back then were much lighter - 5-6lbs on average. The most plastic ones were lighter and the wood frame ones (which I believe the Vantage is) are heavier.
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Weight doesn't change between PAL and NON PAL airguns. And if there is, maybe only an few grams, and that is depends if they're using a longer piston ( in case of some Crosman guns ) As most PCP are detuned by more restricted transfer port, and lighter hammer spring. Or in some guns, bleed holes.
 
OkayShooter said:
Weight doesn't change between PAL and NON PAL airguns. And if there is, maybe only an few grams, and that is depends if they're using a longer piston ( in case of some Crosman guns ) As most PCP are detuned by more restricted transfer port, and lighter hammer spring. Or in some guns, bleed holes.
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My apologies, I don't think my post was clear in what I was comparing. I was just saying that of the airguns I owned, the non-PAL ones (which were mostly plastic) were lighter than the PAL ones (mostly wood). I have never owned a PAL and non PAL version of the same gun, so I can't speak to that, but what you say makes sense - and you are right - I just think back how many Gamo PAL unique type of airguns I owned (Extreme CO2, Viper Express, etc. and those were all plastic even though they were PAL - and now that I think about it, it wasn't that heavy. My Diana 34 I think is a little over 7lbs.
 
GunStuff308 said:
Owned a few different ones over the years and just picked up a Crossman Vantage due to its low noise.i
Why are they all so heavy, it's got to be 8 pounds minimum
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Powerplant, especially for spring piston guns. Big steel piston and a big heavy mainspring. You get more power from one by increasing the power of the spring and/or volume of air being compressed (longer receiver/spring tube) so..
My HW30S is probably the best balanced of my air rifles, and is just over the PAL limit (about 670 fps).

I think the other part is that air rifles balance differently than firearms. Less material in the barrel up front and more in the powerplant in the rear give them a much different feel in the hand.
 
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I've looked at some that were crazy heavy, boat anchors in fact, with barrels you might almost see on a .50 mm. I thought it was to discourage child ownership or make people feel like it was a real gun or something.
 
All the Solid metal is the biggest factor, then the synth stocks are mostly hollow. That reduces a lot of weight and changes the balance as was said. As an aside, my SKS Tapco weighs more than 1.5# Over the Wood stock SKS I had a couple years ago - was a surprise when I got it. The solid plastic does help with balance, more to the rear.
 
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