Airguns are generally cheaper to buy and for sure cheaper to shoot. Airguns can cost as little as $50-100 to buy while real guns in similar models will cost many time more. Cost of ammo is so much less expensive than Real Gun ammo by a mile!
Difficulty to Obtain:
Airguns in most countries do not require any licensing or registration. Generally there are more available options in Airgun choices than Real Gun choices as restrictions often prohibit many Real Guns to be obtained.
Places to Shoot:
Unless you live in a super remote locations and your laws allow you to shoot Real Guns in those locations, then in most cases you can shoot an Airgun almost anywhere within reason. You can even shoot certain Airgun models in your basement. Airsoft is a great option for indoor shooting as the plastic ammo does not carry very much energy so with minimal effort you can make a backstop that will trap the ammo very well.
Trigger Time:
Because ammo is much less expensive and places you can shoot are easier to find, you can get a lot more Trigger Time under your belt which will also improve your shotgun with Real Guns and after all it’s just fun to shoot guns even if they are Airguns.
Safety:
I am not talking about safety in terms of protection. I am talking about safety as in if you do something stupid and your Gun goes off accidentally. If you accidentally fire your Airgun indoors, the bullet will not travel through floors or walls and potentially harm or kill someone on the other side. If you do manage to shoot yourself with an Airgun, the consequence are much less severe than shooting yourself with a Real Gun. That said, always treat an Airgun as if it was a Real Loaded Gun, as server injury and even death can occur even with an Airgun.
Ware Games and Training Situations:
There is no way you can use a standard Real Gun to shoot at people, unless extensively altered with special parts that make the Real Gun unusable to shoot live ammo. With Airguns you have the choice of using an Airsoft or Paintball gun that are both designed specifically for this purpose.
Pest Control:
If you have the need for pest control in an urban area where you do not want a stray bullet to travel too far or penetrate buildings if a shot where to go awry, then an Airgun designed for accuracy and power may be perfect for the job. Accuracy with target and hunting Airguns is on par if not better than many Real Guns and are have powerful enough to kill a pest humanely without having too much power for the job and having to worry as much about your background.
Prop Guns:
As mentioned already, Airguns can look a lot like Real Guns, so they are perfect to be used as a stand-in or Prop Gun when you need to simulate the look and function of a Real Gun. Again they are easier and cheaper to obtain and if something does go wrong, the consequences are much less severe.
Social Stigma:
Unfortunately Real Guns and perhaps any gun these days are looked upon with a social stigma as being the cause of the Crime rather than a tool used in a Crime. And so people blame Guns for these crimes rather than the people committing these crimes. If a person is motivated enough to do something bad, they are going to do it either way and will use whatever means is available to them to commit these Crimes. Including other means like: Knives, Blunt Objects, Poisons, Vehicles, Explosives… Sad but true! Airguns are not used in homicides or mass shootings as they are completely underpowered for a crime like this. They can however be used in crimes as a show of threat, as they do look a lot like real guns, generally people that use Airguns for real crimes, if challenged will give up immediately as they are completely outgunned. Don’t bring an Airgun to a Real Gun fight, you have better chance with a knife!
For this Video 2 Accuracy Test I shoot all of the above listed Airguns at a paper target setup 30 feet down range using a semi rested shooting position with my hands resting on a sand bag up front and seated on a stool in the back. It’s not perfect but works well enough. I didn’t take a ton of time with each gun since there where 4 to shoot in this Field Test Shooting Video so accuracy may have been a bit better if I took a little more time with each gun.
In Video 2 I test the power and penetration of each Airgun option shooting at a pop can, a soup can and a toilet paper roll so make sure to watch that video if you have not already watched it.
For this Video 1 Power Test I shoot all of the above listed Airguns first at a pop can, then a soup can and then a toilet paper roll. The ides is to test penetration abilities with the pop and soup can and then raw force shooting the toilet paper as it will absorb all the energy from each airgun round and by gauging how much the toilet paper reacts or moves it should tell us which airgun has the most raw power or energy.
In Video 2 I will be testing accuracy using my standard 30 round paper target setup in the Replica Airguns Sea Can so stay posted for that upcoming video shortly…
I often have people ask me what is more powerful in terms of one gun over another and which Airguns have more raw power, BB versus, Pellet, versus Airsoft, versus Paintball?
Well in this indoor field test shooting video I compare all of the above head to head to see which Airgun not only has the most raw power but also how well they perform on a target setup 30 feet down range since after all what does it matter how powerful a gun is if it can not hit the target!
The Airguns I used in this head to head shooting performance test where as follows:
Keep in mind the ammunition for each Airgun is very different not just in terms of materials but also their weight which will have a big effect on the energy they produce. For example for this test I used 4.6 grain 4.5mm Steel BBs, 4.6 grain 6mm Aluminum Airsoft BB’s. 6.9 grain .177 cal. Lead Pellets and 17.7 grain .50 cal. Rubber Paintballs.
Watch my YouTube Video to see how well each Airgun did in this comparison shooting test!
The Umarex T4E TR50 .50 Caliber Paintball Revolver is an interesting Paintball pistol, it has a very different look and also uses .50 caliber Paintballs which are a little bit less common than the .68 and .43 caliber paintball gun I have been reviewing up until now. The Umarex T4E TR50 .50 Caliber Paintball Revolver is some countries is marketed as a self defense gun but those versions do have a little bit more fps and foot pounds of energy. The version I am testing is not marketed here in Canada or the US as self defense products but rather as more of a training Paintball Gun.
Starting with my Chronograph velocity test I placed 5 Rubber Balls through my Chronograph using a brand new CO2. The Rubber balls I am going to say are a little bit heavier than standard Paintballs and Umarex claims the Umarex T4E TR50 .50 Caliber Paintball Revolver is capable of hitting around 360 fps so with the heavier rubber balls I was expecting a little bit under the max fps. I was able to get an average of 328 fps so not bad at all.
Moving on to my accuracy test. I need up placing 10 of my 12 rounds into the paper target as I had two rounds that went off in what I am going to call an uncontrolled manor. The 10 rubber paintball rounds that did hit my paper target that was setup 30 feet down range all hit within about 6 inches of each other daily well centered left and right and a little bit low on the target. Gettin back to the uncontrolled shots, I had a situation where I pulled the trigger and the Umarex T4E TR50 .50 Caliber Paintball Revolver went click as you would expect but no CO2 was expelled and so no round was shot. I thought perhaps the cylinder was caught up so I went to wiggle it to try and free it up. As I did so the gun went off without my finger anywhere near the trigger. I am glad I was using rubber balls since the rubber ball hit my cabinet leaning a biota a mark but really causing any damage. This happened twice with the same cylinder, the second time I was bit more prepared for it and had the gun pointed well downrange. I was not able to recreate this problem again so perhaps the cylinder magazine was not seated properly but this still concerns me a bit.
Overall I really like the Umarex T4E TR50 .50 Caliber Paintball Revolver, it’s a pretty cool looking Paintball Gun with decent accuracy and power, you can even feel a little push back and barrel lift when you shoot it. I also like that you can preload a CO2 and puncture it whenever hypo are ready to shoot with a quick smack on the bottom of the grip. Just made sure to put the CO2 in the right way :)
