ALL AIR RIFLES OPERATE ON THE SAME BASIS: PRESSURED GAS (Usually Air) IS INSERTED BEHIND A PROJECTILE AND IT EXPELLS THE PULL. The differences between air rifles lie in the powerplants, how they are powered and how they operate. Each has pros and cons.
Most common are spring powered guns that use a coil spring and piston to compress air in the barrel behind a pellet or BB and when the trigger is pulled, this releases the compressed air which propels the projectile down the barrel and out the muzzle. This type of gun is available in both break barrel and side cocking models. These can be quite powerful and are often used for hunting small game or pests.
Another popular type of air rifle uses a pressurized air-storage tank instead of a spring and has a magazine to load multiple shots at a time. These are very efficient and are great for people who want the convenience of being able to shoot a lot of pellets at one time but don’t enjoy the shoulder ache that can come with pumping a springer.
And finally there are the gas ram and Co2 air rifles which use a cylinder of pressurized gas to fire a projectile down the barrel. These are much easier to use than springers and have the added benefit of being a lot more accurate. Serious airgunners often pair these types of guns with a precision, high-powered, dedicated air rifle scope as they can be difficult to sight in due to their incredibly fast rate of fire. air rifles