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Zombie Hunter
Sherlock Holmes aficionados know the story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tired of writing the stories, killed off Holmes by having him fall off a cliff while battling his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty.
Overwhelming public outcry forced Doyle to bring Holmes back and in the first story of his return, the henchmen of his dead nemesis were still hunting him. In the story, Holmes assassin used an air rifle.
Now when most Americans hear "air rifle", they think "BB gun". And rural Americans from my era will recall "BB gun wars". Before paintball or airsoft, kids who didn't have a Hunter Safety instructor for a father often chased each other around with BB guns, pumped with only one pump, causing much pain and entertainment. But I digress. The point is, we don't generally take air rifles as seriously as, say, our European counterparts.
But this month's "American Rifleman" has a nice review of the Benjamin Discovery. It's an air rifle that will power a 20 grain .22 cal bullet to around 800 fps.
True, when you compare that with the ballistics of a gunpowder rifle, it comes up short--the bullet is half the weight and exits the muzzle at 200fps less. A .22 is certainly a less than optimal round for stopping a man and a suppressor on a traditional rifle could probably get the noise level close to that of an air rifle's report. Still. .22s have been used to kill people or guard dogs. And I find it interesting that this "BB gun" approaches the lethality of a .22. If I were writing a thriller or spy story, I'd have to consider using it in the story.
Overwhelming public outcry forced Doyle to bring Holmes back and in the first story of his return, the henchmen of his dead nemesis were still hunting him. In the story, Holmes assassin used an air rifle.
Now when most Americans hear "air rifle", they think "BB gun". And rural Americans from my era will recall "BB gun wars". Before paintball or airsoft, kids who didn't have a Hunter Safety instructor for a father often chased each other around with BB guns, pumped with only one pump, causing much pain and entertainment. But I digress. The point is, we don't generally take air rifles as seriously as, say, our European counterparts.
But this month's "American Rifleman" has a nice review of the Benjamin Discovery. It's an air rifle that will power a 20 grain .22 cal bullet to around 800 fps.
True, when you compare that with the ballistics of a gunpowder rifle, it comes up short--the bullet is half the weight and exits the muzzle at 200fps less. A .22 is certainly a less than optimal round for stopping a man and a suppressor on a traditional rifle could probably get the noise level close to that of an air rifle's report. Still. .22s have been used to kill people or guard dogs. And I find it interesting that this "BB gun" approaches the lethality of a .22. If I were writing a thriller or spy story, I'd have to consider using it in the story.