My first CO2 air pistol back in the 1960s was a Crosman 600. Like most of the replica styled CO2 and airsoft pistols I've had since then, it was a bit large but otherwise it looked like a fairly typical firearm pistol or revolver.
Recently I ordered a Weihrauch HW44 which I understand is actually their carbine action mounted in a pistol stock and having an extended shroud past the end of the barrel. And like so many other PCP pistols, especially any generating over ~15fpe, it's really quite large and long to be considered as a pistol. I'd still consider them to be air pistols though because they can be aimed and fired with one hand. Even if some of them are approaching the size of a compact air carbine with a small shoulder stock.
Last year I picked up a fairly small 6 shot semiautomatic First Stike FSC compact pistol which uses small CO2 cartridges to shoot 110gr .68 cal round balls at about 20fpe. With a 9ci HPA tank in back & a longer barrel it gets ~30+fpe with velocity in mid-300s and ~1 inch accuracy at 10 yards. It's not a sharp shooter by any means but it is a little powerhouse. I've searched and don't see any small .68 cal CO2 markers like this mentioned in the air pistol forums even though they share most of the same technology as the more classic mainstream lead-shooting air pistols historically used for target practice and plinking. The FSC is small enough to be aimed and fired using only one hand and uses CO2 cartridges but never gets mentioned.
My guess is that paintball tech doesn't get mentioned on regular airgun forms because the paintball folks like to shoot at each other for fun. While the regular airgun folks, me anyway, would never ever do something dangerous like that. I go ballistic if either of my sons even swings the barrel of an unloaded rifle past me. The technology which is used in the Weihrauch vs the First Strike devices doesn't make those end use distinctions. So maybe small paintball markers which shoot .68 balls aren't considered to be air pistols in the forums because they can also shoot paintballs. Come to think of it, I doubt that the paintball forums discuss 'regular' airgun tech developments very often. They've already been using large caliber select fire HPA air devices with 100+round spring fed hoppers for years. There isn't much new being done with regular air pistol designs which would benefit them. Maybe airgun sights.
And at the other end of the air pistol category, and possibly too large to fit, would be a recently sold Umarex Air Saber HPA arrow rifle with the butt stock sawn off so that it made a large pistol. If something that long can still be considered as a pistol and not a punt gun. It was fairly light in front but it still took two hands to hold that one steady while aiming, and it was still as long as a regular carbine even without the butt stock. So it probably shouldn't be considered as an air pistol after all. It was fun though.
This AEA 357 Terminator was another butt-stock removal to make a long 2-handed front heavy semiauto pistol.
Many of the AEA products have a pistol grip and an air cylinder under the barrel and a removeable or folding rear stock.
Too front heavy and long to be considered as an actual air pistol despite the pistol grip. Maybe a distant relative.
A cut down 25fpe to 30fpe Air Javelin (below) running on CO2 or HPA air makes another pistol grip arrow launcher in the over-sized pistol category. This one about 19 inches but the a standard Javelin arrow protrudes from the end of the barrel by an extra 3 or 4 inches when it's loaded. Just light enough to aim and fire with one hand, though easier and safer for bystanders when using 2 hands. Non-shooters seem to prefer this one to regular .22 airguns since they can see the arrows flying into the target instead of just seeing some tiny pellet holes. Plus it makes a satisfyingly loud but not alarming amount of noise when it's fired.
My favorite air pistol right now is a .30 AEA SS Plus 8-shot semiauto carbine with the folding stock removed. It's short enough and accurate enough and has external power adjustment from 30fpe to 48fpe. With a 5mW green laser mounted in the deep groove between the barrel shroud & air tank (can just see it in the narrow gap below), and either a scope or a reflex sight up top, it can be fired from almost any position. It requires 2 hands to hold steady if raised to eye level to use the scope. But it can be fired with one hand easily enough if it's braced against your side and aimed using a laser beam sight. So I'd consider this one at the top edge of the air pistol category. Whatever it's called, this ~19 inch long .30 SS+ is a serious contender in any short-range compact airgun category.
For keeping up general pistol skills though I prefer using a branded CO2 metal blow-back replica of a commercial firearm.
As far as the technology of airgun pistols goes, we already have a wide variety of options in size and powerplant and power levels to choose from with more on the way. But we still don't have the magic combo of small size, light weight, larger calibers, high FPE with externally adjustable power levels, high shot count, and all of that with no sharp identifying noises at discharge, from either the action or from the end of the barrel. We're not there yet, maybe we can get 4 possibly 5 out of the 7 now depending on how we define each of the terms. And if we don't consider a retail cost as a limitation.
We're getting there though, technically it's just a matter of time and market demand and evolving local regulations.
But I still liked that old .22 CO2 Crosman 600 semiauto as much as any of them. I doubt that it ever saw 4fpe even on a summer day, you could watch the pellet travel after you fired it. But it sounded like an artillery cannon to me when I was 10. With a gratifyingly large and visible cloud of CO2/water vapor (looked like smoke!) coming out of the end. The only thing I would have considered trading it for would have been one of those little disintegrator ray guns which Flash Gordon was always using to spray sparks around with on the old TV shows.
Luckily for the neighborhood that 10 yo boy never got his hands on one of those ray guns. I'd still like to have one ... just to try it of course.
But as an adult I'd be much more careful now and always wear my safety glasses. Maybe if I could find a pack of those little individually wrapped bubble gums now I'd finally find an ad inside the wrapper for a ray gun. Those gum wrappers were the internet ads for kids of 50 years ago. X-ray glasses, periscopes, walkie-talkies (2 empty soup cans and a long piece of string). Never saw a ray gun for sale back when I was a kid though, and I checked enough of those goofy gum wrapper ads to keep our family dentist living in style for a few years back in the 60s.
JP
Recently I ordered a Weihrauch HW44 which I understand is actually their carbine action mounted in a pistol stock and having an extended shroud past the end of the barrel. And like so many other PCP pistols, especially any generating over ~15fpe, it's really quite large and long to be considered as a pistol. I'd still consider them to be air pistols though because they can be aimed and fired with one hand. Even if some of them are approaching the size of a compact air carbine with a small shoulder stock.
Last year I picked up a fairly small 6 shot semiautomatic First Stike FSC compact pistol which uses small CO2 cartridges to shoot 110gr .68 cal round balls at about 20fpe. With a 9ci HPA tank in back & a longer barrel it gets ~30+fpe with velocity in mid-300s and ~1 inch accuracy at 10 yards. It's not a sharp shooter by any means but it is a little powerhouse. I've searched and don't see any small .68 cal CO2 markers like this mentioned in the air pistol forums even though they share most of the same technology as the more classic mainstream lead-shooting air pistols historically used for target practice and plinking. The FSC is small enough to be aimed and fired using only one hand and uses CO2 cartridges but never gets mentioned.
My guess is that paintball tech doesn't get mentioned on regular airgun forms because the paintball folks like to shoot at each other for fun. While the regular airgun folks, me anyway, would never ever do something dangerous like that. I go ballistic if either of my sons even swings the barrel of an unloaded rifle past me. The technology which is used in the Weihrauch vs the First Strike devices doesn't make those end use distinctions. So maybe small paintball markers which shoot .68 balls aren't considered to be air pistols in the forums because they can also shoot paintballs. Come to think of it, I doubt that the paintball forums discuss 'regular' airgun tech developments very often. They've already been using large caliber select fire HPA air devices with 100+round spring fed hoppers for years. There isn't much new being done with regular air pistol designs which would benefit them. Maybe airgun sights.
And at the other end of the air pistol category, and possibly too large to fit, would be a recently sold Umarex Air Saber HPA arrow rifle with the butt stock sawn off so that it made a large pistol. If something that long can still be considered as a pistol and not a punt gun. It was fairly light in front but it still took two hands to hold that one steady while aiming, and it was still as long as a regular carbine even without the butt stock. So it probably shouldn't be considered as an air pistol after all. It was fun though.
This AEA 357 Terminator was another butt-stock removal to make a long 2-handed front heavy semiauto pistol.
Many of the AEA products have a pistol grip and an air cylinder under the barrel and a removeable or folding rear stock.
Too front heavy and long to be considered as an actual air pistol despite the pistol grip. Maybe a distant relative.
A cut down 25fpe to 30fpe Air Javelin (below) running on CO2 or HPA air makes another pistol grip arrow launcher in the over-sized pistol category. This one about 19 inches but the a standard Javelin arrow protrudes from the end of the barrel by an extra 3 or 4 inches when it's loaded. Just light enough to aim and fire with one hand, though easier and safer for bystanders when using 2 hands. Non-shooters seem to prefer this one to regular .22 airguns since they can see the arrows flying into the target instead of just seeing some tiny pellet holes. Plus it makes a satisfyingly loud but not alarming amount of noise when it's fired.
My favorite air pistol right now is a .30 AEA SS Plus 8-shot semiauto carbine with the folding stock removed. It's short enough and accurate enough and has external power adjustment from 30fpe to 48fpe. With a 5mW green laser mounted in the deep groove between the barrel shroud & air tank (can just see it in the narrow gap below), and either a scope or a reflex sight up top, it can be fired from almost any position. It requires 2 hands to hold steady if raised to eye level to use the scope. But it can be fired with one hand easily enough if it's braced against your side and aimed using a laser beam sight. So I'd consider this one at the top edge of the air pistol category. Whatever it's called, this ~19 inch long .30 SS+ is a serious contender in any short-range compact airgun category.
For keeping up general pistol skills though I prefer using a branded CO2 metal blow-back replica of a commercial firearm.
As far as the technology of airgun pistols goes, we already have a wide variety of options in size and powerplant and power levels to choose from with more on the way. But we still don't have the magic combo of small size, light weight, larger calibers, high FPE with externally adjustable power levels, high shot count, and all of that with no sharp identifying noises at discharge, from either the action or from the end of the barrel. We're not there yet, maybe we can get 4 possibly 5 out of the 7 now depending on how we define each of the terms. And if we don't consider a retail cost as a limitation.
We're getting there though, technically it's just a matter of time and market demand and evolving local regulations.
But I still liked that old .22 CO2 Crosman 600 semiauto as much as any of them. I doubt that it ever saw 4fpe even on a summer day, you could watch the pellet travel after you fired it. But it sounded like an artillery cannon to me when I was 10. With a gratifyingly large and visible cloud of CO2/water vapor (looked like smoke!) coming out of the end. The only thing I would have considered trading it for would have been one of those little disintegrator ray guns which Flash Gordon was always using to spray sparks around with on the old TV shows.
Luckily for the neighborhood that 10 yo boy never got his hands on one of those ray guns. I'd still like to have one ... just to try it of course.
But as an adult I'd be much more careful now and always wear my safety glasses. Maybe if I could find a pack of those little individually wrapped bubble gums now I'd finally find an ad inside the wrapper for a ray gun. Those gum wrappers were the internet ads for kids of 50 years ago. X-ray glasses, periscopes, walkie-talkies (2 empty soup cans and a long piece of string). Never saw a ray gun for sale back when I was a kid though, and I checked enough of those goofy gum wrapper ads to keep our family dentist living in style for a few years back in the 60s.
JP
