Gas-Spring Airguns
When we were first introduced to airguns such as the British Theobens and the Argentine Shark, and later the prototypes of the Beeman RX and Crow Magnum, which use air, or other gas, as the mainspring, we borrowed the term "gas-ram" to refer to their power mechanism. We have since adopted the more modern term of "gas-spring". It had become clear that the gas-ram term is both inappropriate and misleading. New airgunners, and even some rather experienced ones, were confused as to what sort of mechanism was meant by gas-ram. The ideas of gas ramming a pellet or of a plunger ramming against a pellet came to mind, but certainly neither is the case. The gas-ram term led many, even some who should have known better, to think that guns with such a mechanism did not even belong to the well known category of spring-piston airguns! It was proposed that shooters with such guns should not be allowed to enter shooting events for spring-piston or piston airguns. Of course, these are spring-piston guns in every sense of the term. They just use compressed, captive gas as a mainspring instead of a compressed piece of metal. Both use the same sort of piston to compress free air behind a projectile.
If we were to consider gas-ram as a logical term, then we should consider substituting "spring-ram" or "metal-ram" for airguns which use a metal mainspring. The gas-ram term seems to have been coined by one of the inventors of this mechanism. Much as I respect each of the involved inventors, I think that we should completely abandon the term. Let's make it clear and simple: there are both gas-spring and metal-spring versions of spring-piston airguns!
Robert D. Beeman
12 December 1994
Published by Airgun World in England in 1995 and U.S. Airgun in USA in 1996.
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http://www.sunshineairguns.com