Female complications, day 32 Pump action rifles.

After too early morning training with Jane in the gym, I sit and do the final work on the RC controller while I hope for slightly better weather. I have warned Iselin and Caecilia that I will try to propose to Kari today, but the weather is unpleasant, it's snowing and dreary this morning, so I may have to postpone that proposal for another day. According to the house barometer and my Fenix smartwatch, the barometric pressure is rising, and I just hope the weather will be nice enough. I have let the kitchen know to bake some cookies and buns, and Iselin and Caecilia is taking care of that.

My idea to make the proposal into something special has been frustrating, but I'm getting help to discreetly use the greenhouse as a nicer outdoor space for a fika. It's cool but heat from the boiler room keeps the greenhouse about +5C to +10C even when it was -10C outside, and it's cosy to sit in there with greenery all around with some snow lying against the outside and a bit on the roof windows, just watching the snow fall and swirl and still being able to enjoy it. Maybe I should make a permanent sunroom-solarium in the future, even though it doesn't need to be this big. Maybe a small glazed balcony as a sunroom-solarium in the attic and add some jalousie and cloth to block summer heat? It's a bit of a pain to have to go outside to get in here in the greenhouse, and it's impractical to build covered area all the way in to the greenhouse. Might be hard to make it look nice too. There are a couple of tables and chairs here in the greenhouse since the wedding because it's not the first time we have had fika or someone just enjoys the plants and view here. I store the rest of the chairs away so there is only a table and two chairs that can get fur pelts to make it nicer and warmer.

The fact that the weather is a bit unpleasant does not affect air rifle test shooting much, but is more an advantage as relatively few are out and about today, and it gives experience of bad and cold weather handling, and the shooting benches have a roof and some shelter from the wind and snow, so I bring Alith and Gunhild along to the shooting range to test the air rifle prototypes. A couple more upgraded bullet stops have been made and installed, and so have a couple of hanging round steel targets in really thick steel. I simply need to check ballistics at longer ranges, grouping and test if what I built is nice with practical pressure-force modes. I've shot from the workshop window to adjust the pressure regulator, check mechanics and roughly set the sights at 50 meters, and try to find suitable bullet weights, but my measurements are not that accurate. We only have eight 1000 cm³ tanks and two 750 cm³ tanks, so tests like this will have to be repeated many times, because I also have to try out a good heavy bullet, ballistics, and test two air rifles where one has semi-automatic capability. Of course Alith and others have participated in the test filling of the pressure tanks and seen my project with strange new 'thunder guns' although I have deliberately asked them to keep this secret, partially because there is no visible flintlock and there are those funny steel bottles-cylinders. Then the weapon is mostly brass too, and for them brass-bronze is not something really used in weapons. Steel and iron are for blade-egg weapons, and my flintlock weapons have barrels and so on in steel, but a few smaller parts in brass.

Once there, I explain, and given that they have heard the bangs and seen how the target planks have turned out, they absolutely understand the purpose, although they think it's sejd that there is no black powder in these guns. Just air pumped many hundreds of times.

I've already shot these guns many dozens of times while holding them, so no pull string and proofing needs to be done. We start with the pressure regulator and suppressor unscrewed. Three heavy 35 gram bullets at 50 meters and full power, and I note the manometer pressure after each shot. The 12 mm 35 gram bullet with around 850-900 joules of energy has an impressive effect on wood targets. I change the magazine to 'light' 15 gram bullets and fire three more shots, and they also have impressive effect. I know the exit velocity is higher, but it's not really noticeable on the drop at this short range and there is falling pressure and certainly some variation in my hand cast bullets. I know the pressure is dropping, but even the tenth shot is still very loud and hits very hard, and so do eleven and twelve. I've been able to notice the muzzle velocity drop, but it's certainly not a less-lethal weapon. It will be fun to try to calculate what shots series speeds from the recordings. The little manometer on the gun shows that it is possible to fire more shots that will be damned lethal, and we fire a very light wooden bullet. The sharp crack that echoes off the mountains means that the wooden bullet went through the sound barrier. Wow! Definitely not something I would have wanted to be hit by, and it will be fun trying to figure out the energy of that wooden bullet. I need to see effect on targets and see damage from other wooden bullets. How fast would a muzzle loaded arrow go?

But that is for the future, and we change the tank to another 1000 cm³, fill the magazine, and screw on the suppressor. Now we shot at medium power which is around 450 joules with the light 15 gram bullet. Two at 50 meters. Two at 100 meters. Three each at 150 meters and 200 meters, and finally five at 300 meters. There have been clear drops in muzzle velocity from the previous shot on the last five shots, and the progressively lower bullet velocity is clearly noticeable in the increasing drops at such a long distance, and with each shot the trajectory drops more, making it extra difficult to hit well. Analysing the sound recording will give better data on what speeds were reached, but I shoot two bullets on high power and thus faster muzzle velocity to see the difference in long distance bullet drop. The suppressor makes quite a difference.

Testing how many more shots can be fired with unregulated pressure just feels like wasting ammo, and we have data on how much the pressure drops after this many shots. I still don't know at what pressure and joule energy I should consider the tank 'exhausted', and it feels like that depends on the situation. Hunting is one thing. Combat where every bullet counts is another, because a wounded enemy is a wounded enemy. So I unscrew the tank, and screw in the internal pressure regulator, screw on a new tank and repeat the test. One advantage of the pressure regulator is that it is also a non-return valve for high pressure air that is in the internal pressure chamber, and thus it saves some high pressure air when changing the tank, and it also avoid unpleasant noise and air blast when a lot of high pressure air escape.

With regulated pressure there is not that 'hump' of increasing velocity during the first few shots, and not much difference at 100 meters, but the difference is noticeable and there is much more consistent bullet trajectory at long range. The manometer shows that the pressure drops more slowly, which means a few more shots, but being regulated the first shots wasted less air. A pressure regulated air rifle feels more or less required to actually hit a crouching or standing person at 150 meters or longer, so internal pressure regulators will become standard. The sound is also more consistent and lower, and lower sound is a nice bonus. Apart from a few parts and complexity, pressure regulation just have advantages.

We keep shooting to mark the ladder sights at 50 meter intervals to 400 meters, because I didn't make the ladder sight tall enough to mark further away, nor is it needed. We do markings for the lighter bullet with high power on one side and medium power on the other, and as hoped, the heavy bullet on high power is relatively close to the impact that the light bullet has on medium power, which is certainly good enough for a prototype. In the future, I will change the bullet weight on the heavy bullet and adjust medium power so their bullet trajectories is as similar as possible. The heavy slower bullet will still not be for really long distances due to too much bullet drop even if the pressure is well regulated. And then we will need to shoot to get the bullet spread and drop for different pressures and bullet weights and shapes, and check the wind effect. There is a lot of data to collect.

As expected, the bullet drop is so ridiculously large at 300 meters even with the lightest and fastest bullet, that just a 25 meter error in range estimation means that a standing person aimed at the chest will be missed. The bullet will go over or hit the ground depending on which way the distance error is, and the sight's rough rangefinder is not accurate enough at such long distances. Sure, I can measure distances to about 10% accuracy, which is what I hoped to achieve and good enough for 200 meters, but that's 30 meters at 300 meters, and the person could be shorter or taller than average, and without other people for comparison, it becomes impossible to tell. For example, I know how tall Alith, Gunhild and I are in relation to the standard person and can compensate, but an unknown person?

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

It's impractical to try to achieve more than the about 280 m/s that lighter 15 gram bullet have, because it simply wastes more air or means a longer barrel, and that's pretty close to the speed of sound in the winter and cold, which is about 325 m/s. And if a soldier is given a choice between more shots, or slightly less bullet drop at really long range where they shouldn't be shooting anyway and combat is unlikely to happen, I know what the average soldier chooses. I know what I choose. More shots. Regulated pressure at least give reasonably consistent bullet trajectory that 300 meter hits are possible, especially if the first shot's point of impact can be seen and corrected for, which also shows the benefit of having just one extra shot. Also, the semi-automatic system works well enough with about 0.1 second cycle time, and doesn't noticeably affect the amount of shots or their speeds when the tank starts to get empty. There is simply too much variation between tanks and shots to be noticed. Extra feed noise and the venting of spent air directed obliquely up and forward and diffused is not a problem, and if the shooter want to be quiet, the rifle can be cycle by hand. In really close range combat or in a building, semi-automatic fire will of course be a big advantage for rapid follow-up shots, so at least some future pump action guns will get it, if not all. Seems worth it to installing it in all.

I'm pleased that it is possible to shoot three 10 shot magazines and a total of 30 shots in 'medium' power 400 joule mode with semi-auto without losing too much bullet energy from first to last shot, even if last 10 have falling energy. Still 10 lethal shots and very useful at under 150 meters. I don't even know how many shots it can fire on low power mode, because I didn't make enough bullets to test, but more than 60 seems likely. In fact, 30 shots on medium is enough shots that lighter 750 cm³ tank feels like the better option. A little less weight is nice on something that is carried around every day, but very rarely if ever actually sees combat use. If combat is planned to be done, the larger tank can be screwed on and extra tanks and bullets taken along.

Also, the internal pressure chamber acts as an extra reserve if it is already filled, and I should test how many rounds can be fired without the tank screwed on, and what energies they get. Because in a combat situation where the tank is changed, the internal tank means that there are actually some extra rounds available, that can be fired if needed, even though the air rifle doesn't have a tank screwed in. So it is worth practising that the magazine is always changed first, and then the tank, so the weapon can still be fired. A clever enemy who thinks attacking while reload is a good idea, will get a lethal surprise. Maybe make the internal tank a bit longer?

Anyway, the vertical drop of the bullet will always be more unpredictable at longer ranges due to pressure, temperature etc, which is what I expected, and the plan for air rifles has always been what I consider to be 'shorter range' firearms for distances under 200 meters. For Alith and Gunhild, the ranges we shoot at is definitely not 'short range', and it takes time to walk to the targets to check hits and collect the lead residue from the bullet stops, and then back. A practical combat range of 150 to 200 meters isn't bad. It is likely that we will need the weapons for unplanned combat or defence, and then shot quantity and rapid fire are more important. Also, much of the countryside in this medieval world is forest or hills where there is rarely even 200 meters of visibility, and the primary ranged weapon the enemy will have is a bow. Most archers can't lob an arrow 200 meters and hope to hit a person even if the person is standing still and they get a quiver of arrows and no wind conditions. In a forest, 200 meter bow shots are a fantasy. These are not modern Midgård bows and strings made of carbon fibre, aluminium and advanced plastic-rubber materials and composites. Natural bows and bowstrings are affected by moisture, temperature and age, and no bow is exactly like another, and arrows have slightly different lengths, diameters and weights, and there is no perfect symmetry and balance. A good archer here will choose arrows that 'feel right' as they test flex and roll them on a surface, but it's not an exact measurement or data. At 30 meters in good weather, all those variables don't affect much, but at 100 meters there is a huge difference even in good weather and low wind. According to what Gunhild said she heard, a long distance archer proves himself by putting five arrows within a 1/20 radius at something like 70 paces, i.e. circle of 10 meters diameter at 100 meters. Five arrows in a 31 square meter area is an area weapon against clumps of lots of enemies. A good rifle shot puts five bullets within one ten-thousands of that area.

At longer ranges, a firearm is a very different thing from a bow or even a crossbow, and incredibly much easier to be accurate with, and that accuracy and spread is measured in centimeters.

So with air rifles or other firearms, it is of course an advantage to deliberately try to make the combat into a ranged combat at about 100 to 150 meters where it is quite easy to hit small targets with a firearm, and enemies with close-range weapons must advance towards you, which they may not be able to do due to nature, and their long-range weapons is very difficult to hit with. If you can kill the enemy, but they can't kill you, well ... that is just good tactics. Height of course also has its advantages. Camouflage and lying down also make you harder to spot, especially with semi-automatic mode where there is no need for big arm movements. Shooting through a gap under a raised small shield also provides good protection against falling arrows, and if the enemy tries to take cover behind their shields, they will learn how incredibly effective even the lightest of the air rifles lead bullets penetrates through a regular shield. Although it will probably be good tactics to take care of the less protected or dangerous enemies first and hope the enemy clump together under shields thinking they're safe, and then focus firepower. The air rifle shots might have limited stopping power if the enemy is close or rushing and shot placement is poor, so close combat is not optimal even with semi-automatic action and 850+ joules. So a bayonet is a very good idea and is already on the prototype weapons, but in some melee situations a shield and a sword will be better. Of course a weapon strap so the weapon can be let go or thrown on the back is already on the prototypes.

I have to admit that I could have done four power modes slash force settings on this air rifle design, I just didn't think of doing it, because something like the aforementioned 'low' mode is useful, but so is much lower energy setting with which we can shoot things like seagulls, rats and hares. 20 joules should be good enough for that, but I think it will be hard to limit the power to that low because the restriction hole will be so tiny, but even 50 joules will be many dozen shots. We can always adjust the power slash force levels afterwards as it's just a matter of replacing the restrictor disc, and I can actually upgrade these to four power modes very easily. And it is also possible to load lighter round balls or other stuff like a wooden bullet, and I have no idea what those bullet weights will get in energy at the very different power levels. I can't make a good rear sight for four power levels and three or four totally different bullet weights, so there will be a conversion table on the side, and round ball and wooden bullet will primarily be for small game hunting or pest control within 50 meters, or just target practice, and at 50 meters the point of impact should basically be the same. Many many tests, but it is not stupid to have four power modes, nor boring to do the tests. The only combat reason to fire lower power rounds at long range at enemies would be for intimidation and suppressive fire since so many rounds can be fired from a tank, so still no need to prioritise the rear sight for that. A simple conversion table is enough.

These are undoubtedly impressive firearms, which are relatively quiet without any smoke or pyro effect obscuring vision or giving away the position, and with the slightly lighter 750 cm³ tank should give 10 shots with high power, or 25+ shots with medium power, before the tank needs replacing. And I currently have ten tanks, eight of which are large. That's 300 shots at about 400 joules, or double that at about 160 joules. However, I need to test how the bullet effect is against a body, and a body with different types of armour such as leather, chain mail and plate. There will be many tests. On medium power, the air rifle is equivalent in energy and shot amount to a modern submachinegun like the H&K MP5, but heavier bullet, and the air rifle also has a 850+ joule power mode if needed. I wasn't expecting such high bullet energy though I was hoping. If deer, boar or similar are to be hunted, it will be done with the highest power setting and heaviest bullet, and when I started the project, I had not expected that such hunting could be done.

Even without a bulky and heavy extra tank, with 25+ rounds and flexible use and semi-automatic action, pump air rifles are definitely a better weapon to carry than muzzle-loading flintlock rifles or even double-barrelled shotguns.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.