When I was a little tad wandering the hills and valleys of Allamakee County, Iowa, from the age of about eight until 12 or so, I almost always toted an air rifle on my adventures. (At about 12 years of age the Old Man was satisfied enough with my gun handling to let me carry a .22 instead.) I had a variety of air guns, from the inestimable Daisy million-shot Red Ryder-style lever piece to a pump-up Crosman 760 BB/pellet gun, which was capable of killing a rabbit or squirrel with a properly-placed shot – I did so, many times.
Air guns are also great practice pieces. In these days of wild innovation, you can get a near-perfect replica of many popular handguns and long guns in air-powered form, shooting either BBs/pellets or Airsoft projectiles, and they're cheap to shoot, have low recoil, are quiet, and are easy to find a place for some short-range plinking.
The fun part about air guns is that the federal government does not consider an air gun to be a firearm in the various gun laws. This not only allows kids to own and carry them around, subject to local laws, but it also allows some things you can’t do with a firearm.
For example: owning a BB machine gun.
Full-auto guns can be fun to shoot. I’ve fired the M16A1 rifle on full rock & roll, and I’ve fired the M60 and M2 machine guns – and if you want to know what it feels like to be Thor, God of Thunder, try shooting the M2 .50 caliber. The Old Man used to tell me how much fun it was to fire the M1 Thompson and the M3 Grease Gun, both of which he had the opportunity to shoot at one point or another during his WW2 service. And when I was a little kid, a friend and I once came up with our own, improvised BB machine gun that involved a sheet-metal hopper, a length of pipe, an air compressor, and some, shall we say, rural creativity. But that’s a story for another time.
But owning a full auto today, in the post-Hughes Amendment world, is expensive and an onerous process. Most people can’t or won’t subject themselves to that ordeal. But there are alternatives. Want an affordable, fully-auto shoulder arm? Well, amazingly, you can have one – but it won’t be a firearm. You can, however, buy a fully-auto air gun.
Here are a few examples of affordable, full-auto BB launchers you might find interesting. Bear in mind that, should you be sighted with one of these, you're liable to draw shrieks of "ASSAULT WEAPON" from any nearby hoplophobes.
See Related: WINNING: Illinois 'Assault Weapon' Ban Ruled Unconstitutional in Federal Court
Umarex Legends MP40 BB Submachine Gun.
A copy of the famous – or infamous – German MP40 submachine gun of WW2, this fun-looking little thing fires BB shot from a 52-round magazine, using two 12-gram CO2 cartridges, so you can contribute to climate change while mowing down rows of targets. It will fire in either semi- or full-auto modes, and features adjustable sights and a folding stock.
The Crosman – and I have quite a lot of experience with Crosman air guns, and have always been satisfied with them – looks a lot like a modernized, tacticool-ized AK-pattern carbine. Unlike the AK series, it shoots BBs in semi or full-auto modes, cranking out 1400 rounds per minute on full auto. It is heavy for an air gun – 8 pounds – but holds 28 BBs in the detachable magazine and has a Picatinny rail for optics, because why not?
Another select-fire BB gun, the replica of the old WW2 Grease Gun holds 60 BBs in the detachable magazine and, like the other guns, shoots either semi- or full-auto. Downside: According to the specs, a CO2 cartridge is only good for two magazines; that would seem to be a problem, requiring you to recharge your global warming gas reservoir with every other reload.
See Related: Sunday Gun Day Vol. II Ep. IX - the M1 Carbine and the .30 Carbine Cartridge
Finally (inevitably?), we come to a replica of the famous M1A1 Thompson submachine gun, which is the original Chicago Typewriter put into uniform. This replica uses a 30-round detachable magazine and two CO2 cartridges in the magazine, simplifying the recharge and reload by making it one movement. Like the original, it’s heavy, almost eight pounds, but it spits out BB shot at a respectable 435 feet per second, more than enough punch to bust clay pigeons or perforate empty pop cans.
Crosman R1 Full Auto BB Air Rifle.
Finally, another Crosman product, this one a send-up of the AR-15 platform. It looks to be a full-size replica, with a 25-round detachable magazine, using two global warming gas cartridges for power. According to the spec sheet, it should accept most AR-pattern accessories, including fore-ends, stocks, and sights.
There is a cautionary note in order here, though, related to the observation above about hoplophobes, and that is that any of these may be mistaken for a genuine firearm. That calls for some discretion on where/when one engages in some fun full-auto air gun action.
Full-auto shooting is fun. It’s not the greatest thing for accuracy, but that’s another fun thing about a CO2-powered air gun; recoil is essentially non-existent, and you can spray and pray to your heart’s content, with no more recoil that you'd get from a garden hose. It’s legal, and it’s fun – what more could you want?
