Choosing a pellet rifle's weaponry
The cocking of the pellet rifle is divided into two steps: the compression of the gas or air and the placement of the pellet. Each of these steps can be manual or automatic.
Air compression
Air rifle
The air rifle is very easy to use. It is cocked by compressing a piston in a compression chamber (also called a "cylinder").
In most cases, simply lowering the barrel of the air rifle will cock the piston. In the case of a pellet rifle with a cocking lever, the cocking lever on the side of the rifle is simply operated. Once this is done, the pellet can be inserted into the barrel chamber. When the shooter pulls the trigger, the piston is released and held in place by the trigger. The movement of the piston compresses the air in the cylinder and propels the pellet out.
With the pellet rifle with side cocking lever and barrel break, the cocking must be renewed between each shot.
C02 rifle
Similar to compressed air, CO2 is a carbon dioxide gas that is stored in cartridges. In order to fire, the cartridge will first collide with the gun's bore. It will then release its gas and propel the pellet. The CO2 cartridge is placed in the stock or magazine of the rifle. The fact that you do not have to compress the air yourself allows you to shoot in bursts on certain models (between 20 and over 100 shots depending on the CO2 pellet rifle and the size of the cartridge).
Most CO2 cylinders weigh only about 12 grams and do not interfere with the handling of the weapon. They allow 60 shots in a row, knowing that from 40 shots the accuracy decreases. Once empty, it must be changed. However, as the cylinder only contains 8 or 10 pellets, the rifle will have to be reloaded several times before the CO2 cartridge is empty.
Pre-compressed air rifle
The PCP rifle is powered by air that has been pre-compressed using a high-pressure compressor, a scuba tank or a hand pump (similar to a bicycle pump). The pre-compressed air is stored in a chamber under the barrel of the weapon.
Lead placement
The pellet can be placed either manually between shots or automatically with a magazine.