Air guns

[Blarni]

While messing around in custom battles I encountered something I'd never heard of before:

The Windbüsche, the Austrian air gun. I had no idea they existed at that time, and that they were actually used in battle.

But they never really took it seems - why? With a 20-shot capacity, a decent range and a reasonable velocity (some sources say like a smaller handgun calibre) you would think this weapon had a future. Napoleon also apparently had a similar hate for them as he did rifles, which is saying something for them.

Does anyone know the pros and cons of this weapon?

[Mithradates]

cons

High production costs, (very)complicated maintenance and leaking/reloading problems with the air canisters.

Oh, and it was considered an "unhonorable" weapon because of its stealthiness.

[BigB]

Air guns had a lot of advantages. Silent firing. Faster rate of fire. No problems with powder getting wet. No need to carry powder or run out of powder.

I remember reading the Lewis and Clark expedition carried one for hunting. The animals dont get scared by the noise and you dont have to worry about running out of powder.

The Wiki entry on them describes some pretty scary weapons and says they were used as sniper weapons.

I have an old 22 cal. rifled bolt action air gun that could easily be used for hunting small game. Its very accurate and if its pumped up enough it hits very hard. Im afraid to use it much though because of its age.