Is it Possible to Make a Large Caliber Air Gun?

Abstract

By gradually increasing the pressure inside an air gun (i.e., an air pressure tube), we measured the critical pressure necessary to fire a bullet (wad of material) from it. As a diameter of the barrel (tube), which is equal to the outer diameter of the bullet, and is proportional to the thickness of the bullet. These experimental results agree with theoretical results based on the idea that the pressure inside a barrel is equal to the friction between the barrel and the side of the bullet when the bullet is at rest. Therefore, it is hard to make a large caliber air gun that uses bullets created by pressing the barrel (tube) into some material.