The origin of air guns is by no means as clear as some would have us believe. The oldest existing air gun is a specimen in the Royal Danish Arsenal which dates from about 1590. The first mechanical air guns were bellows air guns. They used a spring loaded bellows in the butt of the air gun to provide a blast of air to a special dart when the trigger was tripped.

The most powerful early air guns were pump penumatics. They awere charged by pumping air into a strong, valved reservoir which was attached to or made part of the gun. Charging a reservoir could take from 200 to 2,000 strokes of the pump and produce pressures to well over 1,000 pounds per square inch.

The variety of early hunting airguns reflected the variety of hunting. One 18th century specimen in the Beeman collection is a solid .39 caliber carbine, only 40 inches long. Another, made by Hass from Germany in 1750 had a 33 inch shot barrel and about a .33 caliber. Big bore ai rguns were extremely popular with the wealthy sportsmen of Europe. Among the air guns in the Beeman collection are specimens of air carbines, about .45 caliber, possibly for boar hunting from horse back, and long air rifles for deer hunting.

Lewis and Clark carried a .36 caliber pneumatic air rifle on their famous expeditions of 1804. It served them well for both deer hunting and to astonish the Indians. Early airgun production in the United States centered around the gallery gun, a low powered gun utilizing a spring piston power plant. The guns were used during the period following the Civil War and were used mainly for shooting at paper targets.

The 20th century witnessed great strides into the field of adult air guns. In the 1970's Beemans blended American styling and increased power with the features of the European developments that has made precision adult air guns a shooting sport that can be enjoyed by most anyone.

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