Gene, my thoughts on the big bores. Compared to a Shadow 1000, the Quackenbush used in the "buffalo hunt" seems like Big Medicine. So do guns like the "Dragon Slayer" (good thing there really are no dragons, BTW!) These big bore shooters should try a black powder rifle to gain perspective. The .457 500 grain bullet at 700 fps is, to many muzzle loaders, a target load. 400 - 500 grain black powder bullets usually clock around 1400 fps. Even the cursed in-line guns shooting 240 grain pistol bullets are producing more power than most of the air guns.
But, getting away from the technical aspects, should the day come when you can buy a high powered air gun from PA, you will be seeing them regulated to some extent. And that regulation my have a trickle down effect all the way to the current springers. Something to think about.
Just a side note on buffalo, etc. Sometimes the trophy photo doesn't always tell the tale. I read of a hunter's quest for the North American Big Five, one of which is bison. He first had to enter a lottery and, after winning, was allowed to shoot a bull being culled from the herd. The animal was penned and the "hunter" shot it from an adjacent blind. Contrast that "hunt" to a fellow black powder hunter I knew who went after wild boar down in Mississippi using his Lyman Great Plains rifle of .54 with a 450 grain conical atop a very stout load of powder. He shot the boar through the shoulder and chest as it broke from cover about ten yards away, charging him. The animal continued past for another thirty yards. This was not one of the "pork freight trains barreling through the woods" variety. It measured longer than the man was tall when hung from a large tree limb for dressing out. Funny how these darned air guns hit so much harder.
