Yes, airguns can be lethal. While deaths from airguns are rare compared to conventional firearms, modern air rifles in particular generate more than enough energy to penetrate deep into soft tissue, damage vital organs, and cause fatal injuries. The risk depends on the power of the gun, the type of projectile, where it hits the body, and the distance of the shot.
How Much Energy It Takes to Cause Serious Harm
The key factor in whether an airgun can inflict a life-threatening wound is kinetic energy at the point of impact. A 2025 experimental study using pig skin (which closely resembles human skin in thickness and structure) tested .177 caliber air rifles at impact energies ranging from about 3 to 16 joules. The results showed that pellets fired above 7.5 joules of muzzle energy penetrated deep into soft tissue, enough to cause severe, life-threatening injuries. Even below that threshold, pellets still created wounds several centimeters deep at distances up to 20 or 30 meters.
For context, many common .177 and .22 caliber air rifles sold at sporting goods stores produce between 10 and 30 joules of muzzle energy, putting them well above the penetration threshold found in that study. The United Kingdom classifies any air weapon producing more than one joule as a “lethal barrelled weapon” under law, and air rifles exceeding 12 foot-pounds (about 16 joules) require a firearms certificate issued by police. Those legal thresholds exist precisely because regulators recognize the injury potential.
Where Modern Air Rifles Fall on the Power Spectrum
Airguns span an enormous range of power. At the low end, spring-piston pistols and entry-level rifles produce 5 to 15 foot-pounds of energy. Mid-range pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) rifles in .22 or .25 caliber commonly produce 30 to 60 foot-pounds. These are the guns most commonly used for pest control and small game hunting, and they carry real lethal potential at close range, especially with well-placed shots to vulnerable areas of the body.
At the high end, the gap between airguns and conventional firearms narrows dramatically. The Umarex Hammer, a .50 caliber big-bore air rifle, pushes a 550-grain slug at 760 feet per second, generating over 700 foot-pounds of muzzle energy. That is comparable to some handgun cartridges and more than enough to take large game like wild boar or deer. These big-bore air rifles are purpose-built hunting tools, not toys, and they are explicitly marketed for lethal use on animals weighing hundreds of pounds.
Pellets vs. Slugs and Why Shape Matters
The type of projectile changes how an airgun wound behaves. Traditional diabolo-shaped pellets (the waisted, skirted design most people picture) tend to penetrate in a relatively narrow channel and don’t expand much in tissue. Heavier pellets penetrate deeper simply because they carry more momentum at the same velocity.
Airgun slugs, which look more like short bullets, behave differently. A flat-nosed slug expands slightly on impact and creates a noticeably wider wound channel than a pellet of similar energy. Hollow-point slugs are even more dramatic: in ballistic testing, a 27-grain hollow-point slug penetrated only half as deep as a comparable flat-nose slug but left a much larger wound cavity. That trade-off between penetration depth and tissue damage mirrors what happens with expanding ammunition in conventional firearms. Slugs also retain velocity better over distance because of their superior aerodynamic shape, meaning they deliver more energy at longer ranges than pellets of the same caliber.
The Body Parts Most Vulnerable to Airgun Injuries
The eyes and the thin bone of the orbital socket represent the most dangerous point of entry. A pellet that enters through the eye can reach the brain with relatively little energy. In one documented case, a 14-year-old boy was struck in the left eye by an air gun pellet that penetrated through the orbit into the brain cavity. The pellet migrated to a major artery in the brain, causing paralysis on one side of his body and difficulty speaking. Cases like this occur at energy levels that many standard air rifles easily produce.
The temples, throat, and abdomen are also high-risk zones. Abdominal hits can perforate the bowel in multiple places, leading to internal bleeding and peritonitis, both of which can be fatal without emergency surgery. One forensic case report documented an air gun projectile that penetrated the abdominal wall and caused multiple bowel injuries. The chest is another concern: a pellet entering between the ribs can puncture a lung or, in rare cases, reach the heart.
Even areas that seem less vulnerable can produce dangerous injuries. Pellets that lodge in soft tissue near major blood vessels can cause slow internal bleeding that isn’t immediately obvious, which is part of what makes airgun injuries deceptive. The entry wound is often small and easy to underestimate.
How Often Airguns Actually Kill People
Fatal airgun injuries are genuinely rare. A 2025 scoping review of non-powder firearm injuries across high-income countries found that multiple studies spanning decades of data each identified only a single death in their study populations. One study covering Tennessee and the surrounding area over a 27-year period found one death in a person under 20. A national study of Sweden over 12 years found one air gun death. Studies from Maryland and North Carolina each found one death over their respective study periods.
The small numbers reflect the fact that most airgun injuries involve lower-powered guns, occur at non-critical body sites, or happen at distances where energy has dropped off. But the review also noted that airgun injuries regularly result in blindness, intensive care admissions, and major surgeries. The line between a serious injury and a fatal one often comes down to a few centimeters of shot placement. The review specifically flagged that some fatal and severe injuries occurred when people mistook a non-powder gun for something less dangerous.
Effective Range and Energy Drop-Off
Airguns lose energy faster than conventional firearms because their lightweight projectiles shed velocity quickly due to air resistance. A standard .177 or .22 air rifle becomes difficult to aim accurately beyond 40 to 50 yards under field conditions, and energy drops significantly over that distance. A .25 caliber PCP rifle can be effective on small game at around 50 yards, but stretching beyond that is unreliable.
This matters for lethality because a pellet that carries 20 foot-pounds at the muzzle might retain only a fraction of that energy at 80 or 100 yards. Big-bore air rifles firing heavy slugs retain energy better due to higher projectile mass, but even these fall off faster than centerfire rifle cartridges. The practical lethal range of most airguns is relatively short, typically under 50 yards for standard calibers. That said, at close range (under 10 to 15 meters), even a modestly powered air rifle produces enough energy to cause penetrating injuries to vulnerable body areas.
Why Airguns Are Often Underestimated
Part of the danger with airguns is perception. They’re quiet, produce little recoil, and are widely sold without the licensing requirements that apply to firearms in many jurisdictions. Many people associate them with tin-can plinking or childhood BB guns. But the modern airgun market includes weapons that produce energy levels overlapping with some conventional firearms. A big-bore air rifle generating 700 foot-pounds is not in the same category as a spring-piston BB gun producing 3 foot-pounds, yet both are called “airguns.”
The answer to whether airguns can be lethal is unambiguous: they can. The more useful question is which airguns, at what range, hitting what part of the body. A low-powered BB gun at 30 meters is unlikely to kill. A .25 caliber PCP rifle at 10 meters aimed at the head or torso carries serious lethal potential. A .50 caliber big-bore air rifle is a lethal weapon by any reasonable definition.