| As you might guess from the name, the Hatsan BullBoss air rifle is… hang on to your shorts… a bullpup design. If you’re not up on esoteric gun terminology, that means merely that the action is set far back in the stock. The chamber, magazine, and bolt are all located behind the grip and trigger area rather than in front as with more traditional rifle designs.
Other than looking cool, there’s a practical benefit to bullpups. You can make the overall profile much more compact without sacrificing barrel length. To a point, a longer barrel is a good thing as it can produce higher velocity. With a bullpup, you can get that velocity benefit of a longer barrel without a handling penalty in overall length. Also, much of the rifle weight is closer to your body, so it’s arguably easier to handle and hold the rifle. When you think about it this way, bullpups make a lot of sense. With a traditional design, you’re “wasting” a lot of space in the stock area that’s normally just useless wood or polymer material in the stock area. The bullpup model just puts that space to efficient use. |
