Automatically-reloading air guns and methods of operation

An automatically-reloading air gun comprising:

• a frame;
• a firing chamber disposed in the frame to receive a projectile;
• a firing piston slidably carried by the frame and disposed at a rear end of the firing chamber;
• a release mechanism shiftable between an engaged position that retains the firing piston in a retracted position behind the firing chamber and a disengaged position that allows the firing piston to move forwardly into the firing chamber to an extended position;
• a return spring that urges the firing piston toward the retracted position;
• a barrel fixedly carried by the frame at a front end of the firing chamber;
• and
• a vent aperture through the frame and in fluid communication with the firing chamber;
• wherein actuation of the release mechanism from the engaged position to the disengaged position allows a charge of compressed gas behind the firing piston to slide the firing piston forward into the firing chamber to force a projectile in the firing chamber into the barrel;
• wherein the compressed gas can exhaust out of the vent aperture from the firing chamber when the firing piston is in the extended position;
• and
• wherein the return spring slides the firing piston rearwardly to the retracted position after the compressed gas has exhausted from the firing chamber to automatically reload a new projectile into the firing chamber.