Well I don’t think most air gunners want “The Most Powerful.” There’s a market but you’ve been around long enough to know the old timers were 10m guys, that a Walther 55 or FWB is still desired by any air gun fanatic unless they’re in it purely for power, stealth, big bore hunting.
My State just legalized small game & varmints. This I finally see a justifiable in my mind reason to buy a custom barrel/complete build in 6mm/.243 or .257. I honestly did consider (still see positive points in) owning a RAW .357 as that would take me to 300 yards with 81 grain Diabolos without the worry of something that carries 50+fpe to 500 yards and could easily bounce off a field rock in any direction it wants.
To clarify I guess you’re talking production only guns with no modifications in claiming that title of most powerful? Because otherwise there’s Air Force guns doing over 900ftlbs. There’s other smaller semi custom big bores doing 1200 fpe on HPA & 1600 fpe on Helium. Also, if anyone never saw it, one fellow turned a monolithic brass 600 grain spire point & topped 3000ftlbs with a dump valve just to see if he could do it. When he posted that years ago guys pointed out he’d broken The World Record for pneumatic power & had beaten the .30-06. He wasn’t interested in being recognized by anyone but fellow forum members nor did he want that stigma attached to our sport.
There’s also the fact that NASA has been using compressed air for boosters & projectiles for quite a while. In a vacuum like space, 5000+ fps has been produced in testing. I don’t know projectile weight/fpe, barrel length or charging pressure but they’ve made anything we could ever do here look like a Red Ryder. Lol.
I’m curious about “The Hammer” though myself as it’s supposed to get 3 consistent shots with a lightning valve on a 3Kpsi fill & .50 caliber slug. I haven’t done the speed/weight to fpe that claims 700 fpe but I’m pretty sure it’s a 100 yard Whitetail rifle in main concept. I’m much more intrigued by Doug Noble’s, Boat Tail Bob’s, Nick & Dale’s work on higher BC.257’s that make shots on Coyotes & Groundhogs at 400-600 yards.