Noob question about type of rifle

[kajvid]

Howdy-

Complete newbie with a newbie question. I have been given a "Mendoza 900". It is 4.5mm and uses two parts to fire; a 4.5 pellet, and a small "rimfire" looking cartridge behind it. Hammer drop, single shot. 

Can someone please tell me what the name of this type of firing system is? Is it a true "airgun" or what class does it fall into? 

I can find nothing on the Google.

Thank you- David 

 

[biohazardman]

Could be a firearm if it uses a blank .22 cartridge to fire it. Seems like I saw something like that many years/decades back. Otherwise there are plenty of air guns that use a compressed air cartridge, not .22 size, that looks like a firearm shell casing to fire the pellet.

 

[Yo]

Do the hardware store blanks work? You know the ones with low bang then medium bang then the high BANG!!! Yo!

 

[jwrabbit123]

they called them here zip guns

 

[kajvid]

This is a .22 blank, i think. Little short thing. Pushed the 4.5mm/.177 pellet. This all makes sense. 

What's the consensus on this firing system? It's a lot of fun, I can tell you that. No idea what kind of speed this gets.