Will FX Airguns Build Big Bore Air Rifles?

The question of what constitutes a Big Bore from smaller bores is not an easy answer. The following is an extract from an article published by the well respected and knowledgable Jim Chapman in from his article "Big Bore Airguns":

"Let’s take a minute to drill down on what constitutes a big bore airgun and what they are capable of doing. While big bore airguns go back a long way, standard production airgun fare has been .177, .20,.22, and .25, which made the .25 the king of the mountain. This was followed by guns in .308 and larger calibers that started to pop up on the air gunning radar screen with some regularity, and today there are more than a half dozen manufacturers offering big bore rifles. The common usage of “big bore” refers to airguns .30 caliber on up, however with the recent introuction of rifles in the .30 and .35 caliber designed to shoot Diabolo style pellets, I like to use the term midbore even if this gets a bit fuzzy with the higher powered .357 shooting cast slugs."

The entire article can be found using this link: http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/hunting/2014/03/big-bore-airguns/

As for FX making a larger caliber rifle in .35 or .45 caliber, my gut instinct tells me it's highly unlikely for them to produce a .35 or .45 using the Smooth Twist barrel. I base this on the premise that many large bore hunters like to use a slug similar to a bullet instead of a traditional thin waisted diablo style pellet. I had a .30 Bobcat and was given some slugs to try out and found they were difficult to load and were not nearly as accurate as traditional pellets. I suspect even had my Bobcat had twice the power, the heavier slug would have perform poorly.

Smooth twist barrels are chocked at the end of the barrel where the rifling is present. The larger and heavier caliber ammo would probably require rifling throughout the entire length of the barrel to allow the projectile time to develop it's proper spin prior to exiting the end of the barrel. If a larger and heavier slug is propelled down a smooth barrel, by the time it encounters the rifling grooves it would be too late and would essentially plow right through. That's my unscientific explanation as to why I doubt FX would make a 35 or larger ST rifle. However, knowing how inventive the FX folks are, nothing can be ruled out with certainty. 

I'm sure there are others with much more knowledge who can add to this.

A couple of points to remember (or bear in mind) with 'Big Bore' airguns are Air Use and Noise.

Both will be considerable!!!

I recall a review of the Beaumont (modded daystate rifle) that was undertaken about 4 years ago - fired from a kneeling position the air blast flattened the grass in front of the shooter and was considered to be louder than a 12 bore/gauge shotgun. That particular Beaumont was producing something like 90-100 foot/pounds and required refilling every 4 shots.

.357 here we come...