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Full-auto air rifles are a strange corner of the airgun world. They’re not hunting tools, they’re not serious target guns, and nobody’s using one to keep the hawks off the chickens. What they are is the cheapest way on earth to feel what a rate-of-fire switch does — and that’s a real thing to want.
The catch is that the fun is metered. Every one of these has a running cost, and the differences between them are bigger than the price tags suggest. A CO2 full-auto burns two 12-gram cartridges to empty one magazine. A battery-powered one burns electricity. A PCP burns air you compressed yourself, which means you either own a compressor or you’re driving to a dive shop. Before you fall in love with a rate-of-fire number, price out what it takes to pull the trigger a thousand times.
This guide sorts the ten rifles below by what actually drives them, because that’s the decision — not the picatinny rails. Everything stated here about a specific rifle comes from what the manufacturer publishes on its own listing.
What full-auto in an air rifle actually means
It means a valve stays open while your finger stays down, and BBs leave in a hurry. That’s it. There’s no gas system, no reciprocating bolt cycling live rounds, no legal category being crossed — these are BB and pellet guns that copy the manner of automatic fire, not the mechanism.
What you get is the sound and the rhythm, plus a magazine that goes empty faster than you expect. Crosman says the R1 empties 25 rounds in about a second. Read that again before you buy a case of BBs. A second of trigger time is a whole magazine, and then you’re reloading.
Semi-auto is the other half of this category and it’s the half most people actually shoot more. One shot per trigger pull, no cocking between shots. That’s what makes plinking pleasant — you’re not working a lever every time you want to hit a can.
CO2, battery, or air: the running cost is the real spec
CO2 is the default here and it’s the most expensive way to have this kind of fun. The full-auto CO2 rifles below run on two 12-gram cartridges at a time, and they burn through them fast because the gas is doing double duty: pushing the BB and cycling the blowback. Cold weather makes it worse — CO2 pressure drops as temperature drops, which is basic physics, not a defect in any particular gun.
Battery power is the alternative, and Barra makes a specific claim about it: they say the 400e Gen 2 is more than 100X cheaper to operate than a full auto CO2 air rifle, and that a 3S (11.1V) LiPo battery is good for over 1000 shots per charge. That’s a manufacturer’s number, and manufacturers pick flattering conditions. But the direction is obviously right — a charge costs pennies and a pair of CO2 cartridges doesn’t.
PCP is the third path. Pre-charged pneumatic means a reservoir of high-pressure air you fill yourself. The rifle is the cheap part. The compressor, hand pump, or dive-shop tank fill is the part people forget, and it’s the difference between shooting all afternoon and shooting until the gauge drops. Do not buy a PCP without pricing the air supply first.
BBs or pellets — this decides where you can shoot
Steel BBs are round and they bounce. That’s the whole issue. A BB that hits anything hard — a steel target, a rock, a fence post — can come back at you, and it doesn’t lose much speed doing it. Full-auto BB guns are mostly a BB proposition because round steel feeds reliably at speed, which is exactly why you need a backstop that swallows rather than deflects. A hanging carpet or a purpose-built trap, not a plate leaned against the barn.
Pellets are lead, shaped to deform, and they’re what you want for accuracy. The rifled barrel guns in this list shoot .177 pellets, and rifling only helps a projectile that engages it — a pellet does, a round BB mostly doesn’t. If you care about hitting the same spot twice, you want a pellet gun.
So the practical read: full-auto for the experience, pellets for the shooting. A couple of the guns below try to be both, and one of them is a pellet gun with a 30-round magazine, which is an unusual combination.
Eye protection and where the pellets end up
Wear safety glasses. Everyone shooting, everyone watching. Steel BBs bounce, and this is the whole argument in one sentence.
The other thing is your property line. Full-auto means volume, and volume means stray shots you didn’t plan on. Know what’s behind your target for a lot farther than you think you need to, and check your state and local rules — some places treat air rifles the same as firearms for discharge purposes, some don’t care at all, and a few draw the line at velocity. It’s a five-minute search that saves an unpleasant conversation.
Most of these rifles look like the firearms they’re modeled on. That’s the point of the design, and it’s also a reason to be thoughtful about where you carry one and who sees you shooting it.
How to read the listings on these
Manufacturer velocity is a ceiling, not an average. When a listing says up to 450 FPS, that’s the best case — fresh CO2, warm day, the lightest projectile the gun takes. Real numbers run under it, and they drop as the cartridge empties. Treat every velocity in this guide the same way: it’s the manufacturer’s own figure, quoted honestly, and your chronograph will disagree slightly.
Rate of fire numbers are the same kind of claim. 1400 rounds per minute sounds enormous until you notice the magazine holds 25 — the gun isn’t firing for a minute, it’s firing for a fraction of a second. The RPM figure tells you how fast the mechanism cycles, not how long the fun lasts.
And read the listing for what it doesn’t say. One of the rifles below has a spec sheet where every feature bullet is the same line of text repeated, and a weight that clearly belongs to a different measurement than the shipping box. When a listing won’t tell you the basics, that’s information too.
Full-Auto and Semi-Auto Air Rifles
1. Crosman Full Auto R1 CO2 BB Air Rifle with 25-Round Magazine
This is the one most people picture when they hear “full-auto BB gun.” Crosman puts a lever on it that switches between aimed single shots and 1400 rounds per minute, and says the rifle empties 25 rounds in about a second when you flip it over. That figure is worth sitting with — a magazine is roughly one trigger pull’s worth of time.
The magazine is the clever part. Crosman built it to carry both the BBs and the two CO2 cartridges together, so it drops out of the bottom as one unit and a fresh one goes straight in. That keeps the weight centered and turns a reload into something you can do without unscrewing anything. It also means every spare magazine you buy is a spare gas system, and you’ll want spares.
Crosman describes the R1 as built with a heavy feel and a blowback action that kicks against your shoulder on every shot. The 6-position stock adjusts to your arm, and there are rails on all four sides of the barrel for a red dot, a light, or a grip. The listing’s weight field reads a fraction of an ounce, which is obviously a data-entry error rather than a description of the rifle — ignore it and judge the size from the photos.
Best for: The classic full-auto experience with the fastest reloads in the group
Listed at $169.79 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy.
2. Barra Airguns 400e Gen 2 Polymer Full Auto Battery-Powered BB Gun Kit
This is the one that solves the running-cost problem, and it’s the most interesting gun on the list because of it. Barra runs it on an 11.1V LiPo battery — the same kind used in RC toys — and claims over 1000 shots per charge and more than 100X cheaper to operate than a full auto CO2 air rifle. Even if you haircut that claim hard, the gap is enormous. No cartridges to buy, no cold-weather pressure drop, no fumbling with a wrench mid-session.
The magazine is 50 rounds, and Barra says that’s 4X longer shooting than comparable fully automatic CO2 rifles before needing a mag change — over 5 seconds on full-auto at a 500-600 RPM rate of fire. That’s a slower cycle rate than the CO2 guns here, and it’s the better trade: you’re trading peak RPM for shooting time you can actually use. Velocity runs 430-440 fps per Barra’s spec.
The frame is polymer, which keeps it light at 5 pounds. The kit includes the battery, the charger, and a speed loader, so there’s nothing else to price out before your first session. Barra calls it the first and only production fully automatic BB gun powered completely by electricity — that’s their claim about their own product, and it’s the kind of thing worth knowing they’re staking.
Best for: Anyone who plans to shoot full-auto often enough that CO2 cost matters
Listed at $300.00 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy. Amazon is showing limited quantities on this one.
3. Umarex StrikeForce Full Auto .177 Caliber BB Gun Air Rifle
The StrikeForce is Umarex’s straightforward take on the format: dual action full-auto or semi-auto, a 30-round drop-free magazine, and two 12-gram CO2 capsules doing the work. Umarex quotes up to 450 FPS with .177 steel BBs, which is the highest BB velocity in this group.
Thirty rounds is a decent bite before the reload, and in full-auto terms every extra round is a meaningful fraction of your trigger time. The magazine drops free, so swapping is quick, and a speedloader comes in the box along with adjustable, removable flip-up sights.
Umarex positions it for skill development, and they’re specific about one thing worth repeating: CO2 isn’t included, and they recommend their own brand for a proper seal. Cheap cartridges with bad gaskets are the most common cause of a gun that suddenly won’t hold gas, so that recommendation isn’t purely commercial. Mounting options are there for optics and accessories, and spare magazines exist under a listed part number.
Best for: A full-size magazine at the top BB velocity here
Listed at $148.49 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy. Amazon is showing limited quantities on this one.
4. Umarex Legends M1A1 Blowback Automatic .177 Caliber BB Gun Air Rifle
This is the character piece of the group. The Legends line exists to reproduce historical guns, and the M1A1 is the one your grandfather would recognize across a parking lot. Umarex builds it with a durable and realistic all metal frame, which is why it comes in at 7.75 pounds — heavy for a BB gun, and deliberately so.
Mechanically it’s a 30-shot .177 BB gun with semi-auto and full-auto modes, running on a single 12-gram CO2 cartridge, shooting up to 435 fps. The open bolt style blowback action is the detail collectors care about — it’s how the original worked, and it’s an unusual thing to find reproduced in an airgun. One cartridge instead of two means a lighter gas bill per session than the twin-cartridge guns, though it also means less gas behind a full magazine dump.
One oddity worth naming: Umarex’s own feature text calls it a BB air pistol while the title calls it a rifle, and the listing’s dimension fields are scrambled — a 33.6-inch “width” and a 2.75-inch “length” aren’t describing the same object in the same orientation. The gun is what it is; the spec sheet just wasn’t proofread.
Best for: Buyers who want the historical shape and an all-metal build over raw performance
Listed at $229.99 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy. Amazon is showing limited quantities on this one.
5. Crosman CAK1 Full Auto CO2 BB Rifle - 28-Round Mag
The CAK1 is the R1’s sibling in a different silhouette. Same idea, same Crosman platform logic: a switch on the frame picks semi-auto or full-auto, and Crosman says it fires 1400 rounds per minute at 430 fps. The 28-round drop-out magazine carries two 12-gram CO2 cartridges, which supply both the BB pressure and the blowback action.
The stock is the differentiator. It folds to the side and adjusts for length, which makes this the most compact one here when you’re storing it or hauling it out to the range in a truck. The frame is heavy synthetic with an alloy steel barrel, and four Picatinny rails ring the barrel for lights, lasers, or a vertical grip.
At 8 pounds it’s the heaviest of the CO2 guns in this group, and the heft is part of the appeal — a light full-auto BB gun feels like a toy in a way this one doesn’t. If you like the R1’s mechanics but want the folding stock and a bit more in the magazine, this is the same bet in a different shape.
Best for: A folding-stock full-auto that stores and travels compact
Listed at $175.45 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy.
6. Crosman 1077TAC Multi-Shot Semi-Auto CO2 Air Rifle
Here’s where the list changes character. The 1077TAC is a semi-auto pellet gun, not a BB blaster, and it’s the one to point at someone who wants to actually hit things. Crosman puts a rifled steel barrel on it with a 12-round pellet magazine, delivering up to 780 fps on CO2 — nearly double the velocity of the BB guns above, out of a barrel built to spin a pellet.
The practical difference is that a rifled barrel and a lead pellet work together. You get repeatable groups instead of a spread, which turns a can across the backyard from a hopeful shot into a routine one. Crosman aims it at plinking, target work, and skill development, and that’s an honest description — this is the gun you shoot for an hour, not for a second.
It has a fiber optic front sight and an adjustable rear sight, a crossbolt safety, and a water-resistant synthetic stock. At 40 inches long and 6.6 inches tall it’s a full-size rifle, and the TAC treatment gives it the tactical styling the plain 1077 doesn’t have. Same engine underneath, different clothes.
Best for: Semi-auto pellet accuracy in a tactical-styled package
Listed at $109.95 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy.
7. Crosman 1077 RepeatAir Semi-Auto .177 Cal CO2 Air Rifle - 12 Shot Mag
The original 1077 has been around long enough to become the default answer to “what’s a good cheap semi-auto pellet rifle,” and nothing in this list beats it on cost per pleasant afternoon. Same core as the TAC above: a rifled steel barrel, a 12-shot magazine, .177 pellets, and up to 780 feet per second on a 12-gram CO2 cartridge.
One cartridge, not two, and it isn’t fighting a blowback action for gas, so a single cartridge goes a long way. That’s the quiet advantage of a semi-auto that doesn’t try to be a machine gun — your gas budget stretches. Crosman says the rifled steel barrel keeps .177 pellets on target at backyard distances, and “backyard distances” is exactly the right frame for this rifle.
At 3.7 pounds it’s light enough for a smaller shooter to hold steady, and the water-resistant synthetic stock is built to live outdoors. Crosman’s listing includes a bullet about hollow point expanding tips, which is pellet marketing that drifted into the rifle’s spec sheet — pellets aren’t included, and the pellet you choose is your call.
Best for: The value pick — semi-auto pellet plinking at the lowest running cost here
Listed at $78.10 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy.
8. SIG SAUER MCX Rattler Canebrake .177 Caliber Semi-Auto Pellet Air Rifle
SIG’s approach is different from everyone else’s here, and the 30-round SIG Rapid Pellet magazine is why. Thirty pellets in a semi-auto is unusual — most pellet guns cap out at 8 or 12 because pellets are awkward to feed. Getting 30 means far fewer reloads without giving up the rifled-barrel accuracy that makes pellets worth shooting.
The power source is a 90g CO2 cylinder rather than the little 12-gram cartridges everything else uses. That’s a bigger up-front cylinder but a lot more shots between changes, and it’s the right match for a 30-round magazine. SIG quotes muzzle velocity up to 600 fps through a shrouded barrel, with a flat blade trigger, metal receiver, and a synthetic handguard carrying an M-LOK accessory mounting system. Front and rear flip-up sights ride a full-length Picatinny rail.
SIG built this as a training analog to their MCX Rattler Canebrake, and the whole design leans that way — matched to original model specs, meant for practice reps rather than raw power. At 7.6 pounds and 30 inches it carries like the firearm it mirrors. One thing to watch: this one shows a future availability date rather than shipping today, so check where it stands before you plan around it.
Best for: Training reps with real pellet accuracy and 30 rounds between reloads
Listed at $219.99 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy. Amazon lists this one for pre-order rather than immediate shipping.
9. Hatsan Invader Auto Semi-Automatic PCP Air Rifle, .25 Caliber
This is the serious one, and it’s also the listing to trust least. The Hatsan Invader Auto is a .25 caliber PCP — pre-charged pneumatic, a semi-auto action fed by high-pressure air rather than CO2. That combination puts it in a different class from everything above it. A .25 PCP is a pest-control and small-game tool, not a plinker, and semi-auto is genuinely rare in that space.
The cost that isn’t on the price tag is the air. A PCP needs a fill source — a high-pressure hand pump, a compressor, or a scuba tank you get topped off somewhere. That’s real money and a real errand, and it’s why a PCP is a commitment rather than an impulse buy. In exchange you get consistent shot-to-shot power that doesn’t sag in the cold the way CO2 does, and .25 caliber hits with authority that no BB gun approaches.
Now the warning. Every feature bullet on this listing is the identical line — “Airsoft Rifle Invader Auto .25” — repeated five times, the dimensions all read 1 inch, and it’s filed as airsoft when it plainly isn’t. There are no published velocity, energy, or shot-count figures here to quote, so none appear above. If you want this rifle, get the real spec sheet from Hatsan or a dedicated airgun dealer before you spend this much money. A listing this thin isn’t a reason to skip the gun, but it is a reason not to buy it from this page blind.
Best for: Experienced airgunners who already own a fill source and want semi-auto .25 power
Listed at $526.37 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy. Amazon is showing limited quantities on this one.
10. Umarex HK Heckler & Koch MP5 K-PDW Semi Automatic .177 Caliber BB Gun Air Rifle
The MP5 K-PDW is the compact of the group and the cheapest way here into a licensed, recognizable shape. It’s semi-auto only — no full-auto switch — running .177 steel BBs at up to 400 fps on the easy-to-find 12-gram CO2 cartridges.
The magazine holds 40 BBs, the most of any gun on this list, and it drops free for fast changes. That’s a sensible pairing with semi-auto fire: you’re not dumping the magazine in a second, so 40 rounds is a genuinely long string of shooting between reloads. Umarex includes realistic recoil action, which is the part that makes a semi-auto BB gun worth handling rather than just shooting.
At 2.4 pounds and 17.5 inches long it’s the smallest and lightest thing here by a wide margin — easy for a smaller shooter, easy to store, easy to bring along. Umarex pitches it as a training tool and as fun to shoot, and the 400 fps figure tells you which of those it’s better at. This isn’t a power gun; it’s a handling gun. Same note as the StrikeForce: Umarex recommends their own CO2 for a proper seal.
Best for: A compact, high-capacity semi-auto for close-range plinking and handling practice
Listed at $121.99 when this guide was last updated. Amazon pricing moves, so check the figure on the page before you buy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a license or permit to own one of these?
In most of the United States, no — air rifles generally aren’t regulated as firearms at the federal level. But states and cities write their own rules, and some of them are strict. A few states set a velocity or caliber threshold above which an air rifle is treated like a firearm, and plenty of cities and counties ban discharging any projectile inside city limits regardless of what powers it. Check your state statute and your local ordinance before you buy. It takes five minutes and it’s the difference between a hobby and a citation.
How much does full-auto actually cost to shoot?
More than you think, if it runs on CO2. The full-auto CO2 rifles here burn two 12-gram cartridges per magazine load, and a magazine is a second or two of trigger time. Do the math on your local cartridge price and you’ll see why Barra advertises the 400e Gen 2 as more than 100X cheaper to operate than a full auto CO2 air rifle. If you plan to shoot full-auto regularly rather than as a party trick, the battery gun pays for itself. If you’re doing it a few times a year, CO2 is fine.
Why does my CO2 gun lose power on cold days?
Because CO2 pressure depends on temperature, and that’s chemistry, not a defect. As the cartridge gets colder, the pressure inside drops, and pressure is what pushes the BB. Rapid fire makes it worse — the gas expanding out of the cartridge cools the cartridge further, which is why the last shots in a fast string are weaker than the first. Let it warm back up between strings. This is also the strongest argument for the battery-powered and PCP options if you shoot in winter.
Will a full-auto BB gun kill a groundhog or a rabbit?
Don’t try. These are BB guns built for volume, not for a humane kill, and the velocities here are in the plinking range. If you need pest control, the semi-auto pellet rifles in this list are a different proposition — a rifled barrel and a lead pellet at real velocity, or in the case of the .25 caliber PCP, a proper small-game airgun. Match the tool to the job, and don’t take a shot you’re not confident closes cleanly.
Can I use BBs in the pellet guns or pellets in the BB guns?
No. The pellet rifles here have rifled steel barrels sized for .177 pellets, and running steel BBs through rifling will chew it up. The BB guns are built around round steel and won’t feed a pellet’s skirt reliably. Each gun’s listing says which it takes — follow it. Using the wrong ammunition is the fastest way to turn a working airgun into a wall decoration.
What kind of backstop do I need for a BB gun?
Something that absorbs rather than deflects. Steel BBs bounce off hard surfaces at close to the speed they arrived, and full-auto means a lot of BBs going downrange fast. A purpose-built BB trap with an angled steel plate and a curtain, a stack of old carpet, or a box packed tight with rags all work. A steel plate leaned against a post does not — that’s a ricochet generator. Eye protection for everyone present, shooting or watching, regardless of what you’re shooting into.
The honest sort here is short. If you want full-auto and you’re going to use it, the battery-powered Barra is the one that doesn’t punish you for shooting it — the CO2 guns are more fun per second and far more expensive per minute. If you want full-auto as an occasional thrill, the Crosman R1 and CAK1 and the Umarex StrikeForce all do the same job well, and you’re really picking a stock and a magazine size.
If what you actually want is to hit things, buy a semi-auto pellet gun and stop reading about rate of fire. The 1077 has been the right answer to that question for years and it still is. The SIG buys you a 30-round pellet magazine and a training-grade build if you’ll use them; the Hatsan is a real .25 PCP for someone who already owns a way to fill it, sold behind a listing that tells you almost nothing.
Whatever you pick, price the ammunition and the gas before you price the gun. That’s the number that decides whether it sits in the safe or comes out every weekend.
Video reviews
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Hatsan Blitz PCP Review – The Air Rifle That Shoots Like a Machine Gun. — Gun Insights