What Can 400 FPS Do?

Have you ever wondered what it takes for an air gun to bring down small game or cause lethal injury? If so, FPS (feet per second) measurements are an important piece of the puzzle.

At 400 FPS, an air gun gains the power to penetrate human skin, injure small animals, and potentially kill with good shot placement. This article dives into the capabilities and limits of 400 FPS for air guns and airsoft weapons. Read on to learn more!

Penetrating Power

Air guns with just 150 FPS can puncture human skin, according to injury law firms. But certain FPS thresholds determine how deeply BBs or pellets can penetrate, their ability to break glass, and their lethal potential.

FPS Limits for Skin, Glass, Animals

As this data shows, 400 FPS hits a point where an air gun can start puncturing glass, wounding small animals, and threatening human skin.

But raw power isn‘t everything. Precision shot placement also plays a huge role, especially for hunting and self-defense scenarios.

Analysis: Can 400 FPS Break Glass?

While 400 FPS may not shatter glass panels outright, it can definitely damage and scratch them. For example:

• According to a Quora user‘s first-hand tests, shooting a car door window at 1 yard range with 0.25 g BBs at 400 FPS caused no cracks. But the glass showed some visible scratch dimpling from the BBs.

So raw FPS power helps, but glass durability varies widely. Multi-layered automotive glass can resist 400 FPS diversion shots with only scratch damage. But cheaper types of glass would likely chip or exhibit penetration.

Small Animal Wounding Capability

Based on expert guidance, small animals like squirrels or rabbits require at least 600-700 FPS for quick clean kills. At just 400 FPS, body shots may wound but not kill quickly.

However, precise head and vital organ shots at 400 FPS could take down small animals humanely. This takes skill – wounding likelihood increases if shooters can‘t achieve sufficient accuracy for ethical hunting.

All in all, 400 FPS delivers moderate power capable of injuring most small animals and penetrating human skin at close ranges. But lethality depends heavily on precision shot placement rather than raw power alone.

Lethality Analysis

While skin penetration is possible, what does it take for an air gun to become potentially lethal against human targets? Let‘s crunch some numbers.

Expert Insight on FPS Lethality

According to Beeman, an air gun expert from the Washington Post, there is a key lethality threshold around 350 FPS:

At 300 to 400 fps, that‘s where penetration occurs in a human skin. Below 350 fps, it is generally considered capable of only limited harm. Above 350 is considered very harmful or lethal. You go into the skull probably at around 500.

So there seems to be expert consensus around 350 FPS for air guns becoming capable of lethal wounds rather than just injuring humans.

Human Injury Statistics

In a 2005 U.S. emergency room study, over 39,000 people were treated for air gun related injuries from 1990 to 2003. This included at least 4 deaths during that timeframe.

While injury-causing FPS data isn‘t available, this signals air guns do hospitalize and even kill people outside of freak accidents. And 400 FPS falls into expert classifications as "very harmful" instead of just "limited harm".

So again, 400 FPS air guns carry scientifically-validated risk factors – they can penetrate human skin, and potentially kill or disable under Pattern #6‘s conditions.

Air Gun FPS Limits

Given their risks if misused or mishandled, certain air gun types face FPS restrictions for consumer use and hunting purposes.

Limits for Airsoft Weapons

For U.S. airsoft gaming venues and events, 400 FPS sits at the upper ceiling for safety reasons and gameplay balancing.

Specific regulations can vary, but examples include:

• Up to 500 FPS allowed with 100 foot minimum engagement distance
• Up to 400 FPS for regular close combat
• Below 350 FPS for indoor arenas

So airsoft sports embrace 400 FPS guns for specialty roles like long-range snipers. But mainstream use remains confined from 300 to 400 FPS maximums.

Small Game Hunting Regulations

For small game hunting, most U.S. states have no FPS limitations according to air gun societies and aggregators. AirForce Airguns summarizes this as:

"There are no such [FPS] restrictions for hunting. Obviously, there are considerations for safety and ethics, but powerwise, the sky is the limit."

So air gun lethality for hunting seems more restricted based on a shooter‘s judgement and accuracy rather than raw FPS power alone.

That said, unconventional urban hunting faces greater scrutiny and regulations than rural settings in most areas. Discharging air guns with lethality capabilities like 400 FPS outside of controlled spaces and designated hunting lands carries increased legal risks and penalties as well.

Conclusion: Handle 400+ FPS Air Guns With Care

While low-powered airsoft and pellet guns offer recreational fun and training with minimal risk factors, consumer-grade air guns reaching 400+ FPS deliver undeniable skin penetration and damage capacities.

With great power comes great responsibility. If choosing to own 400+ FPS air guns, exercise extreme caution and care – preferably limiting their use to designated hunting grounds or tightly controlled shooting ranges only.

And if opting to game with them, wear protective face masks and padding to match their heightened risks compared to sub-350 FPS variants. 400 FPS airsoft matches require strict engagement distance minimums for good reason!

So in summary:

• At 400 FPS, air guns and airsoft weapons gain increased capabilities for damage, injury, and lethality
• Their power levels make safety precautions, training, and careful handling essential
• While lethal capacity depends most on shot placement, penetration risks remain
• Consider if recreational benefits outweigh public/personal safety risks before acquiring 400+ FPS air guns

So choose and operate high-powered air guns wisely my friends! Game on.