How to improve power in piston shooter

[FrankJ]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

Not necessarily. The dynamics of these shooters is extremely complicated; quite a few designs rely on starting at a significant mechanical disadvantage to work properly.

Doesn't change the importance of the kinematics, which is probably what I should said. Even so, the more efficient the kinematics, the less air you have to use to get energy into the ball.