Abstract: In a setting gun using explosive force for driving fastening elements into a receiving material, an elastic damping device is provided to absorb the residual kinetic energy of a driving piston. The damping device consists of a plurality of serially arranged pairs of rings extending between a muzzle tube and a stop ring mounted in the forward end of a barrel. Each pair of rings consists of a radially inner ring and a radially outer ring each having a frusto-conical surface in contact with the other. The frusto-conical surfaces converge in the firing direction of the setting gun. In one embodiment, each pair of rings has the same axial length, however, in another embodiment the axial length of the rings increases in the firing direction of the setting gun so that the mass of the pairs of rings increases in the firing direction.