[Steels]

Today I ordered my first rifle from Airsoft Megastore, and after the order was completed the site recommended a couple of videos on BB quality and how low-quality BBs can damage your internals.

From these videos I've learned that seamless BBs can be misleading in their construction, and that many retail store brands are practically polished seamed BBs. Obviously, this can increase the chances of breaking and screwing up your gun. I bought an AGM VSR10, and at the moment I have three quarters of a 5k box of Crosman .20s. After testing one with a pair of pliers, the BBs are seamed but polished. Should I be worried about the BBs breaking inside of the gun because of their quality, or does the bolt action prevent this from happening or lower the chances of BB breakage? Should I look into investing in high quality ammunition before I use a single Crosman, or can I spare some time before I order new ones?

 

[WorstInFinlanD]

Crosman is a low quality bb, brands like bioshot, ksc, goldenball and guarder are a lot better, I don't like madbulls, but some of here use them.
I don't think they will break your gun, they will just have worse accuracy and range.

 

[exomatt]

Another thing you should consider, steels, is that you should be using heavier bbs for both accuracy and range. Something around .30 should do you well. .20 bbs will perform like shyte for both, with a sniper rifle.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

Crossman are known for their low quality. The polished seam still means seam, just polished over, like said before. The seam bbs are made in two halves, then put together by glue or melting something, I forget exactly what they use. The seam bbs shouldn't break in your gun unless they are defective and/or you are using a very high fps.

 

[Wolfgeorge]

I use madbulls, goldenballs, blaster devils and biovals.
Bioval's are excellent,Goldenballs are pretty good and the restare average.


Wolf

 

[reezo]

What the others said. Madbull works for me only in terms of reliability, meaning they never jammed my rifle, magazine, or caused double feeds. I tried them on my primary, secondary and special purpose platforms (basically all I have).

I don't like them for accuracy but at least they work to get a new gun into "the groove".

Just noticed today they leave a fair amount of residue..the 0.36g are green so it's easy to spot green dust all around the hop chamber..I wonder if other BBs do the same..

Here in Italy we have "Royal" BBs, which are absolute crap: they jam into most barrels. Some say their Bio line is great, the normal line is crap..I have the latter..but if you can: stay away from anything branded that way, just to make sure. Double feeds and such make me nervous that the bucking or nearby parts might get damaged (not likely, but hate them anyway).

 

[Steels]

Crosman is a low quality bb, brands like bioshot, ksc, goldenball and guarder are a lot better, I don't like madbulls, but some of here use them.
I don't think they will break your gun, they will just have worse accuracy and range.

Alright. I was worried, because I can't imagine a worse feeling in airsoft than to have the first shot fired from a brand new gun set you back a little bit. Goldenball seems like a really nice brand, I might see what I can do about getting myself some of those.

Another thing you should consider, steels, is that you should be using heavier bbs for both accuracy and range. Something around .30 should do you well. .20 bbs will perform like shyte for both, with a sniper rifle.

Derp, how could I forget the weight? Thanks for the reminder, I'll probably buy some .3s soon.

On the topic of weight, if this gun fires at a theoretically consistent 420 fps, then what is the highest and/or lowest functional BB weight I could use?

 

[SilentScope]

On the topic of weight, if this gun fires at a theoretically consistent 420 fps, then what is the highest and/or lowest functional BB weight I could use?

With a well adjusted hop-up, 0.43g.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

There are no real parameters set for weights. The only thing I can say for sure is not to use .2g in anything over 350. I am pushing 500-550 fps and I use .3s very effectively. I know some people using 400 fps with .43s. It's all preference really. If you have the budget, get a few different weights and see what works best for you. As forbrand of bb, I love bioshots. They are biodegradeable, come in several weights, are very cheap for the quantity, and give the best consistency I have gotten out of any bb. The only downside is the only place to get them is their website. They are also about the same as biovals in my experience.

 

[reezo]

+1 to what SilentScope said. I've found that even when firing at 330fps (around 1J power, maximum allowed here) the Hop Up effect can work wonders to extend the range of a heavier BB. So in theory, the BB should fall shorter but get less influence from the wind..but with a nice spinning hop effect imparted by the bucking, they get stronger in defying gravity (since the BB literally climbs on the air fluid* filling the atmosphere) while still being less influenced by wind.

I don't know if I explained myself, I tried and give you a long version of the answer

*thanks Masterjuggler98

 

[Masterjuggler98]

The heavier bb does in fact have more resistance to factors such as wind, rain, and leaves. The optimal fps for a bb is 300 (cheese explained why this is in one of the threads in the new members section) to get the most effective range. Higher fps just means the bb gets there faster. The backspin on the bb creates a low pressure zone on top and high pressure zone on bottom which gives it a little lift. It does somewhat climb it I guess. The word you were looking for reezo is fluid by the way.

 

[reezo]

Thanks MJ! edited

One added note..suppose your weapon platform performs in a way that satisfies you, at 300fps. Now suppose you find a way to bump your fps to 550 or more..remember that the same platform will not behave exactly as before..

it might have an incremement range (suppose +150, resulting in a total 450fps) where the same bucking, rubber, mould, barrel etc. keep their behavior, thus effectively adding only the "BBs get to target faster"..

..but this system is not linear, meaning you cannot add fps and expect the same elements to behave the same way. Often, a 300fps platform that works becomes an unstable mess at 550fps. Get ready to rethink the hop rubber, bucking, mould, etc. (yes, mostly the hop up section) because the polymer you use, its shape etc. might not be able to sustain the stress of 550fps and this will translate into less consistency.

Hence the short answer to most airsoft new players: FPS does not equal to better performance.

IF you manage to keep the various parts in harmony, you can get a 550fps platform that delivers outstanding performance..but if you don't keep it under control, a 300fps platform that works is going to be much more valuable, on the field.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

I like higher fps because, and I have said this before, if the bb gets there faster there is less error in timing for targets that are moving or might move at any second. I just prefer ease of use to effective range. Also, I am installing r-hop into my gun so it gives the the range I lost when I got higher fps. You are right that as fps changes, the system effectiveness changes as well, but from what I have heard r-hop negates that change. You are also right in that softer buckings will wear out faster, but because they are softer they will actually be more consistent.

 

[reezo]

I like higher fps because, and I have said this before, if the bb gets there faster there is less error in timing for targets that are moving or might move at any second. I just prefer ease of use to effective range. Also, I am installing r-hop into my gun so it gives the the range I lost when I got higher fps. You are right that as fps changes, the system effectiveness changes as well, but from what I have heard r-hop negates that change. You are also right in that softer buckings will wear out faster, but because they are softer they will actually be more consistent.

Agreed, and yes, I was referring to the general platform (near-stock) taken to a higher FPS limit..R-Hop is the way to go to really get out of the hop up mess (including "hop up works but makes BBs fly hard left or right", which is common in high FPS setups).

 

[SilentScope]

If you like BB's getting to your target faster, then you can use 0.43g :hehe:.

Inertia/momentum allows heavier BB's to travel faster than lighter ones after a certain distance (i.e. 100ft+, sniper distances :yup:.)

Yepp.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

As long as you have the nub centered and the arm shimmed you shouldn't get too much left or right deviation. With higher fps it is just a lot harder to get the small increments of ajdustment you want with the hopup. I was using my nineball bucking in my 550 fps setup before and was hitting people out to a little under 100 yards. When I get my ir-hop tuned I hope to get more than 300. After about 150 feet depending on fps, the heavier bb will get to the target faster because of momentum like silent said.

 

[Cheese Man]

300 yards?

The only way I got that was with a .88g steel bb on the Crimebuster, running at a little over 10J (also on a Tanaka with ER-hop and LRB, but at about 7J). After about 150 yards/130m the bb (any weight) loses stability and you have issues with it just wobbling randomly and/or falling out of the sky.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

Oops meant 300 feet. That's what I get when I leave the computer for a sec in the middle of a sentence then try to finish it a half hour later. Messes up my train of thought.

 

[spellisaac]

i have madbull .40g bbs they work great.