BB Quality and how it can Affect a Gun

4672 Views 18 Replies 9 Participants Last post by spellisaac, Jun 4, 2012

Steels

Discussion Starter · Jun 2, 2012

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?

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reezo

· #6 · Jun 2, 2012 (Edited)

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).

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reezo

· #10 · Jun 2, 2012 (Edited)

+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

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reezo

· #12 · Jun 3, 2012

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.

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reezo

· #14 · Jun 3, 2012

Masterjuggler98 said:
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).

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