[SiliconeSword]

Recently I've used a number of brands of BBs, and I've cracked them open to inspect their internal air bubbles, as uneven air bubbles will throw off the BB's center of gravity, and not make it accurate.

If you'd like to add your own results, just crack open 10 BBs with a the flat part on a pair of needle nose pliers, and be sure to include the appropriate info like below.

Brand, weight, bio/non bio, how they shoot/you like them
Here's what I have on hand right now.
Don't mind the yellow tint, my camera didn't seem to like a 350 watt light bulb.

BLS .48g, non bio, shoots 8.5/10
Very little to no bubbles

BLS .45g, bio, shoots 6.5/10
Very little to no bubbles

Novritsch .36g, non bio, shoots 7/10
Very little to no bubbles

Tippmann .30g, non bio, shoots 4.8/10
Some have large bubbles, some have nothing

ASG .28g, bio, shoots 5.7/10
No bubbles, very good

Elite Force .20g, non bio, shoots like .20g
Medium bubbles, sort of centered

Game Face .20g, non bio, shoots like .20g
Big bubbles, off center usually

 

[Doctor Jest]

Will do some at the weekend, my camera sucketh.

 

[Crius]

BLS 0.43gr / Non Bio /

BLS 0.40gr / Non Bio /

 

[Leo Greer]

I’ll add some results from the brands I have sitting around whenever I can. Since I have the micrometer I might as well also add my measurements on BB diameter and sphericity, as I feel that‘s in the same vein as testing for bubbles.

 

[SiliconeSword]

I find that diameter is difficult to do if the thing is egg shaped, so don't feel too obligated to do that.

Weight is probably the best and cheapest method of sorting, but it takes ages. Seems like accuracy has a lot more to do with bubbles than I had thought.

 

[Leo Greer]

I think it makes a lot of sense—bubbles are imperfect, so that creates an imbalance, and the BB spins off course.

 

[Crius]

bubbles are imperfect, so that creates an imbalance, and the BB spins off course.

I believe that imbalance will be extremely small, unnoticeable, with zero affect to bb trajectory, in case of negligible or just tiny few bubbles (no data to support that, just what I see during tests-games using Geoff's-BLS). I just believe this, especially if these heavies are been shot by rifles above 450ft/sec (DMR's - Bolt Actions). I haven't seen bb trajectory difference even with my pistol which shoots 0.4gr, below 1j.

 

[SiliconeSword]

It won't be super important for hop trajectory as long as the BBs don't vary in size or weight as that changes hop setting, but it will lead to varying right and left curves if the bubble is on one side more than the other.

More noticable at longer ranges with higher powers, but if you're trying to hold tight groups at closer range you should be able to notice too.

When my guns are finally perfect, I'd like to compare a bunch of BB weights and brands in an accuracy test, as that'd probably be pretty useful. Batch dependant, but usually companies with shitty stuff will continue to be shitty, while BLS and Novritsch have a reputation to uphold.

 

[Leo Greer]

Ironically, I think our guns will never be perfect until we quit trying to make them perfect.

Hop is based on the Magnus effect, which is affected by BB size, shape, outer finish, finish consistency, mass, and rotational inertia. I’m sure bubbles do affect hop curves, since any uneven distribution of mass will affect the axis of rotational inertia, but it would be unpredictable and extraordinarily difficult to get real numbers on, since the BB’s orientation when contacting the hop rubber matters, as well as the actual placement and size of the bubbles themselves, both of which would have to be measured by scanning each individual BB to determine bubble placement, and then hand-loading to test different orientations.

No thank you. I’ll stick to theoretical sciences on this one—when unevenly balanced objects spin, they attain extra inertia in different directions due to the uneven movement of mass. In physics terms, if we put air resistance aside, bubbles are exactly the same as lumps or protrusions on the surface of the BB. In practical application, they would shoot differently, but in a model situation, they work almost identically.

Here’s an example. This isn’t directly applicable, but it showcases the concept. Imagine throwing a stick end over end, with one end weighing twice as much as the other end. The stick would rotate, and the point it would rotate on would be 3/4 of the way towards the heavy end. Because distribution of mass shifts the axis of rotation, the BB, instead of spinning evenly, would spin erratically, because air resistance matters immensely to .30g objects, even though it doesn’t matter so much to the stick in the example.

How prominent this effect actually is, I don’t know. How much it actually effects flight path, I don’t know either. But, I am 100% certain that it does affect the flight path, because it’s physically impossible for it not to do so, detrimentally, over a BB with perfect internal consistency.

 

[SiliconeSword]

Well if you look at my ratings, the bubbles seem to have something to wo with groupings. The reason .12g BBs suck so bad is because of their off center bubbles, plus lower quality manufacture. Cracking open BBs is one of those things where you wanna test the BB, but you've already split it in half and can't test it. You could try and catch BBs in a sheet of clay behind a target and split them after which is something you could do, but no point doing it as I'm absolutely certain that an off center bubble or bubble in general leads to an off center center of gravity, which will lead to curves on the 0-90-180 degree quadrants on the pic. If your gun is doing this and everything is good, I'd say that weird BBs are a good chance. From now on I'll stock a bag of super high quality BBs just to check my guns if I'm having issues, it'd be pretty useful.

 

[Leo Greer]

Right now Evike has something called CL Project Bushido BBs in stock. I’ve heard that these are close to the highest quality BBs you can get, so I ordered a bag of .30g. They’ll end up on the chopping block as well… at least a few of them.

 

[SiliconeSword]

Legit, I read they're supposed to be the mythical medium polish that's big in Asia

 

[Plazmaburn]

I just got some bushido in the mail today. I'll crack a few open when I get home from work.

 

[SiliconeSword]

If anybody has some Novritsch .46g, .49g, BLS .50g, and some Maruzen SGM .29g I'd be pretty interested in those.

I'd also like to see some of the discontinued APS brass and some .69g cracked open, probably like splitting an atom.

 

[Leo Greer]

I’m pretty sure that the Bushido are supposed to be super mirror polished, but also really, really consistently sized, weighted, and mixed. For mythical medium polish I’ll whip out my G&G .30s and .25s. I can confirm, they really do perform better than high polish, ime. The .30s get used for my longer range guns while the BLS .32s sit in their bag and give off sad vibes.

 

[Crius]

Nov's 0.49gr / Non Bio /

 

[SiliconeSword]

Those .49g look whiter than .48g, at least if the picture is correct.

@Cripplegunner can you crack open some Accuracy International ASG .48g BBs? You said they were really good and stuff, and I wanna see what they look like.

 

[Plazmaburn]

CL Project Bushido .32g bio

Clean breaking, no air bubbles, shooting test tomorrow.

 

[Leo Greer]

I feel like that bodes well for when I do my own shooting test.

 

[Plazmaburn]

So Bushido... JFM, PFG. I have thus dubbed these Bullsheeto. Because I landed some shots that I straight up did not deserve. Cybergun Scar-L basically stock. The only thing I changed was the motor. They are quite accurate. Paper plate size at about 175ft or so. 1.5J with .32g.