Owen Sparks
member
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Messages
- 4,523
I have discovered the fun of back yard shooting with a CO2 powered BB gun. I recently bought a Daisy repeater that is shaped exactly like an Officers model 1911. It even has a light rail but it fits my holster perfectly. This thing is surprisingly accurate within 15 yards and has good sights. It allows me to have realistic practice without danger to the neighbors.
BB’s are made from hard steel rather than soft lead like real bullets and tend to bounce straight back off hard surfaces. I have some 8” diameter steel plates I have used safely as targets for years with my .45’s so I set them up to run some standard drills dinging these targets with BB’s. At first I thought that eye protection was adequate though the few ricochets that hit me did not have really enough power to hurt through my clothes then one came back and hit me in the lip. OUCH! Good thing it did not hit my front tooth. I changed targets.
I ran a string between two trees on the edge of the woods and used clothes pins to hold empty drink cans by the pop top. The soft aluminum cans make great reactive targets for fast shooting at 5 to ten yards and there is no question if you hit or miss. I was dinging away at the cans when I missed one and the BB hit the trunk of a black jack oak a few yards behind it and bounced straight back connecting with the knuckle of my middle finger. That hurt like damn it! That was enough for the day. I am going to move my can of strings somewhere with nothing behind it.
Conclusion.
BB repeaters make for cheap practice and some of the modern CO2 pistols replicate the shape and size of their real counterparts perfectly but BB’s behave very differently than lead bullets when they hit something hard. Lead absorbs energy like a dead blow hammer, BB’s bounce straight back.
BE CAREFULL! Even though both of my “injuries” were very slight, Ralphs mom was right. it does not take much to ruin an eye. I am convinced that this is potentially the most hazardous “ammo” that I have ever trained with.
BB’s are made from hard steel rather than soft lead like real bullets and tend to bounce straight back off hard surfaces. I have some 8” diameter steel plates I have used safely as targets for years with my .45’s so I set them up to run some standard drills dinging these targets with BB’s. At first I thought that eye protection was adequate though the few ricochets that hit me did not have really enough power to hurt through my clothes then one came back and hit me in the lip. OUCH! Good thing it did not hit my front tooth. I changed targets.
I ran a string between two trees on the edge of the woods and used clothes pins to hold empty drink cans by the pop top. The soft aluminum cans make great reactive targets for fast shooting at 5 to ten yards and there is no question if you hit or miss. I was dinging away at the cans when I missed one and the BB hit the trunk of a black jack oak a few yards behind it and bounced straight back connecting with the knuckle of my middle finger. That hurt like damn it! That was enough for the day. I am going to move my can of strings somewhere with nothing behind it.
Conclusion.
BB repeaters make for cheap practice and some of the modern CO2 pistols replicate the shape and size of their real counterparts perfectly but BB’s behave very differently than lead bullets when they hit something hard. Lead absorbs energy like a dead blow hammer, BB’s bounce straight back.
BE CAREFULL! Even though both of my “injuries” were very slight, Ralphs mom was right. it does not take much to ruin an eye. I am convinced that this is potentially the most hazardous “ammo” that I have ever trained with.