bb gun bbs as shot substitute?

[engle's-wilder]

The price of lead is through the roof these days. Really my only options for cheap shooting are smelting my own lead or getting creative. I just thought about something today I'd like to run by you all... Would bb's for a bb gun be able to be used in place of lead shot?
They're cheapish, can come in lead form, copper, steel... and I wouldn't have to smelt anything... just a crazy thought that I'd like some opinions on... so whudda'ya think!?
Stupid:banghead: or does the idea have some merit?

 

[cyanide66]

I have no clue because im a noob haha. I'd say just buy the stuff from walmart if you want to get some cheap shooting done. i think it will be really hard to beat $20 for 100 rounds.

 

[Crash_Test_Dhimmi]

After watching "Young Guns II" , "Ever see what a dollar twenty can do to a man?" where he put 12 dimes into his 12 gauge, Ive been thinking about the same, or using pennies. the hope and 'Change' round.

 

[engle's-wilder]

haha...

Ok, so bbs maybe an idea if I wanna go goose hunting, but I just looked at the diameter of regular #7 shot... it's not even close.

Maybe I'll smelt zinc instead... hmm

lemme know how the penny shot works out... haha

 

[armoredman]

Box O truth tested that - it didn't work well.

 

[kozak6]

It's actually not that cheap. For steel, it's somewhat more expensive than actually just buying steel BB shotgun pellets.

Lead airgun BB's cost about 3X as much as lead BB shotgun pellets.

Also, reloading steel shot is entirely a different game than reloading lead shot.

Zinc is way harder than lead, so you'd have to be very mindful of shotgun chokes.

 

[PapaG]

some bb shot is steel that is copper plated....don't shoot it in an old gun.

 

[Milkmaster]

Besides the other comments....Copper BB's don't weigh what lead does and will not have the uummppphh !

 

[kozak6]

Right. They are just copper plated steel bb's.

As far as I am aware of, there are no solid copper bb's or shotgun pellets.

Maybe I'll smelt zinc instead... hmm

Live near a zinc mine?

 

[Virginian]

Ait rifle BBs are far harder than steel shot, which as made as "soft" as they know how to not damage the barrels. BBs will almost surely get you in trouble.

 

[Apple a Day]

Great topic and great info!
I tested some .410 PDX1 ammo last week (3 copper disks and 12 BBs) and was wondering about this. The BBs were flattened pretty well after hitting a catalogue, which made me think they were pretty soft.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, most are copper-plated hard steel.
Yes, they are harder then steel shotgun shot.

They are steel & magnetic because some BB guns use a magnet to pick up the next BB out of magazine storage for feeding.

Yes, they make solid lead BB's for shotguns, which costs the same as any other size lead shot.

And they make lead BB's for certain air-rifle applications, which are slightly different size then BB-gun BB's.
But they cost much more then steel BB-gun BB's.


BB-Gun BB's will not work as well as lead shot because of the light weight.
They will have to be used with more expensive specialty steel-shot wads to protect the bore against scoring.
Daisy BB's will cost more at Wallyworld then lead shotgun shot at the shotgun shot store.

Don't do it!

rc

 

[oneounceload]

contact your local shotgun club (the trap/skeet variety) and see if they have some reclaimed shot for sale

 

[PapaG]

The shot in the pdx loads is copper plated lead. BB shot, in a shotshell load, is lead..copper plated to give it a little more surface hardness and improve patterns.

 

[chas08]

BB-Gun BB's will not work as well as lead shot because of the light weight.
They will have to be used with more expensive specialty steel-shot wads to protect the bore against scoring.

RC nailed it, thin wads and any steel is a recipe for disaster to any gun that is not cylinder bore. Many a barrel was bulged or ringed in the early days of steel shot.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Firing home brewed "old fashioned" BP shot shell handloads with over powder wads, steel BB gun shot, no protective shot cup, etc. can leave the bore of a shotgun dimpled.

BB gun shot is hard and could ricochet and put yer eye out kid.

 

[InkEd]

How much do you really save over just buying some cheap shells at the store?

 

[Jim Watson]

Repeat, steel air rifle BBs are harder than steel shotgun shot and will cut through the wad and score your barrel. Don't do it.

 

[FLNT4EVR]

You will destroy your shotgun.You can buy a lot of ammo for the price of a new gun.

 

[Onmilo]

All I'm gonna say is years ago I owned a Navy Arms "Morse" blackpowder cylinder choked muzzle loading single barrel shotgun.
Me and my buddy loaded all kinds of junk into that gun and shot it, including BB gun BBs, using nothing but fibre over powder wads and card stock overshot wads.

Everything fired and didn't destroy the gun or us including broken glass, cut up nails, dimes, gravel, wood cubes, and those BB gun BBs.

None of this stuff worked anywhere near as good as plain old lead shotgun shot and remember, this stuff was fired at blackpowder pressure levels.

All that said, I'm going to recommend you don't try this at home, stick with the stuff designed for the gun and don't improvise unless you find yourself lost in the wilderness and surrounded by really angry Apache Indians.

 

[InkEd]

How about some good ol' fashioned rock salt?

 

[FLNT4EVR]

Not a good idea. Salt is extremely corrosive.

 

[Hammilton]

I'd be wary about zinc. More than a few blacksmiths have lost their lives heating galvanized metal without really good ventilation.