Daisy CS right?

[MotorCraft]

Daisy CS told me that BBs won’t hurt rifling.



Crossman says this….

http://www.crosman.com/discover/airguns/airgun-ammunition

Although BBs are much less expensive than pellets, they have some disadvantages. First, a steel BB can not be designed to fit tightly in the bore. As a result, accuracy of a particular rifle is not as good when shooting BBs as when pellets are used. Pellets are made of lead or a lead alloy so they are soft. They can be made to fit the bore by being swaged slightly as they are fired. Therefore, they fit the rifling better, and the result is better accuracy. Another disadvantage of firing steel BBs in a rifled barrel is that the BBs do not engage the rifling but rather ride on top of the ridges. Prolonged use of BBs in a rifle barrel can cause the tops of the rifling ridges to be worn off because unlike a lead pellet, a BB is as hard as the rifle barrel itself. If this happens, the rifle probably will not shoot as accurately with pellets as before the abrasion occurred.




FYI: Gamo makes lead BBs.

http://www.gamousa.com/product.aspx?productID=81

 

[Sam1911]

I don't think anyone shoots BBs for (real) accuracy. Everything wears a barrel to some degree. Steel's going to wear it out a lot faster than lead, but that doesn't matter to very many shooters. How many BBs were you going to put down an accurate airgun anyway?

 

[MotorCraft]

I prefer BBs. Never had any luck with pellets.

 

[Sam1911]

Ok, cool.

Let's say don't put BBs down the tube if you every buy a Fienwerkbau or even a Beeman or Benjamin level gun.

Crossman or Daisy? Go right ahead.

 

[BigG]

Daisy bb gun can hit a 22 shell offhand at 25 ft every time. How much more accurate do you need?

If you want ot shoot bench rest at fixed targets that's one thing but plinking is what works for me.

 

[esque]

BBs measure around .1715" to .1725"
so they sorta bounce down the barrel
and they will eventually damage the
top ridge of the rifling.

 

[Chevota]

Steel BB's are also inconsistent so one with a lump can dent the rifling, even jam which needs to be pounded out. I know, I was a kid once. In springer guns you need a pellet to contain the air pressure so the piston doesn't impact the breech so violently. Shooting a steel BB is similar to dry firing which is hard on a springer, and especially the scope. Lead BB's are better than steel ones, but still not nearly as good as pellets. This is why BB guns are smooth bore and pneumatic or CO2, or very weak springers. Pellet guns have rifling and can be powerful springers. If a gun is rated by the mfg to shoot both then it's either really just a smooth bore BB gun or the mfg is more concerned about selling BB's that your bore. I have one BB gun, a Daisy Red Ryder, and that's the only one that gets BB's. Yes the Red Ryder is fun, but a more accurate gun is more fun.
Also, some pellet guns have a choked barrel and the BB will either damage that or flat out get stuck in it. A choke is the best part of the entire gun so it's not worth risking it for any reason.

 

[JohnKSa]

I never had any luck getting decent accuracy out of steel BBs (which are of necessity undersized) bouncing down a rifled bore. They actually shot much better from smoothbores.

If you have an airgun with a rifled bore, use lead BBs (which are the proper diameter) or pellets. If you do choose to use lead BBs, you should be aware that if your gun has a BB feed mechanism, the slightly larger lead BBs may jam the mechanism. You'll have to load them one at a time like pellets.

 

[rcmodel]

And never ever use BB's in a break-barrel spring cocker.

The lack of bore pressure from the light & too small BB's may soon knock the seals out of a spring cocker.

rc

 

[Oldnamvet]

If you want some power out of a steel BB, get a Daisy M35. On 10 pumps they really come out screaming! And at 30 feet you can hold 1" groups. Beyond that they go somewhat like a knuckleball. At the short range, small creatures are easily taken out.

 

[JohnKSa]

You'll get much better accuracy and still a lot of power if you use lead BBs. You also get the added benefit of much reduced chance of ricochets from misses and pass-throughs. The ricochets that do occur tend to be reduced in power due to the deformation of the lead when it hits something hard.

 

[fpgt72]

Ok, cool.

Let's say don't put BBs down the tube if you every buy a Fienwerkbau or even a Beeman or Benjamin level gun.

Crossman or Daisy? Go right ahead.

That is such a sad statement.

IMHO steel BB's will damage the barrel. Also some of the new alloy pellets are much harder than lead, that will also wear the barrel.

Personally I am not a cork sniffing elitist jerk and value my guns of all kinds.....personally I find it horrid that some people look down upon these things....but I guess some people would only bother to change the oil in their Porsche, and never bother with their Chevy.

Sad state in america where people don't care about what they have and want to keep it in tip top shape. A disposable american culture I guess....it is a throw away item if it says Crossman or Daisy on it.....too bad some of those Daisy and Crossman rifles that cost under $1000 shoot better then the people behind the gun. Challenger is a fantastic world class rifle.

 

[Sam1911]

Well, that's one way to look at it.

Another would be that Crossman and Daisy make a lot of guns they fully intend/expect people to put a lot of steel BBs through. For good or ill, tight tolerances or no, they build their guns with that in mind. Maybe you want to go above and beyond their expectations and only use softer projectiles? Fantastic, have at it.

The finer quality guns I mentioned? Not so, at all. In fact (ok, I don't have a Fienwerkbau manual here with me at the moment, but...) they probably tell you flat out, DON'T. Or just assume you know better than to use a steel BB on their air-gauged precision rifling.


Now, if you want to take it up with Crossman and Daisy that they should warn people explicitly against using steel BBs, and maybe stop selling steel BBs with their branding on them, well that's up to you. But I think you'll find they don't much care.

 

[fpgt72]

Generally they say Don't with any pellet gun. If your gun is BB/pellet then ok. But EVERY maker that I know of says Don't if it is not a "dual purpose" gun....does not matter the cost.

 

[Sam1911]

Certainly so.