Cheap BBs vs non-cheap BBs....

Ok so something has been bothering me... I was in a store, which shall remain nameless, and saw a big sign that stated "Cheap BBs from Walmart or Dicks will VOID your warranty and RUIN your AEG!" This has been bugging me for the last few months I have been seeing this sign. Here is why:

1) I can think of very few cases where a BB will RUIN an AEG.

2) Every indoor and outdoor place around rents guns, these guns are rented by first time players or kids. All these players are using the cheap Wal-mart BBS. If the owners were really worried about these BBS they would not be allowed to be used.

3) A warranty on an AEG is like 15-30 days so voiding the warranty is not too much of a concern!

So I set up a bet with my friend tonight. He thinks this sign is for real, the law, just the way it is. I think it is a way to scare new people into buying "high quality BBs" who just dropped $300 on a new AEG. The bet was $150 that I could shoot 10,000 rounds of cheap walmart BBs through his TM P90 with a 6.03 TBB and we would have less than 2 jams (I was going to give myself a buffer just in case) and we would open up the AEG and look at the piston that he just installed and there would be no wear on it. So we did and the results. We got no jams and the piston was clean as a whistle.

Next test is I am going to measure the bbs for roundness, weight, uniformity, etc and see how they compare to a chart that was done years ago of TM, KSC, etc BBs. I AM NOT SAYING THAT YOU SHOULD USE WALMART BBS... I personally still use Excels that I bought 25KG of years ago!! But with the way that bbs just went up in price at most of the stores, I would be interested to see how these test in a lab and fire compared to KSCs or Goldenballs.


Discuss!

Wonder if the recent price hikes are due to the somewhat, airsoft season? Schools will be out soon and all the local fields will be open almost everyday. So they do it now so it doesnt seem so "suspicious" You know, like gas prices start climbing in Dec. because summer travel is getting closer


If bb prices get to high, I'm going green and becoming a sniper

Ok me being a gun tech I normally get 1 or more guns on a monthly basis in for repairs due to a gun being jammed from using cheap bbs. I had one last week a AGM MP40, it had a walmart bb jammed in the barrel. Compression was so good on the gun that the piston was stopping instead of going forward and the gears continued to spin stripping the middle teeth of the piston. Basically it comes from kids getting the guns jammed from cheap bbs then continuing to fire the gun with the jam. If you stopped firing the gun and cleared the jam you'd be good to go, or if the gun doesnt have good compression you don't have much to worry about. Lastly the store you are referring to is AA.

i use high quality bbs(tsd,goldenball). now that thats out of the way.

"2) Every indoor and outdoor place around rents guns, these guns are rented by first time players or kids. All these players are using the cheap Wal-mart BBS. If the owners were really worried about these BBS they would not be allowed to be used. "
most places that rent guns also rent packages for the beginning players which include good bbs
.12bbs arnt allowed to be used becuase they are lower quality and can shatter in strong guns and can shatter on impact from strong guns.
low quality bbs that are .2 have a higher chance of shattering
low quality bbs have a higher chance of being deformed. i have personally seen crossman bbs that are deformed. once these deformed bbs are fired they can cause jams in the barrel. and in an automatic gun, can cause alot of problems. my friends mp5 has jammed becuase of crossman bbs. there are still probably shards of bbs in the gearbox(getting in through the air nozzle)

lastly, i hear crossman has upped their BB quality and are trying to make a better name for themselves. i havent used crossman bbs in over 1.5 years so im not sure.

Rhino wrote:Ok me being a gun tech I normally get 1 or more guns on a monthly basis in for repairs due to a gun being jammed from using cheap bbs. I had one last week a AGM MP40, it had a walmart bb jammed in the barrel. Compression was so good on the gun that the piston was stopping instead of going forward and the gears continued to spin stripping the middle teeth of the piston. Basically it comes from kids getting the guns jammed from cheap bbs then continuing to fire the gun with the jam. If you stopped firing the gun and cleared the jam you'd be good to go, or if the gun doesnt have good compression you don't have much to worry about. Lastly the store you are referring to is AA.

The store will remain nameless... In 10,000 bbs I did not have one jam. Have you ever had any jams with premium BBs? I have had more jams using the older Vipers and Tsunami brand then I did with these "cheap" bbs. (not that I would call those premium either) Now I am interested to test their weight diameter, velocity and roundness and figure out the standard deviation for these to see how they compare with the tests done on some "premium" BBs. Again, not saying that you should use them in your AEG but just not sure all the "fear mongering" is warranted!

ownage1 wrote:i use high quality bbs(tsd,goldenball). now that thats out of the way.

"2) Every indoor and outdoor place around rents guns, these guns are rented by first time players or kids. All these players are using the cheap Wal-mart BBS. If the owners were really worried about these BBS they would not be allowed to be used. "
most places that rent guns also rent packages for the beginning players which include good bbs
.12bbs arnt allowed to be used becuase they are lower quality and can shatter in strong guns and can shatter on impact from strong guns.
low quality bbs that are .2 have a higher chance of shattering
low quality bbs have a higher chance of being deformed. i have personally seen crossman bbs that are deformed. once these deformed bbs are fired they can cause jams in the barrel. and in an automatic gun, can cause alot of problems. my friends mp5 has jammed becuase of crossman bbs. there are still probably shards of bbs in the gearbox(getting in through the air nozzle)

lastly, i hear crossman has upped their BB quality and are trying to make a better name for themselves. i havent used crossman bbs in over 1.5 years so im not sure.

A) TSD and Goldenball are not considered high quality BBs by my understanding. High quality are brands like Marushin. But they are more premium than lets say Crossman... So you have something there, I guess.

B) Renters get about 1,000 bbs and go through those in about a round or two.. When they reload, what do you think they use?!?

Interesting note, in the test of the 10,000, I did miss the firing blanket once and hit the concrete, the Crossman BB split in two. I have never had a TM or Excel BB of mine do that!

you think marushin is high grade, go to http://www.bbbastard.com/index.php . they apparently have the best bbs out there. they currently have the heaviest 6mm bb that exists. and they cost more than a 5.56 bullet does. http://www.bbbastard.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=18&products_id=27
once you buy those we can talk about high quality.
i use tsd(which i think is really nice and i get great result with .28 and .25)on my GBBs and masada(because it has a tbb). and gollden ball on my stock sized barrels.

ownage1 wrote:you think marushin is high grade, go to http://www.bbbastard.com/index.php . they apparently have the best bbs out there. they currently have the heaviest 6mm bb that exists. and they cost more than a 5.56 bullet does. http://www.bbbastard.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=18&products_id=27
once you buy those we can talk about high quality.
i use tsd(which i think is really nice and i get great result with .28 and .25)on my GBBs and masada(because it has a tbb). and gollden ball on my stock sized barrels.

I was not trying to knock your TSDs and Goldenballs... Just by variance standards and performance they are not quite up to par with other "premium" BBs. BTW: how expensive it is or how heavy they are does not make the BBs "premium", it is about the uniformity and other factors more so than the price.

-bbbastard has cool specs like, clear and really heavy bbs, but they are loved by snipers for for there other trait: consistency.
"Each BB is CNC machined from a latice-based molecular material to achieve consistent size, shape and distribution to and overall accuracy of 2 microns...exactly 5.953mm in diameter"
"Better Material Distribution – Our molding process allows for a more even distribution of material with no areas of higher/lower density
Bubble Control – Our cooling process allows more of our BB’s to have the bubbles that happen in lighter weight BB’s to stay centred to avoid BB wobble due to uneven weight distribution
Double Polished – Our trademarked two stage polish process that allows us to offer a high polish, even on our ECO line, without sacrificing a consisting spherical shape and diameter"
dont mean to be a spokesman for them i just think they are on the cutting edge of little balls of plastic.
-your right, goldenball isn't high quality, but i feel if i say they are they wont hurt my guns.

I bought some of the black "premium" .25 Crosman BBs from WalMart a few weeks ago.

Aside from the fact fact they were black, and I could not see the flight of the round at all, I used about 1500 of them.
I didnt have any barrel jams, but they totally 'gummed" my barrel and caused 2 Hi-cap mags to stop feeding correctly. Yeah, HI caps.

After I stripped and cleaned the gun, I cycled oil impregnated bbs thru the mags (like for a mid-cap)and that fixed them. While I was unloading them, however, black residue and very small black pieces were falling out.

I think the BBs feel dry as well compared to goldenball.

Some people have alot of success with them, though, I think TYRANT uses them excusively...so I dont know.

AK-Andrew wrote:I bought some of the black "premium" .25 Crosman BBs from WalMart a few weeks ago.

Aside from the fact fact they were black, and I could not see the flight of the round at all, I used about 1500 of them.
I didnt have any barrel jams, but they totally 'gummed" my barrel and caused 2 Hi-cap mags to stop feeding correctly. Yeah, HI caps.

After I stripped and cleaned the gun, I cycled oil impregnated bbs thru the mags (like for a mid-cap)and that fixed them. While I was unloading them, however, black residue and very small black pieces were falling out.

I think the BBs feel dry as well compared to goldenball.

Some people have alot of success with them, though, I think TYRANT uses them excusively...so I dont know.

Now that could be true. I have never run them through my guns. I did not notice anything in my friends gun and we shot one 5000 pack of the .20 whites and 1 5000 pack of the .25 blacks. Then again, I might have cheated a bit because I used silicone oil in all the mags and spray some down the barrel. Maybe that kept them from mis-feeding or staying lubed up.

Still looking for big bags of bulk BBs like we used to get of the Excels for cheaper. But there is not much of a savings anymore in bulk ordering.

Here is one subject I do have a littel experince with. I have been useing cheap bbs and china guns for years know. Till last fall I would have defended the crossman bbs. We go thru bbs like air! I have almost a 100 of those 5k crossman bb contaners in my shop that I store stuff in, and so does a fellow airsofter down here. Between us I am fairly sure we have put 1,000,000 crossman bbs thru our guns. Last fall we started having problems with them and tore up 3 guns that I know where caused by bad bbs. As Ryan said the guys tryed to clear them by continuing to fire and the piston stoped and tore up the gears or the piston teeth. I work on most of our guns down here and polish the barrels offten with brasso becuse of the great results that has, so it wasn't because the barrels were dirty. Most of our gus have 6.04 barrels so its not like any super tbbs. We concluded that it was ether a bad batch(although we got them form diff stores) or that crossman just went to a cheaper production process. So we stopped buying them becuse gun repairs are much more expensive plus the down time.
We have been buying the matrix from evike since for about the same price 5k for $10 in 4packs can get them a littel cheaper if you get the big rice sack about 125k. They are not the greatest bbs but we have not had any jams yet and have used about 200k so far. I have been experamenting with better bbs because accuratcy has become a priority to me, I am amazed at how much brand and weight makes a diff. The matrix 20g are good for about 75ft then its anybodys guess where they will go. I have cut many in half and found the air bubbel is offten not in the center.
Said all that to say this; I have used alot of crossman 20g and didn't have problems till last fall. Now I do not use them and would not recommend them. If you want cheap bbs that are ok for your gun I would recommend the matrix 20g form evike.
That's my opinion, but opinions are like arm pits; everybodys got one and they all stink at some time.

Nope, that is a good opinion.... And I don't deny it. I have never used them before. I now have two containers that I am going to use for storing my other "premium" bbs since I like the jug better than the bags I think. SO I will have 10,000 TM bbs in 2 crossman containers!! Think the bbs will be pissed?!?

I have been looking at KSC bbs and would like to find a bulk deal on those over Matrix.

It would be nice if we had the tools or do updated testing like was done HERE.

Heres a good example for you,
Just recently my friend had bought some walmart .20g, and when we got out to the field (ACZ) his JG was clogging up like crazy, and we concluded after running some KSC's in it that it was infact the crosman bbs. I used to use the crosman way back when I played alot (about a year ago) and they worked fine, but now recently when I jumped back into it, I too noticed in my KWA a significant lack of performance in the Crosman bbs. Honestly tho, why criticize crosman, because all their guns on their product line are crap and only need crap bbs so why make them of better quality then needed? I recommend the GoldenBall bbs as they work and have worked perfectly in all my guns, and thats why I sell them for 4000ct .20g for $12

ownage1 wrote:-bbbastard has cool specs like, clear and really heavy bbs, but they are loved by snipers for for there other trait: consistency.
"Each BB is CNC machined from a latice-based molecular material to achieve consistent size, shape and distribution to and overall accuracy of 2 microns...exactly 5.953mm in diameter"
"Better Material Distribution – Our molding process allows for a more even distribution of material with no areas of higher/lower density
Bubble Control – Our cooling process allows more of our BB’s to have the bubbles that happen in lighter weight BB’s to stay centred to avoid BB wobble due to uneven weight distribution
Double Polished – Our trademarked two stage polish process that allows us to offer a high polish, even on our ECO line, without sacrificing a consisting spherical shape and diameter"
dont mean to be a spokesman for them i just think they are on the cutting edge of little balls of plastic.
-your right, goldenball isn't high quality, but i feel if i say they are they wont hurt my guns.

1.96 per BB shipped if you buy 40 rounds of the .66's I would love some White .66's but not at that price! It would cost $588.52 to fill one 300 round high cap!

well at least they are reusable. i could understand why people would use them for sniping target competitions.

I do use the crossman bb's a good bit when i wanna play hard & really shed some plastic. Effective bb's for the price decent consistent shape with about 2 out of 10 has a visible seem but not to the touch i will say this (CHEAP QUALITY) they do tend to just break apart under stress i.e one get's caught in the mag well and u jam the magazine in there the bb will break apart, Also if it jams in the barrel and u keep firing when you un-jam it little bit's off bb will come out as the have shattered in the barrel. This being said i only use them in the event i can't afford quality BB's & only run them in the SCAR(LOW FPS 320's),In my M16(480fps) Goldenball, TSD, Airdog elite .30's is all it will shoot...

Crossman are decent but if u can afford quality BB's then get them