The power of non powder guns

[aiirman]

Field testing the daisey spring bb pistole 340 model I found it was not strong enough to pierce a soda can but only dent it...even at point blank range. I would say this gun shoots about 200 fps and only produces half a foot pound at best. My beeman p17 pellet single stroke pistole was able to shoot around 400 fps and was able to shoot through the first side of a full soup can and cause leakage....I estimate about 3 foot pounds is enough to penetrate a soup can to leak.This shows that 400 fps and up can cause serious injury or death so in short never underestimate any non powder gun.

[Lt. Dan]

As mama said, "It's enough to shoot your eye out!"

[Booder98]

Field testing done by my brothers and me as kids showed that the fpe generated by the Daisy bb gun, that you loaded by pouring bbs in the barrel 500 at a time, was not sufficient to break human skin.  Data was also gathered to support the hypothesis that human male children are just about too dumb to live.

[BassMan]

Field testing done by my brothers and me as kids showed that the fpe generated by the Daisy bb gun, that you loaded by pouring bbs in the barrel 500 at a time, was not sufficient to break human skin.  Data was also gathered to support the hypothesis that human male children are just about too dumb to live.
/quote]

Now that is funny!! Kind of like the old saying that God watches out for fools and drunks.

[Ribbonstone]

Fun to remember all the “tests” we did as kids...tin cans, bottles, chunks of wood, pellet splattering on steel….all types of make-shift power tests

Back when the adults didn’t mind kids shooting up the garbage dump.

Tin cans and even non-deposit bottles were thicker then…...they’ve learned how to use less material to do the same job today.  Beer cans and even soda cans were often steel rather than Al. (if you needed to punch your own triangle holes to get into a beer, it was likely a steel can).  Likely today’s Al.  drink cans are as thin as they can possible be.

Was “hot snit” if your BB gun could shoot though both sides of a paint can….Crosman even used that kid-wisdom in their ads for the 3030.

A healthy 8-pumped Sheridan penetrates deeper in wood than a healthy 8- pumped Benjamin .22...those harder Sheridan slugs and same energy applied over a smaller area, but we didn’t think that way back then.  Sheridans certainly looked nicer, but every kid in the neighborhood knew they were way more powerful because they’d shoot though more wood.


Frustrated when a Benjamin .22  132 (.22) pistol would hit a bottle floating in water, but just rock it back and not break it….but the kid next to me finally hits with with a BB gun and shatters it.  Didn’t reason it out then, but steel “point contact”  does that a whole lot better than fat-soft lead.

Accidentally learned about “spalling”  when shooting a 1950’s TV picture tube.  BB would bounce off, but would eject a kind of “cone” of glass out the back.  Thought that was the neatest thing ever.

Think you’re wrong about humans and BB’s...bare skin will break, BB will need to be squeezed out like a deep zit at about 310-350fps.  You find out who you true friends are by who will get the BB out your bare back.

Show up that way in today’s ER’s, and you’d be counted as a GSW (gun shot wound).  Know, I’ve been called out in the middle of the night by the ER to run the x-ray to allow the extraction of what turned out to be a .177 pellet. (did hospital/surgery x-ray from about 2003-2020).

Was teaching High School (this would be 1976-2001)….one of my students was the son of a forensic pathologist.  Open hose,..got to talking...father let be borrow his books.  Were several incidents of death by pellet, and obviously a Sheridan pellet in one x-ray (were others, but that Sheridan shape was pretty unique...the others could have been fired by anything).

[Doug Wall]

"Crosman even used that kid-wisdom in their ads for the 3030"

That was the Benjamin 3030. (I have one in working condition) In those days, Crosman had no relation to Benjamin. Totally separate companies.

[Ribbonstone]

Yep...I screwed up...typed Crosman even though I knew better. (somehow, co2 and Crosman just "went together" even though I knew better).

[aiirman]

Field testing done by my brothers and me as kids showed that the fpe generated by the Daisy bb gun, that you loaded by pouring bbs in the barrel 500 at a time, was not sufficient to break human skin.  Data was also gathered to support the hypothesis that human male children are just about too dumb to live.

that spring daisey rifle only shoots about 200 fps...is the weakest thing that shoot metallic objects.

[ER00z]

Airguns aren't toys, even at 1fpe they can do harm (~300 fps with bb's). I've taken small critters with lever action BB guns. The Daisy pump action BB gun (model 40?) had even more zip to it. Once you step up to7-8fpe (most BB/pellet multi pumpers) they can be dangerous or in rare unfortunate instances, lethal.

One of my current projects is making 33-34 fpe in .177. There's more in it, but that's a lot of energy in .177. Using a piece of 2x10 to post targets on, I've had .177 slugs zip through at 52 yards. There's little energy after pass through but I treat that airgun (and all the rest) just as I would a firearm. It doesn't matter if you're shooting at 200 fps or 1,200 fps, bb's or pellets/slugs, treat all air arms with respect and safety in mind.

If a BB/pellet can penetrate one side of a soup can, you can take small game with it at that range. May not be the most humane, but is very doable. Most break barrel pellet guns (full power) can zip through a tin can further than you'd imagine. Even at 50 yards they can zip through a gallon jug of water. Larger diameter projectiles do transfer more energy and may penetrate less. 

[Cslinger]

Please, please, please treat any airgun like you would a firearm. 
A low velocity BB could still radically change somebody’s life for the worse.  Treat them ALL with the respect due from the lowliest BB gun to a .45 caliber Texan etc. 

Understand that we are all stewards of this hobby and the shooting hobby in general and “your” irresponsibility can have wide ranging effects on a great many people.

Sorry for the sermon I just take firearm/shooting responsibility and safety seriously and for every 100 of us who read this and think “well duh” there might be one or two folks who have an epiphany.

All that aside airguns in general have come along way since my plastic stocked, cheap, Red Ryder knock off that I put many a green army men rebellions down with.

Take care, shoot safe
Chris.

[Ribbonstone]

Steel BB’s are “special’….are basically non-deforming and “point contact”.

Basically a  hard ball….contacts a target with one tiny point….energy they carry is area of contact….which is JACK for a steel BB.

They will shatter bottles..will punch though sheet steel….at a much lower total energy because they contact a hard  target with such a tiny, non deforming, area.