another stupid concept, no really, but hear me out (this post involves BBs)

[EdinGa]

My 2 smoothbore Daisy 35s are really accurate with Daisy Precision Max BBs. They seem to prefer 7 pumps and under. I don't remember just how far I've tried them, but it's at least 20 yards or so. I did try powder coating a bunch of BBs but it didn't seem to help accuracy that much.


There's a guy on YouTube using carbon fiber shot tubes in his red ryder builds.

Ed, do you know what the fps is at 7 pumps? Thanks!

I did a few tests today and I must have been thinking about shooting pellets at 7 pumps. 2 pumps with BBs gives me best accuracy and 385 fps. 3 pumps gave me 425 fps but I couldn't get my chronograph to read anything more than 3.

[TorqueMaster]

You're certainly not the first to ask silly BB questions...I went down the path a bit last winter when I found out how fun the Daisy 35 was.  I did some BB quality testing, and posted the results:

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=204581.0

I ordered some Daisy 499 barrels, intending to install in the Daisy 35, but got distracted down some other rabbit hole before doing anything more with the ideas.  _Consistent_ minute of soupcan precision with BBs at 100 feet would be just dandy.

[lillysdad621]

the 35 is accurate as a smoothbore with wadcutter pellets, but mine did not like bbs, The one i have now wears a rifled cut down 880 barrel, polished and crowned. it is incredibly accurate. so much so that i am keeping it open sights only. Now, i shoot it at 2 pumps with winchester 7.4 domes, and at 53 yards (lasered) i can hit the stick of a stop sign. 2 pumps is like 310 fps.
I saw those carbon fiber barrels and the guns that guy makes... they are definitely something to keep an eye for. As far as a 499b with Cobalts spring kit...i think it could work but the 499 tube is made to work with .173 BBs, optimized for those, even. Avanti shot is nothing but sorted precision BBs at that size. for the distance i want to shoot i think a decent smoothbore barrel (polished if you can) MATCHED with the right BBs for that particular application will work just fine. And as far as a 400+fps RR... well, i think im better off with a pumper. then you have the capability to pump more or less to find the sweet spot. and also it removes any recoil any spring may cause. That is my opinion at least.

[K.O.]

well honestly for distance ya need some twist... it helps prevent the knuckle ball effect...conventional wisdom was 120% caliber was what was optimum...

could run round ball in compromise barrels with faster twist and short rifling if you slowed the round down...

so anyways L.W. has caught on to that maybe pellets benafit from a slow twist barrel also...now there is no way I am running steel BBs thru a rifled barrel so this is lead ball only...

so twist for pellets/ round ball by above theory... 

.177 = about 21 twist...
.22   = about 26 twist...
.25   = about 30 twist...

so maybe in the future some will pick up these L.W. barrels to see if they hold an advantage with pellets at longer distance...   then also see if higher velocity round ball works well in them also..

https://www.lothar-walther.com/gun-barrel-blanks/airgun-barrels/?p=1&o=1&n=12&f=5683%7C6874%7C6085

[JPSAXNC]

I thought about using a Benjamin 310 it's a BB shooter, but could barely dump all of the air on 6 pumps. What Benjamin did was install a valve return spring that had a HUGE compressive force. They didn't want the gun shooting fast. With a light valve return spring the 310 might have BB's smoking.

[Doug Wall]

You need to take a look at the Barra 400e. Excellent (can size) accuracy out to 25 yards, and quite good power.
https://hardairmagazine.com/reviews/barra-400e-selective-fire-bb-gun-review/

For power, we need to go back a bit in history. Back in the 60's there was a gun, the Benjamin 3030. It was advertised as being able to shoot through a 5 gal. metal bucket. I have a working one, and if I remember correctly, it shoots at about 600fps

[lefteyeshot]

Just preliminary but Gamo lead bb's seem to shoot better in my Ekol es 66 rifled barrel as well as in my Crosman Vigilante with rifled 8 inch 357 barrel.

[Berserkeley Mike]

Not stupid, fun!
I'm a fan of this idea because the round ball, like a BB, has such poor balistics that it is relatively safe in smaller ranges: it loses energy fast.  For example according to Chairgun, a BB hurled at the speed of sound will only fly around 170 meters, and at twice the speed of sound it only travels 190m, only 20 meters more!  And that is maximun range, the last half of which the BB has less than half a foot pound of energy, it is almost in free-fall.  Interestingly, it is supersonic for the first 20 meters, so there.  Balance that of course with the ricochet of BBs should they hit something hard early on, but still, this is what makes this idea fun!  BBs would define the "hopeless" class of distance accuracy competition.
The Marksman brand of BBs are known to be a little larger than standard, and some have found they fit more snugly and thus are more accurate out of barrels made to shoot pellets.  Often too, they are too large for smoothbore barrels made to shoot standard BBs.
https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2019/05/marksman-premium-grade-steel-bbs-and-speedloader-part-1/
The comments section explains how to get the stuck BB out of your gun.  Which we may eventually have to do.
I suspect wax will turn to liquid at the pressures required to launch a BB supersonic, not that a liquid sabot is a bad thing. 

I'm game, what are the challenges? First can at 100yards/meters?
EDIT: on second thought, make that 50 yards/meters.  I don't have enough scope for a 30 meter drop. 

[Van]

My 2 smoothbore Daisy 35s are really accurate with Daisy Precision Max BBs. They seem to prefer 7 pumps and under. I don't remember just how far I've tried them, but it's at least 20 yards or so. I did try powder coating a bunch of BBs but it didn't seem to help accuracy that much.


There's a guy on YouTube using carbon fiber shot tubes in his red ryder builds.

Ed, do you know what the fps is at 7 pumps? Thanks!

I did a few tests today and I must have been thinking about shooting pellets at 7 pumps. 2 pumps with BBs gives me best accuracy and 385 fps. 3 pumps gave me 425 fps but I couldn't get my chronograph to read anything more than 3.

   I did the same type of barrel change on two $17 Bucks, back when they were $17 at Walmart, but used 499 tubes turned down at the breech end to fit in the clamshell.  After making adult size stocks, changing to Cobalt power springs and new sights they are amazingly accurate repeaters at BB gun ranges.  The both shoot 370-375fps with Black Diamond Hornady BBs. I have been thinking about getting one of those carbon fiber ones to try in a spring-loaded model 25 tube. 

[desertplinker]

I'm following this. But, this deserves to be in the bb gate?

[ER00z]

I've shot bb's out to 40-50 yards before... You need a calm day with no wind or nearly any and I highly recommend scaling up the size of the target for the distance or it won't be very entertaining. 15-20 yards a tin/pop can seems appropriate, 40-50 yards a coffee tin or old paint bucket, 80 yards a metal trash can... Maybe? 

If you could somehow put just the right amount of backspin on a bb it could help overcome drop over distance... Accuracy still wouldn't match what we have with rifled barrels and lead pellets though.