Canadian Airgun Forum

I have never owned a BB gun as my dad disapproved of them, so I started at ~8 years with a Slavia .177 pellet gun.

The only disadvantage I ever experienced in comparison with BB guns was that they could break glass bottles, which never appealed to me.

I could always shoot rings around ny BB gun acquaintences but that was in the late 1950s so maybe things have changed?

What are reasonably achievable velocities and accuracies?

Is this something that one can play with as a winter, indoor modification, tuning, target project, or should I stay with Artemis PP750?

Hopefully, this isn't offensive or a red flag as I'm only trying to set context to better understand the BB gun field in modern times.

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Slavia 618 .177
Webley Senior .22
Jelly SUPER 4.5 mm
Webley Viscount .177
Kral Mega Marine Walnut .22
Artemis PP750 .22
FX Streamline .22 walnut
FX Streamline .22 composite
FX Dynamic 500 .22

I have a larger BB gun, at least it shoots round balls from it's smooth bore - no rifling.
This is a 5 shot group at 28 yards, fired from a bench.
The gun is a 20 bore. The top 4 targets are more representative. The bottom 28 yard group is an anomaly for a smoothbore (shooting 300gr. BB's)

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Best Wishes
Daryl

A bb gun could be very accurate if made to better tolerances but known for being cheap in price for both gun and ammo there is only so much you can expect. There is the Daisy 499 that is somewhat impressive.

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I have some airguns.

It is a loaded question, with only a general answer possible:
BB guns are less "accurate" than pellet guns, for myriad reasons.
The best accuracy BB long gun is purportedly to be a Daisy 499 - specially designed to shoot Daisy Match Precision BB and can shoot those into a BB size group at 5 m (I made that up, but that is approximate).
Note BB is a "bird shot" sized round ball - specifically 0.173" diameter. Round ball ballistics do not benefit from spinning and BB are generally made from steel so BB guns are usually smooth bore because the BB doesn't need rifling and would wear the rifling out over time anyhow. Long story short, BB gun bores are usually oversized since a steel BB isn't going to deform to squish into the bore - it would just end up getting stuck in the barrel, so the barrels are made bigger resulting in steel BB bouncing around and generally making a group around 1" or bigger at 5m. Pretty much any pellet gun with rifling will put the right pellet into a single pellet sized (maybe ragged) hole at 5m.
I have just ordered a Diana Oktoberfest that has been designed to shoot 4.4mm (0.173") steel coated lead balls (BB) with a rifled barrel. It can supposedly put 5 of those into 0.3" group at 5m. It puts regular steel BB into more like 1" group at 5m, but comes with a caveat that steel BB may get stuck in the bore. I believe the accuracy is achieved by having the ball able to deform, engage the rifling, not bounce around in the barrel and thus group a bit better than a loose fitting steel BB. Also, the energy of steel BB is going to be much less than a lead pellet, so it won't break glass bottle at 10 m. Speed of BB is generally less than 500 fps - there are a few that claim 600 fps and they get erroneously classified as PAL (erroneous because the muzzle energy is less than 4.2 FPE, but the Canadian brain has been trained to think non PAL only means less than 500 fps). So, there you have it BB for plinking, pellet for target/hunting.
One other point, steel BB ricochet - so plan around that for basement plinking. The lead balls flatten and don't ricochet like steel BB - but they are expensive as heck so no economy achieved, might as well shoot pellets at the price. So I'm getting the Oktoberfest for novelty only.

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Iacio, ergo sum

As Duke mentioned BB guns are intended to be shot at 5 meters.

I have a Daisy 499 and I use the regular Daisy BB with it. The performance is a bit less than with the precision ground BBs but it is stil impressive because the 499 can be shot at the same 31 feet distance in the basement range used for my pellets airgun.

I cannot tell exactly what is the size of BB groups because I always shoot offhand but it favourably compare with my pellets groups.

R-Gun Pete

IMO, if you want a nice target shooting experience indoor in the winter, that PP750 you are using should be much better than a BB gun...

My BB gun experience are not for accurate paper target shooting but the other kind of fun which a PP750 couldn't give me.... It's the fun on the replica airgun... Blow back, drop off mag, kicking slide on every shot, knock down soup cans and tear apart soda cans.... It's all about fun but looks nothing related to accuracy....

For accuracy, we usually talk about grouping....

Below is my fun M92A1 made in Germany, full auto compatible have all features that a replica should have above.... The group is a full mag in full auto and about 6 feet away shot at the letter size copy paper....

6 feet... Not 6 yards... Muzzle to paper about 6 feet, and shooter stood about 8 feet away, free standing pose, a little lean forward as usual... For such a close distance, I think I need to mention some details~

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~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe

If you want BB, there's another type of BB besides the 4.5mm steel BB we are talking...

We have the 6mm plastic airsoft BB guns in the market too. However ppl mainly use those BB gun in war games and they won't hurt ppl too hard when being hit as for the material and the bigger size plus less energy... However we not usually talk about it here because we don't use our airguns to shoot people...

The airsoft BB guns are not cheap. Some of them are quite expensive too. To my limited experience on them, (I didn't buy the cheapo ones), they are much better made than the 4.5mm steel bb guns at the similar price point.

And one good thing is they are much accurate than the steel bb guns because for the plastic BBs, there's a hop-up adjustment on the barrel, and the 6mm BB leaving the muzzle spinning upwards... With the adjustment you can adjust how hard its spinning and can adjust the POI to your need in some levels....

Below is my extended barrel DE shooting at 380fps... Target at 6 yards as usual I shoot my pistols standing.

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~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe

I also have a Daisy 499. They are very accurate at 5 meters with the Precision Ground Daisy BB's

I checked 4 different charts on shot sizes, and BB shot for shotguns (lead alloyed with tin and/or antimony
and sometimes coated with nickle or copper) were all listed as being .180" in diameter.
Steel (iron) BB shot for waterfowl hunting, is also listed as being .180"(4.57mm).

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Best Wishes
Daryl

I have found that the less expensive and available Hornady Black Diamond and Umarex bbs are as accurate as the larger, heavier Daisy Ground bbs in the 499 . The Precision Ground bbs become less accurate beyond 5 metres, the others are excellent up to 20 feet.

Your BBB (Big BB) post reminded me of a range day when a friend was shooting his .75 smooth bore that lacks a rear sight. I'm quite amazed at how good sight discipline delivers accuracy.

He was consistently hitting 2 feet to the left and couldn't solve the issue so I went out and dragged the target stand 2 feet to the left. After that, all his shots were on target.

We are still laughing about that. IDK what was going on but that solved it.

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Slavia 618 .177
Webley Senior .22
Jelly SUPER 4.5 mm
Webley Viscount .177
Kral Mega Marine Walnut .22
Artemis PP750 .22
FX Streamline .22 walnut
FX Streamline .22 composite
FX Dynamic 500 .22

Sighting down a barrel without a rear sight, the eye must be centered over the breech, and the bead, blade, post or bayonet lug must be centered as well. This is pretty much
an automatic response for someone shooting. The amount of barrel one sees (the distance the eye is over the breech) dictates the elevation of the shot. When shots hit high, low
of off to one side or the other, the barrel is bent to being the sighting back to centre and at the elevation one requires.
This is one method of doing that feat, with blocks and a C-clamp. Note the amount the bench itself is bent upwards. This amount of bend did not put a bend into the barrel. The end
blocks had to be increased in height another 1/4". MUCH depends on the barrel's material.

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Best Wishes
Daryl

Shotgunning. Shooting thrown objects with my English double rifles was similar, eye centered over the breech and controlling eye level.

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Slavia 618 .177
Webley Senior .22
Jelly SUPER 4.5 mm
Webley Viscount .177
Kral Mega Marine Walnut .22
Artemis PP750 .22
FX Streamline .22 walnut
FX Streamline .22 composite
FX Dynamic 500 .22