Does anyone here do airsoft?

[MOcaster]

I have a few questions about bbs and I wondered if anyone here was an airsofter. I don't personally play/shoot airsoft but I want to use the bbs as tips on 22 cal bullets that I swage. What are the softest bbs I can buy? I bought some CYMA bbs and they shattered when I smashed them in the vice. I have some Crosman glow in the dark bbs that are pretty soft but they only come in green tinged white. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Zymurgy50]

Mmmmm, glow in the dark ballistic tips,,,,,,, better call Nosler with a new idea for zombie ammo...


You might be better off looking for a supply of nylon or thermoplastic balls of a smaller diameter (check Dave Corbins website for an example).
I played with a couple different brands of airsoft bb's and couldnt find one that worked. Trying to swage a 6mm sphere down to .224 just doesnt seem to work for me.

[rondog]

I'd like to know if airsofts are safe to terrorize squirrels with! Got a bird feeder about 10 ft. from my kitchen window and I have hell with the stupid squirrels. My pellet rifle is too fatal for them, I'll end up getting in trouble, ain't worth it. I just want to sting the snot out of 'em and discourage them from coming around.

[MOcaster]

Airsoft will do that, I know. You can get weak, cheap Walmart guns all the way up to $300, 700+ fps guns. I knew Corbin's sold the bullet balls but airsoft bbs are a lot cheaper. To swage them, first I run them through my core swage die so they will slide into the jacket to be point formed. Some of the plastic is sheared off in the process.

[bangerjim]

I own a LOT of airsoft guns.......NOT the toys you find in WalFart or Big 5 Sports.

How about a SIG look/feel alike with ~500 fps? Or other popular handguns in airsoft. Great for training! They all have removable mags just like the real guns I have. They act and feel like the real thing and are made of 100% metal....not plastic. They use propane gas as the power, not a lousy spring.

The 12gram pellets are the lightest & softest. The black ones are the heaviest and hardest (what I use). You can even get aluminum 6mm balls on Ebay. Talk about take-down power for your squirrels!

I have an AR15 style that shoots about 450fps and over 800 RPM.

They are fun and LEGAL to shoot in town.

Any questions, ask.

banger

[44Vaquero]

Most of the cheap Air Soft BB's are very brittle. Some of the more expensive types may be softer, you may want to try the Bio-degradable type. I doubt any will be softer than the glow in the dark ones. Expensive Air-Soft guns use 20 gram polished BB's and it is never recommended to reuse them because the full auto mechanism's are somewhat delicate and will jamb with less than perfect shot.

I have several types of Air-soft guns including home-made full auto's and most all of them shatter any type of BB's with the exception of the mentioned Glow in the dark ones.

[Multigunner]

The Enertia Black BBs I used to buy seem shatter resistant. They are maleable enough that I've fired them in a .22 CO2 pistol. They did not get stuck and apparently conformed to the smaller bore and took the spin from the rifling.

The cheap .12 weight BBs are usually brittle.

Remember that Airsoft BBs are 6mm a bit larger than a .22 bullet.

[MOcaster]

Thanks everybody for their help. I just got 5000 Crosman glow in the dark bbs on eBay for $13 so I think I will be set for a looooong time swaging.

[Thundermaker]

I've been gluing them into .45 HPs for years.

[Silver Eagle]

Remember Airsoft BB weights are fractions of a gram. The lightest is generally .12 gram with the heaviest in plastic being .25 gram. The aluminum ones are a bit heavier. The plastic in most is pretty brittle. A little heat (toaster oven maybe?) might soften them up enough for swaging in HP's.
I remember as a kid having a gun that fired real soft plastic bb's of about Airsoft size. No longer remember the name or have the toy.

[rondog]

I remember as a kid having a gun that fired real soft plastic bb's of about Airsoft size. No longer remember the name or have the toy.

Sekiden pistol, I remember those! Look it up on Google Images.

[44Vaquero]

These are the ones that I remember from the late 60's early 70's. They never lasted long but they sure were fun!

[bangerjim]

The Enertia Black BBs I used to buy seem shatter resistant. They are maleable enough that I've fired them in a .22 CO2 pistol. They did not get stuck and apparently conformed to the smaller bore and took the spin from the rifling.

The cheap .12 weight BBs are usually brittle.
Remember that Airsoft BBs are 6mm a bit larger than a .22 bullet.

The 12 BBs are not really soft, they are just made of a different more brittle alloy plastic to achieve that low weight. Mainly for kid's toys. They have virtually NO long distance accuracy due to weight....even using a hop-up system.

The black 25 BBs.......that is a different story. They are pretty accurate at ~120 feet or more. I use only the accurate polished ones. That is if you are using an expensive "NOT A TOY" non-plastic gun that has high muzzle velocities. I have about 8 of those and they are really fun to shoot.

Then there is the 30 weight AL BBs! Those are for ONLY hunting small animals with powerful non-springers. Dangerous...do NOT shoot at pets or people! Usually fired with gas-powered rifles. Fun to shoot! I do have a bolt action sniper rifle that uses piston/spring power and can send those babies over 250 feet pretty accurately.



banger

[45 Bravo]

Um, they sell some .43's that are non metalic
Madbull, and matrix sell them.

http://www.evike.com/products/32105/

[45 Bravo]

Here are a few of mine.

It is all in the name of fun.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=OsokRJScnIQ

[bangerjim]

Um, they sell some .43's that are non metalic
Madbull, and matrix sell them.

http://www.evike.com/products/32105/

That's the 1st of those I have seen! I do not normally buy stuff off the net....like to keep the $$ in my home state as I, too, am a local businessman. No one locally sells them.

But those look interesting!

thanks for point them out.

banger

[45 Bravo]

I prefer to buy locally too, but the closest dedicated airsoft store is Nashville, 4 1/2 hours away..

The heaviest I use is .25, none of my stuff is set up for heavier..

Too many hobbies, not enough money...

[GARD72977]

I guess I do now. I bought my stepdaughter the Socom Oasis. Its replica of a Ruger MKIII. She will be 16 soon and is very small. Its was hard to find a quality gun because most are replicas and much larger grips. It has adjustable hop up and rated at 400-420 fps with .20gr . Im hoping it is accurate enough for 10m target practice. It has adjustable sights and a good sight radius. I never thought I would be into air guns and now im buying airsoft guns.

[MBTcustom]

How about a SIG look/feel alike with ~500 fps?

I have been personally shot in the head with one of those at point blank range in a air soft "battle". I bled for a while LOL!

Now, I don't personally own any, nor use them, but I got my little brother hooked on them when he was a kid. Now he's 21 and he's about the best airsmith in the country IMHO.
If you ever want the best, PM me and I'll get you in touch with him. You really have to see it to fully appreciate it. He can build an M4 airsoft that will make the opposing team wiz down both legs. Like paper plate at 75 yards kind of accurate, 600RPM cyclic rate (personally, I think that's a low figure. His guns absolutely rip out the BB's)
He built a sniper rifle a few years ago and he was tagging a paper plate at 100 yards with it. In fact, he uploaded a video of him doing just that on youtube.
He is as proficient with the airsoft as I am with the real thing. A true master. He's a pretty fine artist too. It was him that painted the rifle I built for lovelife.
Yeah I'm bragging on him pretty large, but I don't give out praise easily, and he earned every bit of what I just wrote. It's rare to find a true craftsman these days, and finding a smith that specializes in airsoft and has taken it to the level he has, has got to be a very rare thing.
He's done so well considering his handicap (he lost his left eye year before last in a knife throwing accident) We call him Bullseye.
I just really want to see him succeed, and his skill in this area is truly astounding.
Anyway, sorry for bragging, I just never thought I would see a thread on airsoft on castboolits!

[Multigunner]

My UHC (Unicorn Hobby Company) 1911 and Beretta model airsoft springers are very well made for low priced guns.
These have aluminum barrels and the mechanisms are fairly realistic. The barrel jacket of the 1911 tilts when the slide is retracted in a realistic manner and both thumb safety and grip safety work.

The UHC pistols are South Korean copies of the much more expensive Mariu Japanese brand.
They come with a fairly light spring and are intended for use with the .12 BB, but I replaced the springs with more powerful springs salvaged from old cheapo airsoft pistols.
This brought performance up equal to the Mariu originals.
I use .20 and .25 BBs, both of which work fine. The .20 allows a flatter trajectory and longer range but the .25 is okay at the ranges I shoot and gives much tighter groups.

I have an old Chicago Typewriter Thompson replica that gave very good velocity for a springer. It was good for 25 yards or more. At close range it would shoot through both sides of an aluminum can full of water.

I'd like to see the old Daisy .118 and Rodgers .177 all metal BBs pistols re produced in 6mm. These pistols were well designed but just didn't have a big enough cylinder and piston to drive steel BBs to a decent velocity.