- Oct 20, 2012
- 5,112
- 1,692
After having my M249 jam twice today whilst running in a new bucking on what I suspect were the mixed-in .30g Nuprol tracers (I know they're usually fine) I've decided once and for all that perhaps we should work towards a proper way of categorising all the common BB brands to find which expand like the bullshit BB King rebrands they are, and which are safe to use even after years in a damp closet.
It would be silly for me to go out and buy 40 different bags of BBs, so I need your help with swollen BBs. Heh.
What do you mean?
If you're out of the loop, some BBs - most notably BB King, Nuprol and Gunfire Rockets & Platinums have come under fire for adsorbing water in the air at a rapid rate (i.e. being highly 'hygroscopic') and swelling - jamming people's barrels. Nuprol, for example, have denied these claims and pinned the issue on a 'bad batch'. We need to put this to rest and find out which brands are hygroscopic and which are not. I'm really not satisfied with some of the answers we've had from both retailers and brands so far. I can't be the only one that feels this way.
How does this work?
Step 1. - The ammo
I need 150 of each BB brand/weight we're going to test. If you have some lying about then please, please, please PM me. I will pay postage costs if you like.
We need a diverse set of brands, but the BBs must be new. You must have purchased them in the last 3 months and the bag must not have been opened before you open it to send them to me. This bit is incredibly important - if your BBs are old then they're of no use I'm afraid.
As such, you may only be in a position to send a couple of brands or weights. That's completely fine - please just PM me with whatever you can contribute.
Step 2. - The setup
Each set of BBs will be split into three different testing groups (50 bbs in each): The control, the vacuum seal and the underwater groups.
The control group
These BBs will be kept in an open-top container at room temperature (and in the dark to avoid photodegradation).
The vacuum sealed group
These BBs will be kept in your bog-standard 'hoover operated' bed sheet/linen airtight storage bag with bags of silica gel to remove air moisture (and in the dark to avoid photodegradation).
The underwater group
These BBs will be kept in an closed-lid container that's filled with lab-grade distilled water (and in the dark to avoid photodegradation).
I will start new batches every week as more BBs arrive, so they're not sitting about doing nothing and potentially marring our results.
Step 3. - The measuring
Every week all samples will have 3 BBs removed, dried off with a paper towel (where applicable), measured with digital vernier callipers and weighed on scales. The average of the 3 measurements will be logged for the week.
We can do this for up to 4 months. Most of the BBs we see today have an 'expiry' of 3 months when opened, so this should be fine. Remember, we're using extreme conditions here in both the vacuum and underwater groups.
A nice side effect is that I'll also be getting the average weight of your brand of choice too, and I'll do a crush test on the two spare BBs from each test for air bubbles.
Final results
Every month (or even more frequently) I will compile a list of the BB results in a public spreadsheet with graphs and shizzle.
So if you're now at all interested in helping then please send me a PM about your BBs (ifyouknowwhatimean).
It would be silly for me to go out and buy 40 different bags of BBs, so I need your help with swollen BBs. Heh.
What do you mean?
If you're out of the loop, some BBs - most notably BB King, Nuprol and Gunfire Rockets & Platinums have come under fire for adsorbing water in the air at a rapid rate (i.e. being highly 'hygroscopic') and swelling - jamming people's barrels. Nuprol, for example, have denied these claims and pinned the issue on a 'bad batch'. We need to put this to rest and find out which brands are hygroscopic and which are not. I'm really not satisfied with some of the answers we've had from both retailers and brands so far. I can't be the only one that feels this way.
How does this work?
Step 1. - The ammo
I need 150 of each BB brand/weight we're going to test. If you have some lying about then please, please, please PM me. I will pay postage costs if you like.
We need a diverse set of brands, but the BBs must be new. You must have purchased them in the last 3 months and the bag must not have been opened before you open it to send them to me. This bit is incredibly important - if your BBs are old then they're of no use I'm afraid.
As such, you may only be in a position to send a couple of brands or weights. That's completely fine - please just PM me with whatever you can contribute.
Step 2. - The setup
Each set of BBs will be split into three different testing groups (50 bbs in each): The control, the vacuum seal and the underwater groups.
The control group
These BBs will be kept in an open-top container at room temperature (and in the dark to avoid photodegradation).
The vacuum sealed group
These BBs will be kept in your bog-standard 'hoover operated' bed sheet/linen airtight storage bag with bags of silica gel to remove air moisture (and in the dark to avoid photodegradation).
The underwater group
These BBs will be kept in an closed-lid container that's filled with lab-grade distilled water (and in the dark to avoid photodegradation).
I will start new batches every week as more BBs arrive, so they're not sitting about doing nothing and potentially marring our results.
Step 3. - The measuring
Every week all samples will have 3 BBs removed, dried off with a paper towel (where applicable), measured with digital vernier callipers and weighed on scales. The average of the 3 measurements will be logged for the week.
We can do this for up to 4 months. Most of the BBs we see today have an 'expiry' of 3 months when opened, so this should be fine. Remember, we're using extreme conditions here in both the vacuum and underwater groups.
A nice side effect is that I'll also be getting the average weight of your brand of choice too, and I'll do a crush test on the two spare BBs from each test for air bubbles.
Final results
Every month (or even more frequently) I will compile a list of the BB results in a public spreadsheet with graphs and shizzle.
So if you're now at all interested in helping then please send me a PM about your BBs (ifyouknowwhatimean).
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Thank you for the feedback, seriously. However, this isn't good science. This is me doing it in a cupboard and not wanting to spend more than £30 on getting it done; we're still talking about BB guns here.
But as I only use them to mark ammo consumption I can do that np if they're interesting to your experiment - got 5500 left.
