Working out the best BB weight

[AirSniper]

I have just run some BB's of 0.2g and 0.25g through some of the Airsoft pistols (GBB) and also Rifles, AEG's

 

I am not sure what to make of the results.

 

I used the averages and used the average to get a joules value.

 

The results are as follows.

 

Pistol		Manuf:			Pistol		Manuf:			Pistol		Manuf:
Glock 17 Gen 4		WE			OPS Tactical .45		Tokyo Marui			Beretta M92		Tokyo Marui
Shot		BB Wt.	grams		Shot		BB Wt.	grams		Shot		BB Wt.	grams
Count		0.2	0.25		Count		0.2	0.25		Count		0.2	0.25
1		306.9	293.7		1		301.1	267.6		1		301.8	273.4
2		309.2	287.4		2		297.1	256.3		2		297.9	270.8
3		305.3	287.4		3		293.8	254.3		3		296.4	270.2
4		302.5	285.4		4		291.4	259.4		4		295.6	268.8
5		303.4	286.5		5		292.1	262.4		5		294.8	268.2
6		278.0	285.0		6		290.3	262.3		6		293.5	270.0
7		296.6	284.6		7		288.7	263.2		7		283.2	267.9
8		295.6	282.6		8		289.5	262.1		8		290.6	267.5
9		292.9	281.9		9		288.3	258.5		9		285.9	266.0
10		288.4	281.1		10		285.1	258.6		10		285.4	265.6
Min		278.0	281.1		Min		285.1	254.3		Min		283.2	265.6
Ave		297.9	285.6		Ave		291.7	260.5		Ave		292.5	268.8
Max		309.2	293.7		Max		301.1	267.6		Max		301.8	273.4
Mean		295.0	286.8		Mean		292.6	260.8		Mean		292.5	269.3
Joules					Joules					Joules
Min		0.77	0.99		Min		0.81	0.81		Min		0.80	0.88
Ave		0.89	1.02		Ave		0.85	0.85		Ave		0.86	0.90
Max		0.96	1.08		Max		0.91	0.90		Max		0.91	0.93
Mean (J)		0.9	1.0		Mean (J)		0.9	0.9		Mean (J)		0.9	0.9

There appears to be ZERO advantage to using heavier BB's with exception to the Glock17

I used the KE = 1/2 m V² to calculate the joules. 

 

Question... do the values look right as I have no reference, unless someone can point me to a source that I can compare to, I have no idea on the health or state of the equipment.

 

Question... does using heavier weights pose more wear on the pistol? They all have the "Hop up" in them, so would the heavier BB's wear out the hop up faster?

I'd appreciate thoughts on this as I am fairly new to airsoft.

 

[SSPKali]

Some good stats there! Nice to see a scientific approach.

 

The spread of FPS seems pretty usual, Joule output seems reasonable. Heavier ammo will give a tiny rise in Joules (due to joule creep) but in pistol length barrels it is negligible.

 

Heavier ammo will, in theory, wear hop rubbers faster but probably not noticeable unless you fire THOUSANDS of rounds each weekend!

 

I would be interested to see grouping sizes at 10m and 20m for the pistols, not really useful at ranges over that, that is what the rifle is for.

 

I would decide what you want from your pistol (CQB at sub-10m? Out door secondary out to 20m? Sniper back up that has to reach to MED?) Then test at that range with different BBs and see what the grouping is.

[Adolf Hamster]

3 hours ago, AirSniper said:

There appears to be ZERO advantage to using heavier BB's with exception to the Glock17

 

not strictly true, have a look at a recent discussion on the topic here:

 

of course absolute range isn't the only thing worth considering, especially with pistols the range can often be limited not by how far the pistol can lob a bb, but by how well a given shooter can aim and fire at a fleeting target in skirmish conditions.

 

3 hours ago, AirSniper said:

Question... do the values look right as I have no reference, unless someone can point me to a source that I can compare to, I have no idea on the health or state of the equipment.

 

they look pretty typical to me.

 

whilst joule creep is a thing in gas blowbacks it tends not to be too noticeable for pistols simply due to the short barrel length, the bb doesn't spend enough time in the barrel that the extra % time spent for a heavier bb to pick up that much energy.

 

the other thing to note is .2g to .25g isn't that big a weight difference compared to jumping from .2g to 0.4g

 

it's also worth noting did you set the hop for each weight or is that set for only one of the 2 weights, as that can affect the energy (as noted in the above linked thread)

 

3 hours ago, AirSniper said:

Question... does using heavier weights pose more wear on the pistol? They all have the "Hop up" in them, so would the heavier BB's wear out the hop up faster?

 

yes on both counts.

 

heavier ammo generates more back pressure which can apply extra load to the nozzle. in extreme cases it'll bulge or even burst (granted i've never actually burst a nozzle but i have heard of it happening). how much a given gun can take in this regard is a hard one to state as it depends on the build quality, gas used, ambient temperature etc etc.

 

heavier ammo will need more spin, which needs the hop set on further or even a hop with a softer compound, which will wear it out faster. although tbh a hop is a wear component anyway and especially for the typical round count you'd see in a pistol i don't really think premature wear is an issue worth worrying about (as in by the time the hop wears out the rest of the gun will also be in a pretty poor state).

[AirSniper]

Ok, thanks for the input.

 

I plan on trying to collate information and heavier weight BB's as well.

 

I have two G&G GC16 warthogs, one is my sons, its had a little longer to run in, the difference between his and mine is quite significant.

I have only run 0.25's through and there is a difference...

-------------------------------------
 

Rifle		GC16 Warthog			Rifle		GC16 Warthog
Serial		*0064			Serial		*10387
Shot		BB Wt.	grams		Shot		BB Wt.	grams
Count		0.2	0.25		Count		0.2	0.25
1			281.7		1			290.8
2			280.0		2			294.2
3			280.9		3			292.2
4			280.5		4			291.8
5			281.5		5			289.8
6			282.1		6			291.7
7			282.0		7			294.8
8			281.0		8			294.1
9			282.4		9			293.3
10			272.0		10			292.5
Min		0.0	272.0		Min		0.0	289.8
Ave		0.0	280.4		Ave		0.0	292.5
Max		0.0	282.4		Max		0.0	294.8
Mean		0.0	278.3		Mean		0.0	292.4
Joules					Joules
Min		0.00	0.92		Min		0.00	1.05
Ave		0.00	0.98		Ave		0.00	1.07
Max		0.00	1.00		Max		0.00	1.09
Mean		0.0	1.0		Mean		0.0	1.1

 

--------------------------------------------

 

I'd say that either my sons rifle needs a service or seals, there is about a 12% difference between his and mine. So when I got time tomorrow, I will be running a set of 0.2's through the rifles.

[Adolf Hamster]

13 minutes ago, AirSniper said:

I'd say that either my sons rifle needs a service or seals

 

assuming your son's is the left-hand one then looks like it's not too bad with only one shot being significantly low. the range of readings if you discount that flier is really not too bad and the lower average more likely just means the spring being a tad softer.

 

chrono data like that is about as good a diagnosis of air seal as you can get without stripping the box or having some range time to check vertical dispersion.

[AirSniper]

So I ran 0.2's through

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Rifle		GC16 Warthog			Rifle		GC16 Warthog
Serial		*0064			Serial		*10387
Shot		BB Wt.	grams		Shot		BB Wt.	grams
Count		0.2	0.25		Count		0.2	0.25
1		317.4	281.7		1		326.1	290.8
2		318.4	280.0		2		326.3	294.2
3		320.7	280.9		3		325.4	292.2
4		320.5	280.5		4		326.7	291.8
5		319.2	281.5		5		327.1	289.8
6		316.7	282.1		6		324.2	291.7
7		319.6	282.0		7		286.4	294.8
8		322.2	281.0		8		318.8	294.1
9		319.8	282.4		9		323.3	293.3
10		321.6	272.0		10		323.4	292.5
Min		316.7	272.0		Min		286.4	289.8
Ave		319.6	280.4		Ave		320.8	292.5
Max		322.2	282.4		Max		327.1	294.8
Mean		319.5	278.3		Mean		311.4	292.4
Joules					Joules
Min		1.00	0.92		Min		0.82	1.05
Ave		1.02	0.98		Ave		1.03	1.07
Max		1.04	1.00		Max		1.07	1.09
Mean		1.0	1.0		Mean		1.0	1.1

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Seems to be much better under 0.2's than 0.25's. So maybe it is his spring is not as hot as mine...

Mine is the right hand one btw... (*10387) in this set of figures.

 

Does anyone know how G & G serials are made up? All manufacturers use some format like Year, week, batch, production run number as some form, anyone know what G &G uses? 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

18 hours ago, AirSniper said:

Does anyone know how G & G serials are made up? All manufacturers use some format like Year, week, batch, production run number as some form, anyone know what G &G uses

 

No idea, tbh a lot of airsoft pews tend not to really be serialised.

 

Even e&l's im not sure if the serial number is a serial number or if its just to look like one.

[AirSniper]

The G & G have different numbers, they look similar to serial numbers in a company I worked for used.

Just looking to see if my hypothesis is correct, my sons RIF was sat waiting around for 2 years before hitting the shelf whereas mine was made in 2020 given the way the serials begin, a year progression.  

eg, 1902 is the first 4 of my sons, 2008 is the first 4 of mine. So I took that to be YY WK format. Which would mean that his was made in January of 2019 and mine was end of February beginning of March 2020.