Glass BBs?!

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

Anyone come across these before?  I assume (hope) that they are actually plastic.  

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174606728485?hash=item28a75f3d25:g:y7QAAOSwJ4hY-Ge5

 

Glass is an extremely complicated material, I imagine that .28g glass BBs are a possibility.   

[EvilMonkee]

Just reported it.  Maybe get everyone to do likewise?  Hopefully just a mistranslation

[RostokMcSpoons]

4.Made of high strenth/tough materials.

 

That suggests 'plastic' to me.  With some bad typo checking!

So hopefully they originally had 'transparent' and it got chucked out of whatever translator they used as 'glass'

[Paul72]

There are shops in the uk selling 6mm bbs made of glass, for use in catapults and slingshots for hunting. So they could be glass

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MILBRO-Glass-Slingshot-Catapult-Barnett/dp/B07JYB1K3T

[Tommikka]

They could be either:

 

Made of glass

Hard material for breaking glass targets (windows etc)

 

(Note that the advert does not specify airsoft - it’s selling ball bearings.

 

On a legal basis in the UK it’s a matter of what you do with them

In an airsoft gun my interpretation is that if you load one of these then you now have an air rifle / air weapon - and it might be an offensive weapon

 

For a paintball gun I know that if you load something like this then you have either an air weapon or an offensive weapon.  

 

The Home Office recognise gelatine paintballs and First Stirke brand ‘shaped projectiles’ as legitimate for paintball (as a retailer paid for the approvals testing of First Strike in the UK)

There are many things like this sold around the world in paintball sizes marketed as less than lethal / home defence   Which is illegal here in the UK (other than authorised police and military use) 

 

 

The eBay seller is in China so it’s a matter of eBays worldwide rules and whether they are targeting the UK for eBay.co.uk for its rules

 

The easy solution is to just report to eBay.co.uk

 

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

One of my buddies bought a bundle and included with it was a carton of glass bb’s!!

they do exist!

They were quickly dispatched to the bin! But horrifying to think of the consequences of a shattered glass bb after a mesh mask/ eye pro impact 🤬

Edited May 8, 2022 by Enid_Puceflange

[Badgerlicious]

Phoenix feather airsoft has a video from a few years back at an event, someone was caught using glass bbs because someone got shot and it shattered on his mask causing his face got cut up underneath. 

[RostokMcSpoons]

Jeeeesus.

[RostokMcSpoons]

I messaged the seller, asking "please don't sell this to people who might use it at an airsoft game"...

 

New message from: airsoft987 (7,004)

ok. This item was ended.

 

Phew!

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by RostokMcSpoons

[Druid799]

Could well be glass as glass ball bearing do appear from time to time .

[SBoardley]

5 hours ago, Paul72 said:

There are shops in the uk selling 6mm bbs made of glass, for use in catapults and slingshots for hunting. So they could be glass

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MILBRO-Glass-Slingshot-Catapult-Barnett/dp/B07JYB1K3T

As @Paul72said; these are for catapults. Been around for years.

[Cannonfodder]

Wasn't there an incident years ago where someone had been using glass bbs and some vehicles ended up with broken windscreens? IIRC for ages afterwards the forums were full of debates about how dangerous they were

 

Edit: it was bioval bbb max

Edited November 26, 2021 by Cannonfodder

[AirSniper]

15 hours ago, Tactical Pith Helmet said:

Anyone come across these before?  I assume (hope) that they are actually plastic.  

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174606728485?hash=item28a75f3d25:g:y7QAAOSwJ4hY-Ge5

 

Glass is an extremely complicated material, I imagine that .28g glass BBs are a possibility.   

The law states...
Police and Crime Act 2017

 

(5)After section 57 insert—

“57AException for airsoft guns

(1)An “airsoft gun” is not to be regarded as a firearm for the purposes of this Act.

(2)An “airsoft gun” is a barrelled weapon of any description which—

(a)is designed to discharge only a small plastic missile (whether or not it is also capable of discharging any other kind of missile), and

(b)is not capable of discharging a missile (of any kind) with kinetic energy at the muzzle of the weapon that exceeds the permitted level.

(3)“Small plastic missile” means a missile that—

(a)is made wholly or partly from plastics,

(b)is spherical, and

(c)does not exceed 8 millimetres in diameter.

(4)The permitted kinetic energy level is—

(a)in the case of a weapon which is capable of discharging two or more missiles successively without repeated pressure on the trigger, 1.3 joules;

(b)in any other case, 2.5 joules.”

 

[Francosonny1120]

Glass BB's are "face hardened" so its dangerous becase "concentrate" the energy of the impact so its "armor piercing" and can pierce PROTECTION EYEWEAR, or make glass explode.

[Sneaky]

Just why?…..

[Rogerborg]

Beats me. The ones we've been pointed at appear to be more expensive than ABS or PLA.  It's baffling, but... airsofters.

[AirSniper]

On 20/04/2022 at 17:11, Sneaky said:

Just why?…..

Because you can easily injure someone and you will have committed a firearms offence and its pretty much an offence to step outside the limitations of those boundaries described by the legislation.

 

PLASTIC BB not bigger than 8mm
The Rif must not exceed 1.3 Joules but many sites work on 1 joule limit or as near to that.

If you are found to be in possession of a RIF that exceeds that power or have used a projectile that is not within the permitted terms of the law, you are up for a firearms offence, which often means you having to surrender all your airsoft equipment and it then becomes illegal for you to own or for friends to lend you their equipment and so on, just being in a car with one and not knowing is going to be pinned on you. The fact its a firearms offence, it goes on your record and appears in any checks like criminal backgrounds and you may find travel by air a problem and face extra scrutiny by customs services and even get a marker for a periodical tug by the police.

You know, how much pain do you want to inflict on yourself?
 

Edited May 7, 2022 by AirSniper

[colinjallen]

6 hours ago, AirSniper said:

Because you can easily injure someone and you will have committed a firearms offence and its pretty much an offence to step outside the limitations of those boundaries described by the legislation.

 

PLASTIC BB not bigger than 8mm
The Rif must not exceed 1.3 Joules but many sites work on 1 joule limit or as near to that.

If you are found to be in possession of a RIF that exceeds that power or have used a projectile that is not within the permitted terms of the law, you are up for a firearms offence, which often means you having to surrender all your airsoft equipment and it then becomes illegal for you to own or for friends to lend you their equipment and so on, just being in a car with one and not knowing is going to be pinned on you. The fact its a firearms offence, it goes on your record and appears in any checks like criminal backgrounds and you may find travel by air a problem and face extra scrutiny by customs services and even get a marker for a periodical tug by the police.

You know, how much pain do you want to inflict on yourself?
 

Somewhat off target.  I hope that you are more accurate when you play.

[Adolf Hamster]

i'm getting reverse deja-vu, or maybe regular deja vu, swear i saw this thread a while back and replied to it?

[Cannonfodder]

On 07/05/2022 at 12:54, AirSniper said:

you are up for a firearms offence, which often means you having to surrender all your airsoft equipment and it then becomes illegal for you to own or for friends to lend you their equipment and so on, just being in a car with one and not knowing is going to be pinned on you.

Care to back that up up with evidence? 

 

On 07/05/2022 at 12:54, AirSniper said:

The fact its a firearms offence, it goes on your record and appears in any checks like criminal backgrounds

Just like any other convictions

 

It appears your knowledge of the law is almost as bad as your knowledge of physics 

[Rogerborg]

3 hours ago, Cannonfodder said:

It appears your knowledge of the law is almost as bad as your knowledge of physics 

 

He really is a prize pumpkin.  The legislation is surprisingly clear on this.

 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/57A

 

(2)An “airsoft gun” is a barrelled weapon of any description which—

(a) is designed to discharge only a small plastic missile (whether or not it is also capable of discharging any other kind of missile), and

(b) is not capable of discharging a missile (of any kind) with kinetic energy at the muzzle of the weapon that exceeds the permitted level.

 

 

Shooting glass, or steel, or lead, or depleted uranium from your airsoft toy doesn't automatically turn it into a firearm - what matters is that it was designed for plastic.

 

Unless it comes out at over 1.3J / 2.5J.  That's only likely to be a concern for over-volumed guns shooting heavy ammo.  Given the density of glass or fused silica is in the region of 2.2 - 2.8 g/cm³ we're looking at 0.24g - 0.31g for glass, so not a concern given that we're already slinging 0.5g (or more) of "plastic" around the field.

 

That actually concerns me more, in terms of elasticity and impulse.

[AirSniper]

The projectile does... That is the distinction, go above the legal limit, it is treated as a firearm, it is also treated as a fire arm in public.

 

yuet it still remains an item that is for its INTENDED PURPOSE not treated as a firearm until you do something stupid that then makes it illegal.

 

Even my local police recommend that I store my guns as in my real guns and RIF's in a gun safe.

[Tommikka]

3 hours ago, AirSniper said:

.

 

3 hours ago, AirSniper said:

 

 

 

Even my local police recommend that I store my guns as in my real guns and RIF's in a gun safe.

Crime and Security act 2010 covers the storage of air weapons, and creates an offence of a minor gains access to a stored air weapon.  (Arguably a legally compliant airsoft gun may have been removed from this when firearms act definition were modified)

 

The legislation requires them to be secured if minors may have access to the property, which could be anything from a locked bag to a gun safe.

Police guidance recommended gun safes 

 

This was brought in following various cases including deaths of children finding air guns

 

 

 

 

 

[Rogerborg]

3 hours ago, Tommikka said:

Arguably a legally compliant airsoft gun may have been removed from this when firearms act definition were modified

 

I would argue that, since it's Firearms Act 1968 that's being amended, and (compliant) airsoft guns aren't firearms for the purposes of that Act.  This is crucial for us in the Democratic People's Republic of Caledonia, since if airsoft guns were to be considered "air weapons", then we'd need to be loicensed to possess them.

 

Dibble can recommend anything he likes, but 24ZA doesn't prescribe any particular form of storage.  The offence is "fail[s] to take reasonable precautions to prevent any person under the age of eighteen from having the weapon with him".  And in context, this isn't a hypothetical "could" situation, since it goes on to list exceptions that apply to specific minors.  So even if "air weapon" covered airsoft (and it doesn't), it's only an offence if a minor does get their greasy unsupervised paws on it.

 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/24ZA

[Speedbird_666]

On 25/11/2021 at 11:57, Tommikka said:

There are many things like this sold around the world in paintball sizes marketed as less than lethal / home defence   Which is illegal here in the UK (other than authorised police and military use) 

 

Sorry, I know this an old post (I've only just spotted this paragraph) but this thread has bubbled up again. 

 

There seems to be an influx of 'HD' guns into the UK Airgun market, shooting various sizes of rubber balls. Of course, they are not marketed for 'Home Defense' but nudge nudge wink wink.....😉

 

Having seen first hand HD revolvers, double barrel sawn-off and pump action shotties along with a Gen5 Glock 17 firing at my Shooting Club I can say one thing: They were mental. 

 

I played paintball for many years before Airsoft and I would never, ever, want to be hit with one of these 'HD' guns. 

 

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they are banned, but each time I go to a club shoot, another (new) HD gun turns up in the clutches of a fellow club member with a shit-eating grin on their face. They are definitely gaining traction and popularity in the UK market.