Choosing the Best Airsoft BB
Most airsoft hobbyist spend hundreds of dollars of hard earned money on spring upgrades, tight bores, pretty much anything that can make their airsoft gun shoot harder, farther, and more accurate. They often overlook that small piece of thing their airsoft gun spits out called BBs and that without it there's no way they can hit their target. A good quality airsoft BB can drastically improve range and accuracy thus giving you a better chance of hitting your target and maybe win the game.
Like any other things, airsoft BBs can be over priced and over rated. The best airsoft BB is the one that does not jam, feeds reliably, consistently accurate and last but not least reasonably priced. I have some guidelines on selecting the best BB for my airsoft gun.
Guide in Choosing the Best Airsoft BB:
- Manufacturer; You must find a manufacturer that produces shiny/seamless BBs and has high quality control standards. Sometimes the only way for you to test or check if they have good quality BBs is to try them yourself. Excel, TSD, SRC, KSC, G&G BBs are all excellent quality.
- Weight; BBs start with .12 grams all the way to .36 grams. You should stay away from .12 gram BBs as they can damage your AEG. Lighter BBs tend to travel faster than heavier one but are easily affected by other factors like wind, Physics 101. You have to find the best balance for its use and the job that needs to be done. For CQB with guns shooting around 300 FPS a .20 BB is preferred. .23 -.25 gram BBs are great for open field with guns shooting 350-400 FPS. .28 and up are best for sniper rifles shooting 500 FPS or more.
- Material; Most airsoft BBs are made from plastic. For me, these are the best BBs to use with your AEG. However there are ones they call "bio" BBs made from biodegradable materials. These are also great as they decompose once in contact with water and unlike plastic ones they help preserve the natural environment. Most larger organized airsoft ops require bio-BBs. There are BBs that are made from aluminum and they are expensive and cannot be used on airsoft games.
- Color; Airsoft BBs usually comes in white or off white color. The white color enables you to see where the BBs are hitting so you can adjust your aim. Unfortunately, this works both ways, your opponent can see the BBs coming at him too. Tan colored BBs are also used on fields where the field owner don't want to see white BBs on their site thus the tan color makes it hard to see on the ground. Black BBs are also available. You cannot see it when shooting and has the same effect with your opponent. This is great when you have your sights dialed in. Also great for snipers so their opponent cannot figure out where the BBs are coming from.