Smooth bore only?

[laubert75]

I was wandering, can bb shot only be shot from a smoothbore gun, like what would happen if it was fired from a rifled barrell? will it damage it? thanks.

 

[Ridge]

You won't damage it, but you won't get a good pattern either.

Now, straight rifling is a different story.

 

[MikeC]

Horrible patterns, even at close range. The pellets will come out spinning and just fly outward not straight.

 

[Britsmoothy]

You don,t mean steel bb,s for air guns do you?
You would have to keep them seperate from your barrel if so.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The non-toxic shot, called BB is actually .18" in diameter, while the BBs you use in an air rifle are .177". The larger shot will actually ruin your air rifle so never attempt to use them. Conversely, the BBs used in air rifles are made of a much harder steel, and will damage the choke of your barrel whether you use heavy shot cups or not. DO NOT use Steel BBs made for air rifles in any smoothbore.

 

[trent/OH]

Great for hunting donuts, because the pattern looks like one. Lead pellets in contact with the rifling can also be expected to leave lead deposits on the inside of the barrel, requiring scrubbing you really don't want to have to do.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The rifling will spin the shot, creating a spiral pattern in the air of shot, looking a lot like human DNA. The pellets will rub against the grooves and leave lead in the barrel, spoiling the next " pattern?" even worse. Even if you pack the shot in a paper shot cup, the cup is then spun by the rifling and that spin is imparted to the shot when it leaves the cup, creating that sprial pattern again. If you hit anything beyong about 15 yards, its usually pure luck.

 

[Runner]

With heavy steel shot cups, you can shoot steel BB's just fine. I have about 20 pounds of them thru my gun. They don't pattern as well as lead does, and they don't hold energy well at anything over 30 yards either.
I did an experiment back in 88 I guess because my daughter was young enough to be playing around my feet while I was shooting that day. That is how I remember when I did stuff a lot of the time. Anyway, a CVA mountain pistol in 50 caliber, if loaded with 7/8ths of an ounce of number 6's over 50 grains of P, the pattern will be pretty even at 10 yards. It will also be big enough to almost cover a 8 x 8 target board! Unless hostiles are breaking down the door, it would not be of much use. It is an enjoyable experiment tho! Out of a short smoothbore, you would expect the same load to be in a 20 inch circle or so at that range.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

With heavy steel shot cups, you can shoot steel BB's just fine. . . .

Anyway, a CVA mountain pistol in 50 caliber, if loaded with 7/8ths of an ounce of number 6's over 50 grains of P, the pattern will be pretty even at 10 yards. It will also be big enough to almost cover a 8 x 8 target board!. . .

Are you using steel (actually annealed iron) #BB shot or air-gun BBs? I forget the numbers, but air-gun BBs are notably harder than the ones made as non-toxic shot, which are supposed to be as soft as it is possible to produce ferrous materials. They're both still a h*llofalot harder than any lead alloy.

On using shot in a rifled barrel, my results were a bit better. In my .50 flinter, 3/4oz of Pb#7.1/2 in a paper shot cartridge over 45gr FFFg (I forget what OP wadding I used) gave surprisingly even but fast-opening patterns. They were usable, but only at 10-15 yards maximum, depending what size the game/pest was.

Joel

 

[Runner]

I use the regular airgun BB's that Wally world sells so cheap. I am also using a solid sided heavy weight steel shot wad with them. At the price of steel shot, who can afford a bag of every size? I use BB's and number 5's.