BB shot?

[Prof Young]

My pistol is a CVA Hawken made-from-a-kit gun. I finally have it working well and am enjoying shooting it. I'm wondering if I can shoot a small amount of BB shot instead of a ball? Powder, then a patch to use as a wad then the small amount of BB shot then another patch to use as a wad.

I suppose it might be hard on the rifling but I'm not using this gun for anything but fun shooting.

Talk to me.

Life is good.
Prof Young

[Jim Watson]

No
Buy a bag of lead shot if you want to shoot shot

[Smoke & Recoil]

You sure can...a rule of thumb is to use a stack height of shot in relation to the diameter of the bore. Powder, wad, shot and wad over shot. Regular BB gun BB's are quite large...you can open a shotgun shell and use that shot...such as #6,7,8 and 9.

[Hawg]

I would use lead but it doesn't matter what size shot you use it's going to follow the rifling and leave a donut pattern. The pattern won't be as bad as with a rifle but it will still have a hole in the middle.

[44 AMP]

BB size shot is 0.18" diameter. The copper plated shot used in air guns is called BB because of its size, nominal 0.177".

Between the rifling and the outer pellets getting a flat spot from bore contact (since you are not using a shot cup) patterns are going to be crap, BUT even with a donut hole and lots of flyers, it can still be effective on small game at short range.

You just need to shoot enough patterns to learn where, and how big the hole is going to be, and then, for game, aim so the shot hits.

[Aguila Blanca]

It is possible to buy lead BBs, but you won't find them in Walmart. I have a CO2-powered 1911 with a rifled barrel, and the standard BBs would make short work of the rifling so I specifically searched out lead BBs for it. I had to buy them on-line.

[bamaranger]

Just because you can does not mean you should. I would in no way shoot air rifle copper plated steel BB's through a rifled bore, kit gun, fun gun or any gun. As noted it won't pattern worth beans and after a bit of shooting, you will not be able to shoot patched balls accurately either.

As suggested, find some lead shot. You can have "fun" but not ruin the rifling on your pistol.

[Ricklin]

Agreed, air gun BB's are copper plated steel and will trash your rifling and perform poorly to boot.
Lead .177 BB's are available, air gun specialty vendors will have them if BB size is important to you. BB is a rather large shotgun pellet.

[44 AMP]

BB is a rather large shotgun pellet.

Before the advent of steel shot sizes, BB was the largest shotgun pellet, larger diameters were buck shot sizes.

Today there are larger steel shot sizes, BBB, T, and F, which are larger in diameter than BB but smaller than buckshot, which starts at No.4 buck and goes up to 000.

[bedbugbilly]

Steel BBs + rifling = steel on steel = rifling damage

A simple Algebra problem . . . .

Stick with lead shot if you are going to do it

[44 AMP]

Steel BBs + rifling = steel on steel = rifling damage

A simple Algebra problem . . . .

Provided you get the variables correct.

And the main variables are the hardness of the steels, relative to each other.

We have "Steel" jacketed bullets fired from rifled barrels without undue/excessive wear because the steel of the jacket is softer than the steel of the barrel.

ANY iron alloy with some carbon and other trace elements in it, is technically "steel". Whether or not it is steel hard enough to damage barrel steel is another matter.

And, not all barrel steels are equal, either.

[Hawg]

BB's are harder than barrel steel.

[Prof Young]

I guess I'll take a pass on this idea for now.
Thanks for all the info and help.
Life is good.
Prof Young

[FrankenMauser]

All this assumption and argument about steel BBs, when he did say, specifically, "BB shot."
Which leaves it wide open for BB-size lead shot.

[Aguila Blanca]

https://www.airgundepot.com/h-and-n-...750-count.html

https://www.amazon.com/Gamo-177-Roun.../dp/B0006B7ENY