One of the most important component of the sport or hobby of Airsoft are those small plastic balls we call bbs. Bbs come in different sizes depending on the airsoft rifle used, although the most commonly used size is the 6mm. They also come in different weight, with the benchmark weight used for measuring the muzzle velocity is 0.20g for AEGs and much heavier bbs are acceptably used in skirmishes for use on single bolt action sniper rifles.

The first time I heard about these target bbs manufactured by MadBull Airsoft was on the Internet. At first I actually thought that they were a great idea especially for target and practical shooting. The great thing about these bbs is that they are the nearest you can get to a perfect bb. From its shape down to the most minute detail of solidity. When I say these are more solid compared to their plastic counterparts, I mean, these particular bbs do not have any air bubbles that could get trapped on the plastic bb's when they are being made. This means that the weight distribution within the bb is almost if not perfectly balanced. This is important when it comes to target and and practical shooting competitions.

One thing that I did not anticipate is what my good friend Basildon Dave from Airsoft Essex thought of... “What if someone was stupid and careless enough bring these to the skirmish fields and use them as skirmish ammunitions?” As ridiculous as this may sound, I think Dave has got a point here. We are all aware that there are individuals out there that will do anything to get an advantage out in the field and using these bbs for better accuracy is not far-fetched. Dave's greatest concern was safety. He raised the possibility of mainly the glass bbs shattering on impact. This may not seem much but just imagine if it shatters as it hits a mesh mask, the consequence of that would be very disastrous.

With this I decided to ask for some samples so that they can be tested. Within a few weeks, the sample items arrived from abroad. Oddly enough, the containers they came with did not have any labels making me double check my Editor if they did come from MadBull Airsoft.

As expected, the bbs did not look any more special than the usual bbs aside from their appearance. The aluminium ones are very shiny, unlike the dull flat colour that the old metal bbs used to. The glass bbs looked much nicer with their clear and elegant appearance. The aluminium bbs weighed at 0.30g and the glass ones weighed at 0.28g. I did not have any specialised gadget to determine the roundness but one can tell this just by looking at them especially the glass bbs where you can almost visualise the inside of it.

I did a simple test on them by firing them using my JG BAR-10 Sniper Rifle which fires close to 400fps with normal 0.20g plastic bbs. I did not measure the muzzle velocity of each type of bb as this was not part of my test. Distance to target was around 20ft and I used targets printed on an A4 size paper. I was firing from indoors for about 5ft then out the rest of the way. There was a mild wind blowing from left to right during the test and an outside temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius.  Behind the paper target, I placed a towel to sort of replicate what effects these bbs will do on the skin. 

I started with the glass bbs and as I expected, weighing at 0.28g, the trajectory and grouping was very good. I was shooting on a standing position without any rifle support except for my hands. 10 out of ten shots went trough the target and with a very tight grouping. On inspection, there were two shots that went through the same hole and when I checked the towel behind, the shots went straight through and left a clear hole.

I then followed with the aluminium bbs and got the same result. Because they were heavier, they were actually more accurate and had a much tighter grouping than the glass ones. I was aiming high as I usually do with this rifle, which is evident in the photos. The resulting damage to the towel was also evident although not as severe as the glass ones but if a much powerful rifle was used, I'm sure the results will be the same if not much worse.

As a conclusion, these bbs are definitely not intended for skirmish purposes although we can never be certain that some individuals would try and smuggle these into the games. But still, my question is, what can we do? The truth is that most site run big games nowadays that most of them even fail to check the muzzle velocities of the rifles brought in their fields. Not only that, we are all aware that some players use heavier weighted bbs just to pass the 350fps that most sites accept. So, what are the chances of finding individuals using these bbs? I would say near to impossible. As far as I'm concerned this all boils down to individual responsibility and respect to other players. As it is stressed, these bbs are for target practice only and are definitely not safe to use as game ammunitions. So just be cautious and report anything that may lead you to believe that a player is using these bbs. Remember: in Airsoft, everybody's safety is everybody's responsibility.