I never had a BB gun. My brother did. I had a guitar.

I've just read that BBs aren't made of lead anymore. And they aren't in those paper tubes.

Can someone fill me in on what has happened since the 1950s?

Maybe this is why the friend who gave me the air rifle said that BBs ricochet more than pellets.

Hmmmm, I missed something else the last, errr, few years.

Thanks.

Well I started using a BB gun when I was about 7 or 8 (1955 or 56) and they were copper plated steel then.:confused:

Hmmmm, I do remember what I thought were copper BBs. My father must have had a supply of very old ones on hand.

Jim, did yours come in a paper tube?

i had one when i was 8, Waaaaaay back in.. oh.. 2000 :P

but mine were always plastic. I guess it's because they're safer.. and you cant get lead poisoning off them..

_Kar.

BB gun shot was always steel, AFAIK. Lead shot was only for shotguns, many of which are now also loaded with steel or bismuth or some other lead substitute to address ills both real and imagined. Lead shot in a BB gun would rather quickly gum up the mechanism, and since those guns have no rifling to engage the lead or be dulled by steel, there is no reason not to use the harder material.

Yes the BB's came in cardboard tubes. Red, if I recall. You could buy them in bulk in a box about 4x4x4, I think held about 1000. It's been awhile so I'm not sure!:eek:

BBs I remember came in a yellow cardboard tube about the size of your index finger with black caps.

There were in fact lead BBs, but they disappeared in the early 50s when copper-plated steel ones came into use. Lead ones were too easy to get misshapen, did in fact tend to jam up the guns and were very slow. Steel ones fed better, were cleaner and shot faster. The only downside was their tendency to zing straight back at the shooter's face if they hit anything hard - and an elm or maple tree trunk was hard enough!

A cardboard tube of 300 went for a nickle (the color of the tube depending if they were from Daisy, Crosman or Benjamin) as well as half-pint "milk carton" containers that held a thousand or more. Fifteen hundred sticks in my mind, but I wouldn't swear to that.

Lead BBs are available from PyramydAir.com. They are the recommended BBs for the little Russian Drozh full auto BB gun.
Pete

Beaman used to sell lead BB's for there .177 Caliber pellet guns. Don't know if they still do--just might have a collectable if they don't.

I haven't looked at Beaman's for awhile, but their stuff all used to be quality oriented and had rifled barrels that would be ruined by steel. I don't know about the Drozh? I'll have to go look it up? Generally, though, I should think smooth bore verses rifled bore would be the main criterion, now. And Rocky's right about ricochet. I remember the sting of being smacked in the cheek by a BB that bounced of the flat edge of a steel Crossman trap I had in the basement when I was six or seven or thereabouts. Nobody even thought about safety glasses then, so I was lucky.

I'm 57 and never knew of lead BB's, only copper coated steel. I learned this early on, in the early 60's, when I loaded up some shells with them. They kicked like **ll but were awsome on paint cans and chicken stealing critters! My dad told me to stop shooting them in HIS guns because they would hurt the barrels. This is an example of why it is not a good practice to let youngsters reload ammunition unsupervised! I learned better and survived the lesson.

Guess one probably shouldn't talk about the BB gun fights we had as kids. No safety glasses or personal protective clothing of any kind other than cotton shirts and jeans. Sometimes during colder weather one had the protection of parka's, mittens and overalls. I can only imagine what would happen today if kids were to do the same thing.