Looking for the most accurate current production pump BB gun. UPDATE!

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Thundermtn

Thundermtn

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Jun 18, 2019
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I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on new BB guns. I have a couple pellet rifles but am wanting to have something just for BB's. The Crosman I had as a kid was a really great gun, an inch or less groups from 10 meters. It was so predictable that I could point shoot it and hardly ever miss. It was a tight gun with a rifled barrel, a 66 if I'm remembering correctly. I loved it and it killed a pile of pests.

Now that I'm teaching my kids to shoot I need something that will do it's part as long as the shooter does theirs. My sons little Daisy 105 is so unpredictable he'll out grow it in skill in pretty short order. 

I have worked on my own guns as far as being able to swap and replace parts, no real machining new parts experience though. Is there a good platform to start with and mod or is there a great shooting BB gun that I just haven't found yet. My current best is a plain Jane Red Rider, that is mostly my daughter's now.



Thanks!
 
I have this one, it’s very accurate. Will shoot both BBs & Pellets. I prefer pellets because they are less likely to ricochet. 

1561043974_1564103685d0ba4068973a6.28306034_CF30A51E-72B5-44C4-BB4F-3AF118BD2578.jpeg

 
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My new this week 880 is shooting lead really well, the packaging leads me to believe it's an '18 production gun. I'm only on my third type of pellet but with Crosman's heavy Piranha pellets, it'll go consistently 6 shots under an inch @ 20 yards if I'm doing my part, and about 1.5" no matter how many times I shoot. The one we had back in the early 90's wasn't half as good as this new one with the exception of BB's. Shot the new one with BB's just to see what would happen and was knocking on 8" groups @ 20 yards. The old 880 could hit coke cans that far all day with BB's.

My rate of fire @ ten pumps with handloading pellets one at a time is too slow for fast action shooting. So that's why I'm asking about a BB gun.

That old Crosman I had was a ringer, it was better than all my friends guns, four pumps and Copperheads was the load. Probably got lucky on that gun. I may try a 2100 and see what happens but the newer video's I've watched of that gun it was doing the same groups as my 880.

I did notice that many of the Copperheads now are pock marked like Daisy silvers were back in the day. I may try some of the new BB's in black Teflon and see if they're any better. Daisy's BB's may be better than they used to be too. Need to pick up a new tube and check.
 
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So i read about an idea that sounded plausible, but crazy.

So supposedly BB barrels need to be tight to get good groups. Since I don't have a smaller i.d. barrel on hand I tried this other guy's crazy idea. The replacement 66 i got years ago didn't shoot BB's well at all, but it is on hand. The theory is that the barrel is spinning them in an unpredictable way or it's tossing knuckle balls. However, if you attach magnets to the top of the barrel you can more repeatedly/predictably spin the BB the same way, like a two finger fastball.

So i brokedown the gun, the old one i had got that treatment once a year, it's amazing what a person can remember from that far back. Anyhow, once I had the barrel out I took strip magnets and cut them thin with snips and taped them along the top of the barrel with electrical tape. Sure enough, sighting down the inside of the barrel I could see a little light passing underneath the BB as it rolled back and forth. A few test fits later and I knew where i need to remove the strips to fit the inside of the sleeve and trimmed and re-assembled.

This morning i had shot a magazine at a 4" tree at 50 feet before the work started, ended up at about a 60% hit rate.

After the magnet treatment out of the whole magazine I only had two misses and those weren't by much. So preliminarily it was a success. Now I need to see at what speed the BB's like to shoot, i imagine lower pumps will work better. I may disassemble again and reverse the polarity and magnetic tape the bottom of the barrel and see if that will let me boost the speed and not outpace the power of the magnets.

I'm chalking this up as a win, it cost $0.00 since I already had the magnets and tape. I'll shoot for groups this evening once it cools off and see what the real groups are a 10 M.
 
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......the bb's are .175 caliber , not .177 , and they kind of bounce around in the barrel rendering rifling not only useless, but being rattled with steel balls (bbs) being funneled thru a barrel that is usually a rifled brass insert, or tube instead of a solid barrel.... bb's are cheap, but not accurate enough - and bounce right back in my face sometimes (could have been my eye)..... just not safe... but to answer your pumper that shoots bbs well.... in 1982-3 , my daisy 880 was more powerful, easier to pump, and shot better than my bud's crosman 766, and much better than the model 760 of that time... but the daisy 880 was MUCH better made back then. ditch the bb's - pull the elevation ramp out of the rear sight on the daisy 880 , and shoot those super cheap daisy .177 wad cutters that come in a plastic belt clip on container box of 250 (usually black plastic with a yello and maybe red label on top... they usually cost less than 3 bux and shot better than other locally available pellets in small town 1982 texas (we had the 'texas blue law' back then, which prohibited us from buying pellets or bb's on sundays)....... i killed more stuff with that daisy 880 using daisy flat nose and that rear sight all the way down onto the barrel (remove that little ramp) than i have with any other pellet gun.... a year or two later, i got a .177 diana model 36 when they first came out (plastic piston seals were the new hot poop back then) - and i used these .177 daisy most thru that european airgun. here what those pellets look like... https://www.turners.com/daisy/daisy-flat-head-177-pellet-250-18361 - paul.
 
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Ok the range results are in and are WAY better than where I started.

So to be fair i had not shot paper with it before. However it was going around 50% on Coke cans at 10 M. I'm guessing 7-8" groups before.



Results @ 10 Meters

10 shots @ 3 pumps, 2.75". Best 8 @ 3 pumps, 1.75"

10 shots @ 4 pumps, 2". Best 8 @ 4 pumps 1.375"

10 shots @ 5 pumps, 2.875". Best 8 @ 5 pumps 0.875".



I still have more work to do but the magnets deffinatly made a difference. Two inch groups at 10 meters is a BIG improvment. If I can shoot better and eliminate flyers I can probably get it under an inch which is going to be close enough to my old gun to scratch the itch for a quick to the next shot and accurate BB gun.
 
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Daisy 499 Champion with precision ground bb's. Seems like there was a 99 not long ago that was a little cheaper but still had the precision barrel. I also had an 851, I believe , that was a single stroke pneu but had a small reservoir for bbs but could also use pellets. I took care of quite a few sparrows at up to 10 yards with it with bbs. MUCH better than a Red Ryder or similar. Light, with a wood stock but maybe a little long pull and pump effort for small ones.

Bob 


 
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Thanks for the info!



I've been doing a lot of shooting the last week or so on as many different BB platforms as I can get my hands on and the Red Ryder is overwhelmingly the most fun to shoot. I'm going to get a new one and mod it with whatever I need to do to get it to five shots going about an inch at ten yards, and boost the speed a little. The Crosman I modded is still OK fun to shoot but the speed to the next shot is too slow compared to the RR, however the five shot pellet clip of the 66 makes it better for light varmint control follow ups with pellets. I'll keep it around as a nostalgia piece and a good all-around but it's not the best at fun or accuracy. It for sure has a place in the right situation though.



I've read several threads about guys getting as much as they can out of them. I'm assuming a better barrel (499?) and a shim on the spring and a better air tube and some Avanti BB's will get me where I want to go. However I think a lot of the fun of the RR is the ability to track the BB's visually to the target so I'm going to try to chrono some different speeds with my multi pumps and see what fps is my favorite compromise for speed and track-ability. I've been point shooting BB guns forever and tracers make it way more fun and easier to walk the next one for POI once you're in the groove.
 
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I'm reluctant to reveal my "closet" affection for BBguns....and shoot them regularly Daisy 1894 was my first in 1964....I have several from the hard shooting original 1938 Red Ryder, 105, 840, Crosman AR17,1894...etc

By far the most accurate is the Daisy 499...with Avanti BBs....single shot muzzle loader....in still air it shoots a ragged hole at 10yds...flies, wasps and grasshoppers are toast at 15 to 20 ft.

the older Crosman 66 or 760 are pretty accurate but no BB gun I tested comes close to the 499 for accuracy....my $.02
 
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Daisy 499B is nice for sure; a real grin machine. The barrel is easily removed for break-in cleaning. It may take 3 seconds for a Daisy match grade ground shot BB to descend the barrel when loaded. The Black Diamond BB's do fairly well with our 499 but one can hear the BB go down the barrel quicker when loading. Seems important to know that the stated velocity of the 499 is 250 feet per second (I believe) so it is a short range shootin iron. Sure wish Daisy would get with the times and make a field model that has a shorter barrel, capable of scope mount, maybe increased fps (if not detrimental to accuracy) and multi shot if possible (once again without taking away from accuracy). Maybe a bullpup? Hey, a fella can dream.
 
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Was testing a powerful springer sold cheap from a neighbor and decided to compare accuracy with the 499B at 20 yards. Target was card stock thick paper on a cardboard box thoroughly filled with rubber mulch and covered entirely with duct tape to resist moisture if rained on accidentally because of forgetting to bring it in. Turns out that the BB's just bounced off, not revealing the impact point.
 
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The 499B is a great rifle. I bought one from PA a couple years back. I set it up with the wider single point sling that comes with the Daisy/Avanti 753S, and I added 6oz of ballast to the ballast compartment on the inside of the forend to get some more weight further forward. Used small diameter lead shot mixed with epoxy. With Daisy precision ground shot it shoots through one hole at 10 yards. Most accurate BB gun I've ever shot.

499B.JPG
 
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Northwoods22 said:
I have a 499B. I set it up with the wider single point sling that comes with the Daisy/Avanti 753S, and I added 6oz of ballast to the ballast compartment on the inside of the forend to get some more weight further forward. Used small diameter lead shot mixed with epoxy. With Daisy precision ground shot it shoots through one hole at 10 yards. Most accurate BB gun I've ever shot.

View attachment 378709
Click to expand...
AHHH to have that rifle 70 years ago , and lever action to boot !
 
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Northwoods22 said:
The 499B is a great rifle. I bought one from PA a couple years back. I set it up with the wider single point sling that comes with the Daisy/Avanti 753S, and I added 6oz of ballast to the ballast compartment on the inside of the forend to get some more weight further forward. Used small diameter lead shot mixed with epoxy. With Daisy precision ground shot it shoots through one hole at 10 yards. Most accurate BB gun I've ever shot.

View attachment 378709
Click to expand...
I'd sure like to see a pic of those 10 yard groups, if you have one…
 
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