BB weight - does it matter for HPA?

[simonh]

My son is about to get his first HPA rifle this weekend, he is being told that it is pointless using BB weight under 32's as we usually run with 25s in the AEG's this could be an a PITA. I can't see how it would make much difference - am i wrong?

Simon

 

[EDcase]

Heavier IS better but you don't HAVE to use them.

Use whatever you have and see how they fly.

Make sure to adjust the power according to the weight you use.

 

[Impulse]

No, run .25s if you want. You can get some nice performance out of HPA using heavy BBs because you don't have to worry about air volume like you generally do with AEGs, but it's not the be all and end all. There's also a bunch of reasons why heavier in general is better, but that's across all platforms, not just HPA. I'm tired of people pretending HPA is some sort of magical system that does something revolutionary when it's functionally the same as an AEG (using air to propel a small plastic ball).

Will you get better performance out of heavier BBs? Yes

Will using .25s be pointless? No

 

[simonh]

perhaps I should mention we mostly play CQB with occasional outdoor (very occasional)

 

[GiantKiwi]

perhaps I should mention we mostly play CQB with occasional outdoor (very occasional)

Most CQB sites don't like heavy BB's anyway - at CQB engagement distances the difference between a 0.25 and a 0.32+ is negligible.

 

[Krisz]

Ofc it does matter. You can joule creep quite easily.

 

[GiantKiwi]

Ofc it does matter. You can joule creep quite easily.

That's just imparted energy though - and not really relevant to the question. Cause and effect =/= a state of whether it is worth it or not. Higher muzzle energy =/= necessarily mean better. At CQB engagement distances, the increase in velocity is going to equate to milliseconds in difference, and thus doesn't equate to automatically being better.

 

[Tommikka]

Joule creep is the answer that just keeps on telling us that the ‘standard’ airsoft practice of chronographing with specific BBs is not fit for purpose.

In an ideal world everyone chronographs using the BBs that they play with, against a chronograph that can report joules in line with the BB in use or at least in line with a chart / information for chrono staff to cross reference the appropriate velocity.

Either that or set your ‘specific BB’ chrono limit that accounts for creep against actual BBs in play

 

[simonh]

Thanks for the replies - I guess we will run it with the BBs we have and see how it plays.

 

[simonh]

Took delivery of this gun on sunday and then he ran it for most of the day.

First thoughts - it was cheap at £350 so we expected some issues, the original plan was to take the innards and fit them to one of the receivers we already have, stick a gearbox back in the chassis and sell that to recoup some of the outlay.

other than a couple of cosmetic bits the gun is fine, stylistically it needs work on the front hand guard and there is some paint pulled off by removing a sticker but that is easily sorted. The trigger needs shimming as it isn't sitting quite right and occasionally won't register a pull, the battery connector needs extending (and converting to deans to match our existing batteries) but other than that functionally it is fine. 

Shooting is pretty decent, the first shot of an engagement is a bit inconsistent but after that it responds well to the trigger (apart from the above statement) and full auto is like a laser . we ran .25s all day and again a bit inconsistent in where they might end up, not end of the world stuff just a bit irritating and nothing we did with the hop changed it for the better.

plan now is to get some .32s to try those, if I remember I'll report back when we've done that.

Simon