Origins of term "BB" (maybe)
Greg Melton - Arkansas
There was a thread a short time back regarding the
proper spelling and/or the meaning of the term "BB" in
reference to the .177 caliber, air gun projectiles.
If there was ever posted a satisfactory answer to this,
my server never got it to me. FWIW, my 2 cents worth.
While perusing Philip B. Sharpe's, 1938 tome, "The Rifle
in America", I came across the following under a section
regarding rimfire cartridges:
".22 BB Cap
"This .22 BB Cap or "bullet breach cap" is the lowest form
of "cartridge life" in this country. Its origin was for
the famous French Flobert rifle dating back to the early
1850's. . . . In England they call the rifle designed to
shoot this a "saloon rifle" indicating that it is purely
an indoor proposition. . .
"The .22 BB Cap was originally loaded with a round .22
caliber ball in a very short cartridge case-about one-half
the length of the familiar .22 short. It used no powder
charge, the sole driving medium being the rimfire primer. . ."
This, obviously, does not speak directly to the question
of the naming of the .177 projectile; however, one might
speculate that there is a connection. Perhaps the term
"BB" was borrowed for the air gun in light of the fact
that they are both small caliber, low power, round
projectiles?
However, I'm still in the dark as to just what "bullet breach"
may have meant.
--
"A gun is a tool, Marion; no better or no worse than any other
tool. An axe, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad
as the man using it. Remember that."
Alan Ladd, "Shane" 1952
Richard Sutton
#There was a thread a short time back regarding the
#proper spelling and/or the meaning of the term "BB" in
#reference to the .177 caliber, air gun projectiles.
#If there was ever posted a satisfactory answer to this,
#my server never got it to me. FWIW, my 2 cents worth.
#While perusing Philip B. Sharpe's, 1938 tome, "The Rifle
#in America", I came across the following under a section
#regarding rimfire cartridges:
#".22 BB Cap
#"This .22 BB Cap or "bullet breach cap" is the lowest form
#of "cartridge life" in this country. Its origin was for
#the famous French Flobert rifle dating back to the early
#1850's. . . . In England they call the rifle designed to
#shoot this a "saloon rifle" indicating that it is purely
#an indoor proposition. . .
#"The .22 BB Cap was originally loaded with a round .22
#caliber ball in a very short cartridge case-about one-half
#the length of the familiar .22 short. It used no powder
#charge, the sole driving medium being the rimfire primer. . ."
#This, obviously, does not speak directly to the question
#of the naming of the .177 projectile; however, one might
#speculate that there is a connection. Perhaps the term
#"BB" was borrowed for the air gun in light of the fact
#that they are both small caliber, low power, round
#projectiles?
#However, I'm still in the dark as to just what "bullet breach"
#may have meant.
#--
# "A gun is a tool, Marion; no better or no worse than any other
# tool. An axe, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad
# as the man using it. Remember that."
# Alan Ladd, "Shane" 1952
'Cartridges of the World', an indespensable source, Frank Barnes
(deceased, I think), edited by Mike Bussard, DBI Books, Inc. gives a
history of the BB cap , the CB cap and other .22 rounds.
Without quoting the entire text BB stand for 'Bulletted Breech Cap',
or, literally a percussion cap with a bullet, originally a ball. When
I was a kid these, and CB caps were available commercially and we shot
them indoors with strandard .22 bolt action rifles. The BB cap is
actually more dangerous than a "BB" gun, but about the same potency as
a good pump air rifle.
Does anybody know the size of a 'BB'? is this .177 inch?,
BB size shot has nothing to do with the 'BB' in BB cap
Dan D
#There was a thread a short time back regarding the
#proper spelling and/or the meaning of the term "BB" in
#reference to the .177 caliber, air gun projectiles.
#If there was ever posted a satisfactory answer to this,
#my server never got it to me. FWIW, my 2 cents worth.
I thought it was Ball Bearing.
-DanD
Harry Farnill
#gme...@moriarty.osmre.gov (Greg Melton - Arkansas) wrote:
##There was a thread a short time back regarding the
##proper spelling and/or the meaning of the term "BB" in
##reference to the .177 caliber, air gun projectiles.
##If there was ever posted a satisfactory answer to this,
##my server never got it to me. FWIW, my 2 cents worth.
#I thought it was Ball Bearing.
I also believed this - Perhaps The Airgun Letter can clarify for us?
Harry.
EWOK
: I also believed this - Perhaps The Airgun Letter can clarify for us?
: Harry.
Guys, the previous thread on "B.B" terms from which this one stemmed was
pretty extensive! And it was pointed out fairly early on that 'ball
bearing' is not the origin. To make a long story short, it's from shot
sizes.
Regards,
Vincent Wong
The Airgun Letter
is the grandson of the founder of Daisy.
Originally, the first BB guns had a bore size of approximately 0.180 inches. This is close to the
shotgun pellet size BB, which falls in between shot size B and size BBB. Hence, little boys used lead
BB shot in their guns. Later, Daisy standardized lead shot to 0.175 inches and called it air rifle
shot.
In 1928, some clever little boys in the Minneapolis area discovered that reject steel ball bearings
sometimes fit in their guns. Daisy began experiencing a large number of returns with one or more of
these steel ball bearings stuck in the barrel. Mr. Hough, the author of the above-mentioned book,
tracked this problem to its source and arranged for the American Ball Company to produce steel air
rifle shot. Daisy bought the American Ball Co. in 1939.
As a side note, steel air rifle shot has an extreme tendency to ricochet, giving rise to the mother's
warning: You'll shoot your eye out! Lead balls seldom bounce back, but steel ones almost always do,
even from properly designed bullet traps. Of course, you would always use eye protection when
shooting ANY gun, regardless of the composition of the projectiles.
After WWII, some air rifle shot was made of aluminum, which made for high velocity but lousy
accuracy. Only collectors have this shot any more. Precision-rifled airguns from Germany and
Czechoslovakia were designed before WWII to use lead balls, as well. Most of these shoot 4.4mm lead
shot, which is still available from Security Pawn in South Carolina (803-747-9917). They also sell
Haenel-brand bolt-action lead-ball-firing target rifles in used - but nice - condition, which were
discovered in East Germany. $59.95 gets you a good to very good bolt-action target rifle that would
ordinarily retail for over $150.00.
Ladd Fanta has done an excellent article on BBs (BBs, Balls and Bearings) for the American Rifleman.
If you are interested, his article goes into much greater detail.
Tom Gaylord
The Airgun Letter
http://www.airgunletter.com
R. Pierce Reid
Journal (can't remember which, but think it was CADA) had a 6 or
7 page article on the origin of the BB. Very interesting piece.
But I forgot the origin of the name... sorry, I'll try to look
it up.
Cheers,
R. P. Reid
--
My opinions are my own, unless someone is paying me to say
otherwise.
Cheers...
Tom F Tomczyk
some type of weapon which evolved into the bb gun