Anyone else have issues with Velocity Arms BBs?

[Crunchmeister]

Just trying to see what's up here and if others have had issues. I bought a bag of VA .25s last weekend at the mill, as I didn't want to use my heavier .28 and .30 Bastards for CQB. I usually stick to Bastards and Metaltech, but since that was what was available on site, I figured they'd be just as good as any. But I had and still am having issues with them.

First off, I'm having BBs break as I'm loading them into my mag. I'm using both a TM M4 mag style loader and the cheapo pistol mag style loader that came with my P90, and having issues with both. BBs are shattering as I'm trying to load them into the mags. Had this issue loading both my P90 lowcaps and my MP5 lowcaps at the game. I had several break as I was loading them at the game, but at the time chalked it up to the -5ºC weather playing havoc on plastic. But I was plinking here at home earlier (temperature is 21ºC in my basement), and had the same thing happen too. I actually had to pick apart both a P90 and an AK mag to remove several broken BBs that had broken in the mag.

At the game when I tried to chrony my Real Sword Type 56 with these VA .25s. the gun wouldn't feed. I tried them tonight, and still had feeding issues. Tried Bastard .2, .28 and .3g, and the gun fed without issues. I know its not my mags. They're all in excellent condition and have been well-maintained.

No other BBs give me issues with my AEGs. Just trying to see if I somehow got a bag of duds here or this is a common issue and I should avoid VA BBs in the future.

[Goldman]

Originally Posted by Crunchmeister

Just trying to see what's up here and if others have had issues. I bought a bag of VA .25s last weekend at the mill, as I didn't want to use my heavier .28 and .30 Bastards for CQB. I usually stick to Bastards and Metaltech, but since that was what was available on site, I figured they'd be just as good as any. But I had and still am having issues with them.

First off, I'm having BBs break as I'm loading them into my mag. I'm using both a TM M4 mag style loader and the cheapo pistol mag style loader that came with my P90, and having issues with both. BBs are shattering as I'm trying to load them into the mags. Had this issue loading both my P90 lowcaps and my MP5 lowcaps at the game. I had several break as I was loading them at the game, but at the time chalked it up to the -5ºC weather playing havoc on plastic. But I was plinking here at home earlier (temperature is 21ºC in my basement), and had the same thing happen too. I actually had to pick apart both a P90 and an AK mag to remove several broken BBs that had broken in the mag.

At the game when I tried to chrony my Real Sword Type 56 with these VA .25s. the gun wouldn't feed. I tried them tonight, and still had feeding issues. Tried Bastard .2, .28 and .3g, and the gun fed without issues. I know its not my mags. They're all in excellent condition and have been well-maintained.

No other BBs give me issues with my AEGs. Just trying to see if I somehow got a bag of duds here or this is a common issue and I should avoid VA BBs in the future.

I was running some through a kraken the otherday without any such issue, infact what you described mimics an encounter I had with some MT BBs the last time I tried them, odd. Perhaps a bad bag?

[Karnage]

Hey, hopefully it was only a bad bag but regardless that shouldn't be happening I've tested them with several people, nearly 30 bags were given away and no one reported any problems with them. That included a mix of .20g and .25g. As I don't manufacture these myself I am only at the mercy of KSC's quality control.

[cbcsteve]

Hopefully someone didn't dump out the VA BB;s for themselves and replaced with crappy ones.

Torture Test
I never had a problem with these, I even tested some by shooting and re-using random ones I find on the floor. If you shoot a hard object concrete or hardwood 50/50 chance they will dent, but if it does not dent you can reuse them at least once, pretty sturdy I would say.

[Styrak]

Suggesting reusing BB's....oh boy.

[cbcsteve]

Originally Posted by Styrak

Suggesting reusing BB's....oh boy.

Suggesting? No

Perhaps my implication has to be more straight forward:

Velocity Arms BBs are strong enough to withstand countless abuse which I surmise means it will perform up to your standards on the first shot

[ShelledPants]

Originally Posted by cbcsteve

Suggesting? No

Perhaps my implication has to be more straight forward:

Velocity Arms BBs are strong enough to withstand countless abuse which I surmise means it will perform up to your standards on the first shot

It's not just damaged bb's which damage a gun through reuse, but dirt etc from reused bb's putting extra wear, or even tearing, the hop up.

[bean]

BB's also tend to deform when striking a hard surface which can cause jams and at the price of bb's there isnt a real need to re-use them its not like 10 years ago when having 2000 bb's made you a god among men.

[ILLusion]

I use to have similar problems when I loaded oversized BBs in to my P90 lowcap mags as well. Namely, Airsoft Elite BBs.

It seemed that the BB track in the P90 mag was a bit too narrow at the bends, which caused the problems. Forcing the BBs in doesn't help either.

On that note, the VA BBs have a smaller diameter than the BB Bastards that I have here, so that's most likely not the case. Doing a crush test on these BBs also show that they do what I call a "dry squish", which means the BB will squish, it will crack and deform, like a very dry object, but would not crumble or shatter. The BB Bastards I have here are much harder and although they do a similar "dry squish", they require much more force.

The characteristics of the Velocity Arms BBs react just like any other KSC Perfect BB that I've always used (and it makes sense - they're made by KSC).

On that note, these BBs still rank high on my list of BBs. I personally almost always use KSC Perfects anyways - Velocity Arms BBs are a good locally sourced "alternative".

They definitely do not crush, crumble nor shatter like Maruzen, Tokyo Marui & Excel BBs do. You'd think those were made from Sweet Tarts or Rockets, judging by the way they crumbled...

[cbcsteve]

I am unsure if my implication or my statement was not clear enough but I am not saying reuse your BBs thats just ridiculous hence why they are in 2000 packs

I wanted to see how much abuse these BBs can take, and from what I have seen you have to try to break them which in conclusion means that right off the bat you are getting good BBs.

[Crunchmeister]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

It seemed that the BB track in the P90 mag was a bit too narrow at the bends, which caused the problems. Forcing the BBs in doesn't help either.

The BB that broke in the P90 mag was the 6th BB to be loaded into the mag. It shattered right as it was going around the bend at the end of the mag. I'm not sure where exactly it broke in the AK mag though, although I was assuming it was while going around that bend in the track as well.

I have used KSC BBs in the past, although .2s. I've never had any issues with them other than they often jam up in my KSC Glock mags (never had a mag n issue with any other BB from TM to Excel to Metaltech to Walmart bio-BBs with that gun), only with KSC. Otherwise they've always fed reliably in my other pistols and AEGs and fly nice and straight. Well, seems my Type 56 also has an issue with these BBs. And it also didn't like Madbull.25s when Sepulcrum tried his BBs in it at Border Wars.

Karnage has contacted me and offered an exchange for the bag of BBs, as well as covering the return shipping, so that's really cool of him. I'll see if this next bag has similar results. Thanks Karnage. Much appreciated.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

I use to have similar problems when I loaded oversized BBs in to my P90 lowcap mags as well. Namely, Airsoft Elite BBs.

Aren't AE BB's UNDERsized?

[mcguyver]

Originally Posted by Styrak

Aren't AE BB's UNDERsized?

They're supposed to be guaranteed 5.98mm, for whatever that's worth.

I always do a crush test on a BB before I use it. If it shatters, I can't use it. If it distorts, cracks but stays otherwise intact, it's fine for me. I do it with my Kershaw MT at the field if need be.

[ILLusion]

Originally Posted by Styrak

Aren't AE BB's UNDERsized?

Sorry, by "oversized", I simply meant that they were larger than the average BB you could get from many other manufacturers. To date, I have not found any BBs OVER 5.99mm and the largest BBs still remain as (in order from largest to smallest):

- Guarder
- Airsoft Elite
- BB Bastard
- KSC Perfect / Velocity Arms

I've had the most problems loading Guarder BBs in to a variety of guns due to their size and have had problems with feeding due to the larger size trying to squeeze through the feed lips or tubes of magazines. However, in the guns that they do work in, the velocities register higher than with smaller BBs.

[Roughneck]

I sold him the bb's.. and I promise you they were sealed bag and not recycled ammo. I'll throw in another bag to you Joe with the hopup and mag Im sending you. I have a spare bag.