Airsoft BBs & Pellets (6 mm)

Which BB weight should you use?

Airsoft BBs are 6 mm plastic pellets sold by weight. For a stock AEG under 1.3 J, 0.20 g is the budget choice and 0.25 g the better one: it drifts less in wind and holds its line further. Guns tuned towards 1.5 to 2 J, such as DMRs, do best with 0.28 to 0.32 g. Sniper rifles at 2 J and above need 0.36 to 0.48 g to make use of their hop-up, and gas pistols are happiest with 0.20 to 0.25 g, which cycles the slide reliably. Heavier BBs leave the barrel slower but carry more energy down range, so check the energy limit of your site with the weight you actually play.

Quality, bio and tracer

A good BB is seamless, polished and within 0.01 mm of 5.95 mm; anything less chips your hop-up bucking, scratches a tight-bore barrel and jams at the worst moment. Bio BBs are made from PLA that decomposes in soil and are required at many outdoor fields in Europe; they perform like standard BBs but should be stored dry. Tracer BBs carry a phosphorescent coating and light up when fired through a tracer unit, which turns night games into something else.

8 mm and 40 mm

A small number of replicas use 8 mm BBs, and 40 mm gas shells from grenades and launchers have their own loads, both available through the calibre filter. BBs are unrestricted and sold in bags from 1,000 and bottles up to 5,000.