Biodegradable BBs & difference between bb gun and air soft gun?

Question

Could someone please tell me what is the difference between a regular gun and air soft gun and the bb's they use?

Can air soft and/or Biodegradable BBs both be used in air soft guns?

Can metal bb's be shot out of a airsoft gun.

Thanks for any information you can give !

Answer 1

Regular BBs (steel shot) are .177 caliber (4.5mm in diameter) and are made from steel that has usually been copper plated. They're typically fired at velocities in the 200-700 fps range. They're intended for target practice & hunting birds or small critters. They can and will penetrate through clothing and skin so they're not to be considered a toy.

Airsoft BBs are made of rubber/plastic. They're .24 caliber (6mm in diameter). They're shot at a maximum velocity of 300 fps or less (less being better in this instance since it reduce the energy the airsoft shot is carrying) and are intended to be used on "people" in "mock" combat.

The rule of thumb is only use ammunition that is designed for your gun. So, airsoft BBs should only be used in air soft guns. They're too large to be used in regular bb/pellet guns and will jam a BB/pellet gun. Steel BBs should not be used in airsoft guns since they don't match the bore diameter and are heavier than the airsoft ammunition. It probably wouldn't damage your gun, but there's always the chance you could "accidentally" shoot someone with steel shot instead of soft airsoft shot. Also it probably wouldn't be very accurate since it would rattle or bounce around as it was going down the barrel.