Daisy Daisy 880 -- any benefit to lubing steel BBs ?

[stovepipe]

My buddy bought a Daisy 880 pump rifle that has a rifled barrel for shooting .177 pellets and can also shoot steel BBs. He only wants to shoot BBs because he wants to be able to keep his eye on the target while pumping for "follow-up" shots. So, for him, it's a dedicated BB gun. We both know that BBs are not accurate (compared to pellets). We both know that the rifled barrel will get worn down by shooting steel BBs through it.

So I started asking myself these questions.
Will lubing the steel BBs reduce the wear on the rifled barrel?
Will lubing the steel BBs improve the accuracy in any way?
Is there a way to intentionally foul the barrel with lead (using lead pellets somehow) so it fills in the rifled grooves? The idea here is that maybe the "leaded-up" barrel would be more like a smooth-bore BB barrel (temporarily).
Will lubed BBs "gunk-up" the BB reservoir or cause any problems.
Are there steel BBs available to buy that actually eliminate the wear on the rifling and actually fill in the grooves of the rifling? The would have to be steel in order for the automatic (magnetic) BB loader to work.

I know these might be silly questions, especially since we're talking about a cheap $60 BB gun, but still -- what do you guys think?

stovepipe

 

[boscoebrea]

I think your thinking too much,just have fun .Any demage will be over time.Time is now to enjoy.Be present in the NOW. .

 

[6gun]

I own one. It's an 880, run it till it dies, not much will make it shoot better or worse. It's a workhorse kids gun that just always works.

 

[stovepipe]

In case I'm bored in the morning or I see a rat on the shop, the 880 is there.

View attachment 579950

Yeah, that's kind of why my buddy bought it. It's just always ready for shooting something with BBs. He's killed a bunch of squirrels that were fighting him for the rights to his Apricot tree. Now that the squirrels are gone, he's started plinking at 15 yards. I played with it a bit and love the way the magnetic probe grabs and chambers the BBs automatically -- never fails.

stovepipe

 

[vintageairguncollector@gm]

I own one. It's an 880, run it till it dies, not much will make it shoot better or worse. It's a workhorse kids gun that just always works.

Good comment that it's kids' gun, many of the fun bb guns fall into that category cheap & disposable. Run it until it dies is great advice which I followed religiously with more than a few V-8s in the 60s -70s. About whether to lube BB or Not lube is the question. If it makes you happy lube them BBs it's not hurting anyone or thing. Thick oil will gum up the BB feeding trough eventually.
Cheap BB guns deserve love too so shooting them often because "Happiness is a warm BBgun" maybe with lubed BB too.

 

[Berserkeley Mike]

Maintenance for multi-pump guns includes dribbling significant amounts of oils (eg. Pelgunoil) into the pump workings. All that oil eventually goes somewhere: through the valve and out the barrel, lubing all it encounters and reducing wear, both real and imagined.

As far as BBs that engage the rifling, most steel BBs are smaller than .177, like 0.172 or 0.173 and will not touch both lands on either side of the diameter at once. Marksman brand BBs are a little bigger, closer to 0.177 and will either ride down the lands or jam the barrel. In my limited experience, they will pass a Daisy 8XX barrel but get stuck in a Crosman 7XX barrel. If you try them, I'd sugges to drop one down the barrel and see if it shows up at the breechl; if not, then shake or fire it back out again.
There exists softer lead BBs that will engage rifling: Gamo has/had some, I see some on eBay and Amazon; there may be more, say from reloading supply places.

But really, it's OK to say _you_ shoot BBs from a Daisy, we won't judge ;-)

 

[marflow 777]

i saw this earlier and just had nothing to add and that still might be the case
when you say lube i think we all think oil of some sort
but when you have an old can or pellets that have oxidized you clean and lube but in my case i use Finish Line Wax
now you would have to put some BB's in a container and coat them and see what happens
it could work or be a complete waste of time

 

[6gun]

Good comment that it's kids' gun, many of the fun bb guns fall into that category cheap & disposable. Run it until it dies is great advice which I followed religiously with more than a few V-8s in the 60s -70s. About whether to lube BB or Not lube is the question. If it makes you happy lube them BBs it's not hurting anyone or thing. Thick oil will gum up the BB feeding trough eventually.
Cheap BB guns deserve love too so shooting them often because "Happiness is a warm BBgun" maybe with lubed BB too.

Haha I've got a 55 year old 307 Ive kept running too. Somebody gave me the 880 and I cleaned it up and run it like we did as kids. There's always empty cans at the shop.

 

[beerthief]

as a lube i would suggest just shoot the gun ! if you insist on trying a lube just a very light spray of Lemon Pledge on a cloth / pour some BB and pick the cloth up like a trough and roll the BB back and forth to coat lightly .

 

[6gun]

I got mine out and was having some 30+ yard bb shots with it and some pellets. My irons are set for bbs so it's unfair to pellets. Without finding my small guage pins, and just by ear (super scientific) it sounds like the bb is so under sized that it's actually riding an air bearing down the bore, whereas the pellet has a much louder and snappier report from its better seal I presume.

This is super anecdotal and "trust me bro" science.