How accurate are CO2 bb pistols?

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DIYEngineer235

DIYEngineer235

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Jul 21, 2021
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I've been considering getting a 1911 replica CO2 pistol. Mostly because both my grandfather's carried 1911s, one in WW2 and the other in Korea.
The only thing holding me back is I question how accurate they are. I don't want to get something that I'll just get frustrated with and never touch again.
Obviously, you get what you pay for, so I'm looking in the $100-$120 range.
I don't expect to shoot the wings off a fly at 25 yards, but being able to nail the wasp that buzzes my shooting gallery at 15 ft would be fun.
(Managed to shoot the leg off it with my Daisy 220 the other day.)
 
Yeah, agreed.
I've bought five different BB pistols. Mostly because they are visually accurate to the gun that are supposed to resemble.
1. Looks = yes (all)
2. weight = yes (all)
3. Co2 cartridge assemble = yes (all)
4. BB into the magazine = yeah, ok (all)
5. BB feeding into the barrel = yes (all)
6. Accuracy = not so much. All no more than ten feet away from the target. One is...sorta accurate, the rest are VERY annoying, inaccurate.

If you want a Co2 pistol...buy a "pellet" shooter. I have two of these. They will be a little more expensive, but well worth the money, in every respect.
Also, either buy from PyramydAir and read the reviews, or go to YouTube and watch the videos of your desired gun.

Mike
 
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MikeVV said:
Yeah, agreed.
I've bought five different BB pistols. Mostly because they are visually accurate to the gun that are supposed to resemble.
1. Looks = yes (all)
2. weight = yes (all)
3. Co2 cartridge assemble = yes (all)
4. BB into the magazine = yeah, ok (all)
5. BB feeding into the barrel = yes (all)
6. Accuracy = not so much. All no more than ten feet away from the target. One is...sorta accurate, the rest are VERY annoying, inaccurate.

If you want a Co2 pistol...buy a "pellet" shooter. I have two of these. They will be a little more expensive, but well worth the money, in every respect.
Also, either buy from PyramydAir and read the reviews, or go to YouTube and watch the videos of your desired gun.

Mike
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input. I'm honestly more into it for the looks and feel than accuracy. I just still want to be able to knock down targets at the 10-15 feet range anyways. I figure I can scale the targets to make it feel like 50 ft.

Pyramidair actually has two 1911 pellet pistols, but I'm not liking either of them, which is why I was asking about bb. The cheaper of the two pellet 1911s is in my budget, but has major loading issues. The other is $250+, which is way out of my budget, and doesn't have blowback and is top loaded instead of mag loaded which I prefer for the feel.

These are the ones I was actually looking at.
www.pyramydair.com

Springfield Armory 1911 Mil-Spec .177-cal CO2 BB Gun by Air Venturi | Pyramyd Air

In the market for a super-realistic 1911 replica? Then look no further than Air Venturi's Springfield Armory 1911 Mil-Spec CO2 BB pistol. It's a faithful copy of the real steel .45-cal firearm with realistic heft, blowback action and authentic Springfield Armory markings. Read all about it at...
www.pyramydair.com www.pyramydair.com
www.pyramydair.com

Barra 1911 Tactical Blowback CO2 BB Pistol | Pyramyd Air

We've got a great price on the Barra 1911 Tactical Blowback CO2 BB Pistol. Shop and get expert advice from the largest airgun retailer!
www.pyramydair.com www.pyramydair.com
 
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Of the two above, I'd give the Springfield a try.
I skimmed the article and the reviews in the Pyramyd site. Other than the slow BB velocity, I like it the best of the bunch.

Your second choice (Barra) is a little too "modern" for me if I were looking to get a 1911. The serrations on the slide are too modern, the picatinny rail would be a killer in my book. Though I did look at the reviews, the "modern" characteristics, would say no to this gun.

Again the accuracy is marginal past about 10ft. As long as you are ok with that, I guess the BB style is ok.
Again, of these two, defiantly, the Springfield.

Mike
 
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The problem is BB barrels are usually smooth bore; pellet barrels are usually rifles,thus way more accurate.
Here are some of mine,I think the green gas ones are the most realistic,in function and looks.
Co2 pellet,I love mine, Colt. As MikeVV says there are some good choices for CO2 .Colt looking .45 bb pistols.
Sig Saur and Colt Umarex are others.

012.JPG


010.JPG
 
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MikeVV said:
Of the two above, I'd give the Springfield a try.
I skimmed the article and the reviews in the Pyramyd site. Other than the slow BB velocity, I like it the best of the bunch.

Your second choice (Barra) is a little too "modern" for me if I were looking to get a 1911. The serrations on the slide are too modern, the picatinny rail would be a killer in my book. Though I did look at the reviews, the "modern" characteristics, would say no to this gun.

Again the accuracy is marginal past about 10ft. As long as you are ok with that, I guess the BB style is ok.
Again, of these two, defiantly, the Springfield.

Mike
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. I'm torn between the classic or modern look.

I like the clean look of the classic, with nothing to get hung up in a holster. But then again, I'm a gadget geek so I can't help but want to put something ridiculous on it, which would require the rails.
 
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DIY -

Damn...now you've got me thinking about a freaken 1911 BB gun..!

I watched a coupla videos about the 1911 BB guns.
So I dug out my Tanfoglio Witness (CZ-75 version) Race Gun copy. When I got the gun, it fired fine, but I couldn't hit the proverbial, broadside of a barn.
Like below, but I removed the barrel weight, looks much...better. I've got a cheap red dot sight on the mount.

1654835266812.png


So, long story short, I tightened the barrel in the slide, I tightened the slide on the frame, now, I can stand back 15ft. or so, and keep a (full 17rds) magazine within a 1-1/8" circle. It took a bit of work, but...it works.

It seems that PyramydAir has a Tanfoglio, 1911. I may look into that, see how that works.

Mike
 
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The problem with this endless crop of Co2 auto pistols (pellet or bb) is accuracy is impacted by 3 issues coming at the shooter which you do not get with a humble break barrel pistol, or pumper.
The first issue is the pellet/bb having to jump from a magazine into the barrel. The revolving mags are not so great in this respect.
It is not just the quality of index from one position to the next within the mechanism but sometimes the quality of the magazine itself.
I once set up a magazine from a Umarex CP88 and revolved in an indexing chuck on a milling machine, because i had suspected some error in concentricity from the centre hole. As it happened, the concentricity was pretty much perfect, but i was shocked to find that each hole for the pellet (hole to hole) was as much +/-0.1mm out of position to each other. This would introduce error.
The second issue being CO2 cools as its shot. Gas pressure is greatly affected by temperature, reducing in power as it cools, so the first shot is going to be considerably different to the 8th as the gun cools down. This can be improved by allowing a bit of time between each shot, but its still a variable issue.
Finally, if a trigger mechanism is having to index a magazine, its going to be tougher on the trigger pull and this is often the case. Most models drifting from around 5lbs upto as high as 7lb pull.
One notable i have found, is that ball loads are sometimes more accurate than pellet versions, which goes against the normally accepted that pellets are more accurate than BB. I think this maybe coming from BBs better handling the the jump from the mag to bore, offsetting the better attributes of pellets.
, or at least equalising them….creating the often noted question of why is my bb version just as accurate as my pellet version.
The old Anics Bb pistols often noted as being the most accurate of the bunch, probably for this reason.
 
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Seems many if not most of the current crop of pistols made by one or two companies and sold by many companies have settled on one type magazine design, though yes, I know...not all have the same BB positioner..
It pinches the BB in position with a pair of plastic fingers until it's hit by the co2 pressure. Then as noted it makes the jump to the barrel. But as long as the BB is a good fit in the barrel, I'd say that most all of any BB to barrel antics are done by half or so of its travel down the barrel, to "mostly" stabilized.

The way that I see it, the BIGGEST problem, as in the above gun (mine), in most, if not all of todays guns, the barrels to the slide fit', AND the slide to frame fit is horrible. There is NO real lockup, in battery. everything just sits there loose, with nothing solid. So you look down the sights, the slide is looking one direction, and the barrel is looking a completely different direction !!! And at every "lockup"...the barrel is pointing a different direction from it's last...lockup.
When I stabilized the barrel in the slide to almost...too...tight, and then the slide to the frame fit, to almost...too...tight, the accuracy and the "repeatability" of the accuracy went way up. Even though, occasionally, the slide won't full lockup. No big deal, just a touch with a finger and that's done. Seems that I'd rather have a tight system, than a loose one !

I have a couple other BB guns that have the SAME loose fitting parts, that I have not reworked. Not worth the effort ! They may just hit the round file !
I may give one of the few available Colt 1911's a try, see how well, or not...they are. And yeah, if loose, I'll give it a try for a tight lockup rework.

Mike
 
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Yes, i agree with what you are describing, especially as the sights, or sighting aids sit on the slide independent of the barrel🤔
If Umarex were to produce a version after the lines of a Ruger, which broke open at the breech to allow direct pellet into the bore…akin to a break barrel air rifle, they would have a world beater.
Direct bore feed, maybe an O ring seal giving perfect sealing and no magazine requiring of indexing by the trigger.…total accuracy.
...but Umarex will stick with the endless stream, probably numbering 12 models now….how many more do we need?
 
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I love how you gentleman expand the subject matter with your experiences.
It appears you must be good shots to know the differences and the tips are worthwhile to try.
Some of the tricks have been used for decades in the so called "real" gun world.
Truth is I never thought about applying them to pellet or bb guns, until now,Thank you.
 
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The thing about most of these BB 1911’s are that they’re made by the same company - KWC. This includes: Springfield, John Wayne, Sig sauer, barra, tanfoglio witness, and colt commander. Basically all the ones with a drop free full size magazine that feeds BB’s through the cycling of the slide.
I’d say buy the cheapest or prettiest.

I have the Swiss arms 1911 TRS because the ambi safety levers. It’s also made by KWC. It can hit soda cans at 15 feet most of the time, but that’s about it. The barrel to slide fit and slide to frame fit is atrocious as mentioned previously. But these things are so fun they’re worth it. They aren’t buy it for life quality but if it breaks I can buy another one. Mine is probably three years old with over 15,000 BB’s through. The slide stop and corresponding notch on the frame deformed awhile back so I filed it into shape again. The hammer spur and one of the hammer hooks snapped off, so it doesn’t have much longer…

The website Evike sells spare parts for when they break. They’re branded for Elite Force/Umarex but that’s just an Airsoft version still made by KWC.

The nice thing about these is that they operate just like the power burners, which I like more that the pellet 1911’s or double action BB 1911’s.

Just because I want to complicate things, you could look into Airsoft guns. Some of them can be upgraded with tightbore barrels and improved buckings to make them pretty accurate. But I have pellet guns when I want accuracy, BB guns for realism and fun.

Thanks for reading.
 
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To be honest, the reason I'm looking intk a bb gun at all is because I have 1500 of them from when I bought my Crossman 760. I quickly got tired of pumping. Ha! So now I'd need something to use them up. Not into the full auto stuff, so I figured a CO2 pistol would be a fun way to use them up.
Tex said:
The thing about most of these BB 1911’s are that they’re made by the same company - KWC. This includes: Springfield, John Wayne, Sig sauer, barra, tanfoglio witness, and colt commander. Basically all the ones with a drop free full size magazine that feeds BB’s through the cycling of the slide.
I’d say buy the cheapest or prettiest.

I have the Swiss arms 1911 TRS because the ambi safety levers. It’s also made by KWC. It can hit soda cans at 15 feet most of the time, but that’s about it. The barrel to slide fit and slide to frame fit is atrocious as mentioned previously. But these things are so fun they’re worth it. They aren’t buy it for life quality but if it breaks I can buy another one. Mine is probably three years old with over 15,000 BB’s through. The slide stop and corresponding notch on the frame deformed awhile back so I filed it into shape again. The hammer spur and one of the hammer hooks snapped off, so it doesn’t have much longer…

The website Evike sells spare parts for when they break. They’re branded for Elite Force/Umarex but that’s just an Airsoft version still made by KWC.

The nice thing about these is that they operate just like the power burners, which I like more that the pellet 1911’s or double action BB 1911’s.

Just because I want to complicate things, you could look into Airsoft guns. Some of them can be upgraded with tightbore barrels and improved buckings to make them pretty accurate. But I have pellet guns when I want accuracy, BB guns for realism and fun.

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks DIY, just thanks !
I'm kidding of course

I went and spent a bunch of money on a 1911 pistol today !!

But...I didn't get a BB version. Nore did I get a blowback, but it is co2 powered.
Despite the sorta ugly (double-single action) trigger, I bought the Umarex version that has a round magazine, inserted just above the trigger.
Why this one, purely because of that it shoots pellets (.177), instead of BB's. Rifled barrel and all. I have a similar Walther / Umarex that's pretty accurate, much more so than BB's, and this one's got a longer barrel.

Funny, yeah, I've got big container of BB's too ! 6000 to be exact. I've shot "maybe" 200 !

1655100157595.png


Mike
 
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I also got the Umarex Colt.45.I love it;and it can be surprisingly accurate within its' range.
There was a post about this very pistol a few days ago.
I have many of the KWC gas pistols,I believe they are from Korea,Taiwan ?Well built for what they are and very popular green gas ,paint ball pistols;all metal and the slides work,great replicas There are,were many places to get parts for them.
Dealing with "green gas" can be a pain and CO2 is way better way to go.
Another tip,I have been able to get boxes full of CO2 cartilages for very low prices,yes the big ones also.
Go on line or eBay and look them up and save $$$
Those BBs have a way of coming back at you,wear eye protection and have a safe,soft backstop.
 
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bosco -

Not aa BB gun. Designed to shoot pellets only, in a round, aluminum magazine. Plus even if you could, I wouldn't want to mess up the rifled barrel, shooting BB's.

Plus the "slide", just sits there..! The only time that the slide moves is when you load the magazine into the breach, and even then, only the front half moves..!
You must be thinking about a different gun. The back half does move, but it's to cock (how do I say loading a pellet???) the gun for single shot, shooting.

Now I need to figure out a way to install some sort of sighting system, other than the iron sights. I have...somewhere, a Picatinny rail as part of the right side grip panel. Hopefully the rear sight moves / is removable. This way I can remove it and install an adapter plate in the rear sight dovetail. This would be better than the grip plate sight mount.

Mike
 
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