16 replies to this topic

[The Large Moose]

With me, I am not patient, I fire, reload, prime, and fire again, no time to spare inbetween. Looking between darts to find the right stefans takes to long.

Having multiple bags with stefan's of differant weight's and lengths is to cumbersome. I like to be agile.

What would be considered a "universal" stefan weight for most primary/secondary guns used? 1/4 steel shots are for more powerful guns, and copper bb's are considered for less powerful. What could be a more middle man weight, that could fire out of my NF/Maverick/LnL/TT well, but not fishtail from my SM5000/Xbow/BBB/etc.

[foamsmith]

Actual bbs made of steel or copper are worthless except for the lesser pistols or automatic guns. 3 of them is still significantly lighter than a single 1/4" steel shot and the ghetto construction will result in less accurate flight.

Size bb lead split shot is good for most pistols and mid-range guns but is somewhat lacking in high-powered rifles.

1/4" steel slingshot ammo is good for the best variety of guns in my opinion. They're only slightly too heavy for my SSII and only slightly too light for my Max Shot. In addition, they're completely spherical and slightly cheaper than fishing weights.

3/0 split shot is slightly heavier and will work better than the 1/4" steel shot in high power rifles, but at the cost of reduced performance in lower powered guns.

Size 7 lead split shot will get the most out of your homemade or sm5k, but is rediculously heavy for most guns.

After trying all of the above, I've ended up just using 1/4" steel shot for all my darts. I don't use uber long range rifles because I don't like the ROF and my SSII is pretty high powered for a pistol so this is a good weight for all the guns I actually use.

Hope that helps.

From my experience with micros, I'd recommend one bb size fishing weight per dart. With a substantial amount of hot glue, it won't lag too much in high power guns. It works way better in weaker powered guns than darts weighed with 1/4 steel shot or 3/0 lead split shot.

I have a few questions on this myself:
Do the lead split shot sizes vary from brand to brand, or are they universal sizes?
My last trip to Walmart yielded no 1/4 steel shots. Where exactly in walmart do you find these?

[cxwq]

The lead shot is universally sized.

The 1/4" steel shot is usually under/behind glass at the sporting goods counter. Ask the clerk for slingshot ammo.

[MattPaintballer]

The lead shot is universally sized.

The 1/4" steel shot is usually under/behind glass at the sporting goods counter. Ask the clerk for slingshot ammo.

Is there an age requirement to buy slingshot ammo? I'm guessing so... Crap...

[AirApache]

The legal age limit is 18, and most places honor that law. I'm sure your parents won't object to buying lead shot if they know what you're doing with it. Just don't say anything suspicious.

[LordoftheRing434]

That's kinda funny because when I was in South Dakota, I got a sling-shot and a pack of lighters with no questions asked. I was 14 at the time. It's also funny since wrist-rockets are illegal in Minnesota, and I carry it on me all the time. It might just depend on what area you're in. As to the weights, I've used 3/0 and BB split-shots, and both work great in my pistols and bigger weapons. Just experiment and see what works best.

~Rings

[ssgtsiler]

Everyone around here (FDG) uses 2-3 Steel BBs in their Stefans. Is this below max preformance that a Stefan can achieve? We dont want to use lead, because we are from NH, dont feel like spending the extra money, and just because. Should we change our Stefan-Making routine and use heavier wieghts?

[cxwq]

Everyone around here (FDG) uses 2-3 Steel BBs in their Stefans. Is this below max preformance that a Stefan can achieve? We dont want to use lead, because we are from NH, dont feel like spending the extra money, and just because. Should we change our Stefan-Making routine and use heavier wieghts?

2-3 steel bbs is only useful in guns that get under 50' flat range. For pretty much any modern pump gun (at xxxx, sm xxxx, titan, hornet, sf, bf, ss2, etc) you should have something heavier. For higher powered spring guns, likewise.

[ssgtsiler]

Would using the heavier darts increase the range(s) of the modern guns?

[kickass jb]

For me, I use BB split-shot sinkers, and just add a wad of glue and use CX's method with the ice cube. Seems to work pretty well for me all around.

P.S. With Yakman's supersoaker mod, I was using 1/2" stefans weighted as described above. Even with the mass amount of airflow around the dart since it was pvc and not brass/copper and didn't fit in the barrel at all, it still reached about 100 meters at a 40 degree angle, about 100 ft being braced at the shoulder (which was about 20ft farther than the perfectly fitting mega stefans...weird).

Edited by kickass_jb, 30 April 2005 - 11:50 AM.

[Black Wrath]

Wow, I've been using 2 copper BBs in my 1/2" x 2" stefans for over a year now, and only now do I find out that my ranges have been lacking.

I wish I had spoken to you sooner, Cx, about the SM5k dart weighting.

Are you saying that if I'm getting about 90' now with a double BB weight, that I can max out the 126' I got a few times, just by switching to size 7 leads, or 1/4" steel shot? If this is true, I'm off to the nearest *sigh* Wal-Mart, and I'm going to help my SM5k reach it's full potential.

I'm also quite interested about the Maxshot; will it's ranges improve dramatically aswell? I'll probably use a size 7 lead for it too.

In regards to my Ln'L, should I upgrade to a 1/4" steel shot for it too?

Thanks again guys, this has been a great topic.

[cxwq]

Bottom line:

If you're willing to use different weight darts for different guns, these are the optimal weights.

Super high power guns like sm5k and Titan: size 7 lead split shot.

High power guns like at2k, sm1500, SF, xbow, max shot: size 3/0 lead split shot.

Moderately powerful guns like at3k, SSII, NF, EaB: 1/4" steel slingshot ammo.

Low powered guns like PC, RF20, Scout, First Shot: size bb lead shot or one or more steel or copper bbs.


If you would prefer to use the same darts for all your guns take an average from above based on what you use. If you only use PCs and NFs, go with bb or 1/4" steel weights. If you use NFs and xbows, go with 3/0 lead or 1/4" steel. Overall, I've found that most guns perform pretty well one weight class away from optimal but a greater difference than that will hurt performance significantly. Thus, if you don't allow 5ks and Titans in your wars, 1/4" steel is an obvious choice as it will do reasonably well in everything else.

[foamsmith]

High power guns like at2k...Moderately powerful guns like at3k,

The at2k is more powerful than the at3k? The at3k has a larger air tank.

I think you're altitude also plays a fairly big roll is weight choice. For instance, at my grandparent's cabin (about 7500' high), I got by with one bb per micro dart in my brassed sm1500. It didn't shoot as far as the lead fishing weight ones, but it shot straight (no fish tailing) and came close to as far. I suspect if I was real close to sea level, than I'd get results closer to what Cxwq gets.

[cxwq]

High power guns like at2k...Moderately powerful guns like at3k,

The at2k is more powerful than the at3k? The at3k has a larger air tank.

The at2k has a tighter turret mechanism, the at3k leaks more air.

[navy seal]

I use bb size split shot weights in my darts for all of my guns. The bb size split shot gives it enough weight to fly straight and not fishtial. I tried 3/0 split shot but it was to heavy in most of my guns.

[MattPaintballer]

I use bb size split shot weights in my darts for all of my guns. The bb size split shot gives it enough weight to fly straight and not fishtial. I tried 3/0 split shot but it was to heavy in most of my guns.

Generally, BB Split Shot is for micros and 3/0 Split Shot is for megas. At least, that's what I'm going by, and it's working quite well (Well, other than my glue domes being extremely shitty)

[Viper]

Matt's view is the conventional standard. I remember on NHQ someone talked about using clay as a weight. This would create a unique distribution of weight so as the density isn't too mcuh to fly out the dart like many high powered guns cause the weights, be it bb or weights, fly out of the dart.