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Weapons System

BB Gun

Small Arms And Sidearms

A BB gun is a type of air gun that fires small metal spherical projectiles called BBs, roughly 4.5 millimeters across and today usually made of zinc or copper plated steel, using a spring-piston, pneumatic or compressed-gas mechanism. The name comes from shotgun pellet sizing, and the type traces to the Markham Air Rifle Company's 1886 wooden spring-piston air rifle built for youth training; two years later the Plymouth Air Rifle Company, later renamed Daisy Manufacturing, introduced the first full-metal BB gun, which became widely popular. Because steel BBs are too hard to be swaged tight by the propelling force, they are made slightly undersized for the barrel, which limits accuracy and range through gas leakage. Beyond recreational and youth training use, the United States Army issued Daisy Model 99 BB guns for Quick Kill marksmanship instruction during the Vietnam War. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Partially Attested
Introduced Year
1886 1
The 1886 date is the Markham Air Rifle Company's first wooden spring-piston air rifle for youth training; the first full-metal airgun followed two years later from the Plymouth Air Rifle Company, so the type has no single introduction year.
Classification
Caliber
.177 caliber (BB gun bore) 1
Weapon Class
Air gun 1
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Rifle 1
Connections

Operated By

United States Navy, Armed Forces and Units
Source Wikipedia: BB gun
Sources
1. Wikipedia: BB gun
  • Lead section, first sentence
    A BB gun is a type of air gun that fires metallic spherical projectiles called BBs
  • History section
    In 1886, the Markham Air Rifle Company in Plymouth, Michigan, produced the first wooden-construct spring-piston air rifle design as a youth training gun
  • Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
  • Introduced circa 1886 per the entity's own sourced description text; no pre-1900 weapon system remains in current active military service.
  • Lead: "smoothbore barrel of 4.5 mm (0.177 in) caliber"
  • Operated By: United States Navy, Wikipedia article text
    The MacGlashan BB Gun was used to train antiaircraft gunners in the United States Army Air Corps and United States Navy during World War II.
View the Source
Wikidata: BB Gun
Wikidata Q3273295, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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