Best BB Guns

In the hands of the right shooter a bb gun can be a lot of fun. The best bb gun for you depends on how you plan to use it, from training for your centerfire pistol to putting holes in tin cans. There’s no one best bb gun, but there are plenty of options for every need, from a realistic replica to a model that lets kids experience guns they might otherwise never get to try.

Unlike real guns, bb guns require no gas pressure to fire a shot. They have no recoil and can be fired without a safety, but they still need to be handled carefully. BB guns can injure people with even a single shot, so eye protection is essential when shooting them. BBs can pierce skin, and may cause more severe injuries if they hit a person in the face or head. They can also retain their velocity and ricochet off hard objects, which can cause serious injury to the shooter and bystanders.

One of the best BB guns in HAM’s tests was the Umarex Legends Cowboy Rifle, which is loosely based on the Winchester Model 1894. It’s semi-automatic with fixed front and fiber-optic rear sights. The magazine holds two 12-gram CO2 cartridges and a load of BBs. The magazine has a manual sliding safe, but it doesn’t operate the bolt, which robs CO2 during firing.

The gun has a very nice feel and works well. Its only drawback is that a new cartridge must be loaded each time, 1 BB at a time, because the magazine doesn’t have a rapid loading port.