# What does 'BB' as in BB gun stand for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2000, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989 "2000-11-20T17:26:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/1 "2000-11-20T17:26:20Z")
Ball bearing, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/2 "2000-11-20T17:36:39Z")
Boy, this was a short thread. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/3 "2000-11-20T18:23:11Z")
You might think the [Daisy](http://www.daisy.com/history.html) air rifle people would know, but they’ve bypassed the question. That site does have a feedback feature - maybe you could ask them? ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/4 "2000-11-20T18:59:08Z")
Baby Bullet? Seriously though, I think it’s ball bearing. That’s what they look like. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/5 "2000-11-20T19:08:32Z")
Actually, I think “BB” is a size designation, and does _not_ stand for “ball bearing.” I don’t have a cite, though. Seems like this may have come up in a previous thread. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/6 "2000-11-20T19:19:13Z")
**spoke-** beat me to it. BB is just a letter designation of the shot size ([sup7[/sup]/[sub]40[/sub]") If I’m not mistaken, I think it was originally pronounced “double-bee”. There is also BBB shot. BB or BBB shot (packed in a shotgun cartridge of course) are used in hunting waterfowl. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/7 "2000-11-20T19:28:43Z")
no, no, no, everyone knows it’s an abbreviation for “Spherical proJectile” DUH! Sorry, ignore me. I’m losing my mind. I’ll try and do it quietly. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/8 "2000-11-20T19:50:46Z")
Well. This was _supposed_ to be a short thread, since the answer was revealed in the OP. [Dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=bb) states that a bb is in fact a ball bearing, and specifically refers to a **bb shot** as a small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/9 "2000-11-20T21:22:44Z")
**spoke-** is right. According to Webster’s Unabridged: > [@](#): > > n -S usu cap both Bs > > [prob. fr. the letter b] > > 1 : a shot pellet 0.18 inch in diameter for use in shotgun cartridges > > 2 : a shot pellet 0.175 inch in diameter for use in a BB gun Check out this link from [gunshop.com](http://www.gunshop.com/shotsize.htm) for more information on shot sizes. BB is .18 inches in diameter. A bb gun uses compressed air and shots a single shot, unlike the traditional shotgun which uses gunpowder and a shell. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/10 "2000-11-20T23:48:36Z")
I thought we’d discussed this before but the search function won’t take BB as a word, so for you newcomers… [SDMB - B, as in BB](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=11477) ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/11 "2000-11-21T17:34:36Z")
It is Ball Bearing. I remember an article in the NRA magazine American Rifleman on the subject from the mid-80’s on the history of the BB gun. It happened that the bearings of this size were abundant when the gunmaker was looking for a cheap source of projectiles. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-bb-as-in-bb-gun-stand-for/41989/12 "2000-11-21T19:05:11Z")
- - - It is both, sort of. The size was originally designated BB (as in “double B shot”, as in double B _lead_ shot) but the Daisy company kept getting back large numbers of rifles from kids in Minneapolis or somewhere around there, that were jambed with reject ball bearings discarded by a local factory that were just a bit larger than the projectiles the rifles were designed for. Daisy found that the ball bearings were cheaper than the buckshot and shot better too [steel being lighter than lead], so they increased the rifle’s bore size and started selling steel shot for ammo. - MC