What are your field FPS limits?
Our field limit is 350FPS with either a .20g or .25g BB. (Check below for full field rules)
What is FPS?
FPS is an initialism that stands for Feet Per Second. This is the measurment most guns are rated to show power and what most fields use to judge how safe a particular airsoft gun is to shoot at other players in the USA. Most other countries use MPS, or Meters Per Second, but here we will be talking about FPS.
In order to find the FPS of any specific airsoft gun, you must shoot through a chronograph or chrono. Chronos use 2 infrared light gates to read how long it takes the BB to break through both gates. Once the BB makes it through both light gates, the chrono can calculate the speed of the BB in feet per second. in order to get the best readings, FPS is measured at the muzzle of the airsoft gun. BBs can decelerate very quickly after exiting the barrel, so its best to get readings from as close to the muzzle as possible.
Most guns are rated with .20g BBs. So, if your airsoft gun came in a stylish box and has a number printed on it like "400FPS," that is the rating the manufacturer suggests the gun should shoot at with .20g BBs.
Confusingly, some manufacturers print FPS ratings using .12g BBs, a lighter weight BB, in order to boost these numbers and make their aisoft guns more attractive to new players. A gun shooting 400FPS with .20g BBs will shoot upwards of 480FPS with .12g BBs even though it would perform effectively worse.
Inversally, a gun rated for 400FPS with .20g BBs will shoot slower with heavier BBs. So an airsoft gun shooting at 400FPS with .20g BBs will shoot around 350FPS with .25g BBs.
However, the point here is, whenever you hear someone say what FPS their gun shoots, or if someone uses an FPS rating in their text, that FPS rating is usually found with a .20g BB.
Do you have any required paperwork?
Yes we do. For new members, we require you to fill out a waiver and sign a field rules document to make sure you've read and understood the field rules. We will also have you fill out a membership confirmation form to receive a member number for document organization.
for conveniance, we have included links below to download PDF files of the waiver and field rules documents.
If you are under 18 years of age and are not going to be dropped off by a parent or guardian, you must bring the waiver form complete with your parents signiture and a photocopied image of said parents identification on a seperate sheet of paper with a note written and signed by your parent giving you express permmission to play at Building 52. Failure to show up with complete documentation will result in a delay of your membership completion. Those over the age of 18 can fill out the documentation and must present their ID at the registration desk.
What are your rules on eye protection?
The bare minimum is authorized full seal goggles with head or helmet retention straps. Children under 18 are required to wear full face and ear protection. Metal mesh or perforated steel for eye protection is prohibited unless paired with glasses to keep shattered bits of BBs from entering your eyes.
This is a game with rigorous movement and where you will be shot from all sides and can also catch ricochets from all angles. A simple pair of shooting glasses is simply not enough.
As a warning to players who do not wear masks, it doesn't take much to crack and chip teeth from BB hits. The staff at Building 52 recommend to always use full face protection.
What are your rules on BBs?
You may bring your own BBs of just about any type you want. However, since this is a CQB field with frangible props, we must ask you not to bring any extremely hard BBs like metal, ceramic, or silica gel (glass) types. We will be chronoing with .20g or .25g BBs. If you do not have BBs that light, we will provide BBs for chronoing.
What type of BBs will work best for me?
If you are new, finding out that there are a bunch more types of BBs than just .12g or .20g can be a bit daunting and can make choosing a BB to buy a little hard. Each BB has its use and personal preferance can come into your decision a lot. Ultimately though, its pretty simple as each range of BBs I'll be talking about are for specific classes of airsoft guns.
•.12g BBs are, in our opinion, nearly useless. They are marketed for the lowest power airsoft guns on the market and absolutely should not be used in any airsoft gun shooting more thn 200FPS. At any rate faster than that, .20g BBs will increase the performance of your gun.
•.20g BBs are for airsoft guns rated for spitting distance up to 400FPS. If any BB is fired much faster than 400FPS, they can fly erratically and end up being very innacurate. .20g BBS are great for beginners and for indoor games where the shooting lanes and engagement distances are no longer than 100 feet. .23g or .25g BBs can increase accuracy and range, but the performance gains are usually unnoticeable for most new players at close range. Once you are familiar with your airsoft gun, you can step up your preferred weight and be able to appreciate the performance gains.
•.23g BBs are an OK step up to the higher weight classes, but they are close enough to .25g BBs that you sould just step up to those. .23g BBs are good for people with less than stellar guns who's hop ups can't quite put enough back spin on .25g BBs to use those properly. They are also OK for people who dont want to lose too much FPS when stepping up in weight. They want some of the performce of a heavy BBs, but want to keep some of the muzzle to target speed of the lighter weight BBs. they are good for guns shooting between 250FPS to 430FPS.
•.25g BBs are pretty much the outdoor standard. If your gun can put enough backspin on them and shoot them to a good distance, even if they travel slowly, we recommend using .25g BBs. Heavier BBs keep backspin longer and decelerate slower, thus they stay in the air longer equating to better range. To a point, the hevier you go, the more range you can get. .25g BBs are good for airsoft guns shooting between 250FPS to 450FPS.
•.28g BBs are the beginning of the Designated Marksman Rifle or DMR class range of BBs. Good for people who are sticklers for accuracy and range, but want BBs that are cheap enough where shooting them a lot wont hurt the wallet too bad. They are good for airsoft guns shooting from 330FPS to 480FPS.
•.30g BBs are the standard for DMR BBs. Mostly because its a nice round number, but most people report rediculous ranges with BBs this heavy. Good for guns that shoot between 350FPS to 500FPS. If you airsoft gun can properly backspin BBs this heavy, I would absolutely recommend trying them out.
•.32g BBs are the top end for DMR class BBs. Recommended for airsoft guns shooting between 370FPS to 520FPS. Good for a top tier airsoft gun you would take to milsim events.
•.36g and heavier BBs are the Sniper Rifle class of BBs. They are good for airsoft guns shooting at 500FPS to the rare few who can get their guns shooting close to 800FPS. Made mostly for bolt action airsoft rifles, you can use them in your AEG sniper rifle too, but you can run into magazine feeding issues with BBs this heavy, so tune well.
•BIO BBs are simply Biodegradable versions of standard BBs. Most new brands of high quality Bio BBs perform just as well as their standard counterparts. Bio BBs are generally required for most outdoor fields, but can be usefull for plinking in your backyard too as they dissapear in around 6 months, in rain/dry cycles and changing seasons. You should take care of your Bio BBs by adding anti oxygen packets (those little packets that say "Do Not Eat" that come with everything except Bio BBs) to your package of Bio BBs. This will help keep them fresh, as tainted Bio BBs can leave streaks of starches in the bore of your barrel that will degrade accuracy and backspin from the hop up.
How many people are there tonight?
We get calls from people wondering how many people are currently at the field to determin if they want to go. It doesnt help that we get several of these calls on any given day. Please, don't worry about the ammount of people that are currently here because there would be more if you come in. The staff here at B52 are not robots, we will work with you to make sure every visit to Building 52 will be worth your time and money.
