The Bastard Difference
First and foremost BB Bastard folks are Airsoft geeks. We analyze and anything and everything. So when Jay Patterson, the founder of BB Bastard, had finally pushed the limits of upgrades to his primary, he started looking at the only thing he had left to control, and that was the ammunition.
in our R&D process, opening up new avenues of advancements both for our existing products and for our new additions coming down the pipe.
We have approached a Canadian IM (injection moulding) company to form a strategic partnership to have our product manufactured exclusively in North America. New advances in IM technology and cutting edge development of recycled and bio-degradable plastics are making North American manufacture more attractive than ever.
In conjunction with our other efforts we feel that the brand has matured enough to tackle the global market and are actively seeking distribution and business partnerships in the United Kingdom, European Union, South America and Asia. We feel that having representatives close to our user bases worldwide help keep us in contact with those communities, and obviously allows for reduced costs to the end user on shipping due to stream-lined supply chain logistics. We have had great success with our “Bastard Network” of field retailers here in Canada and it has allowed us maintain our connection with the community as we have grown.
Involved and Committed
Committed to R&D
We conduct ongoing testing at Bastard Labs to improve our existing products and create products the community requires. A large part of our strategic costs and ongoing capital layouts are directed to sourcing new products. We work with our existing partners, source new technologies and materials and bring feedback from the community into the creative process. New advances in Airsoft design (the upsurge of GBBR’s for instance) also act as drivers for our Bastard Labs division. Plus, it’s just plain old fun to try and meet Airsoft engineering challe nges! We love the game and it shows in our products.
Committed to the Community
We stay involved at every level, from sponsorship of local and international events to developing open source documentation and procedures for hosting evens in a safe and responsible manner. We feel that part of our success, both past and present; is largely due to being involved with and accountable to the Airsoft community. Our most successful products have often times been “cloud sourced” via conversation about performance and design online and at the field. As organizers we also understand what a burden it can be to run a game so any help we offer can go a long way to creating a spectacular game, season and ultimately strengthen the sport.
Committed to Safety
We continuously push forward with research into protective requirements, National and International Standards. We have engaged the community and provided leadership on a few occasions with regards to what the requirements should be for Airsoft personal protective equipment and for player safety at larger and larger events. Our staffs are current Military and Fire Service members and many of our consulting players are Military, Fire Rescue, Paramedic or L.E.O. Their involvement takes both our game and PPE safety standards to a new level. We regularly purchase the updates to ANSI and ATSI standards and reference them and the public US and Canadian MIL-STD in our efforts to recommend appropriate PPE.
Design Overview
Ergonomics and Real World Package Design
Desiccant Packs in ECO BB bags – Our ECO line are air and moisture triggered, so we included a desiccant pack in every bag to fully absorb and moisture that might be introduced into the bag through regular outdoor use.
Bag size fits in standard M4 pouch – They fit well and stay put and quiet
Airtight ECO Bag - All bags are re-sealable with Zip-Lock. ECO bags are airtight so moisture is kept out. Any that gets in is handled by the dessicant pack.
Custom Designed and Manufactured
Better material distribution – Our molding process allows for a more even distribution of material with no areas of higher/lower density
Bubble control – Our cooling process allows more of our BB’s to have the bubbles that happen in lighter weight BB’s to stay centred to avoid BB wobble due to uneven weight distribution.
Double Polished – Our trademarked two stage polish process that allows us to offer a high polish, even on our ECO line, without sacrificing a consisting spherical shape and diameter
TOXICOLOGY
Some players and field owners have requested third party toxicology reports for the BB Bastard product line. The information below is designed to answer some of these important questions so that customers may have peace of mind when using BB Bastard BBs.
SVHC Testing
Attached here is the European SVHC report, which covers dangerous and banned substances most commonly found in consumer products. As you can see, BB Bastard have no detectable traces of any of these substances in its products.
ECOBB Formulation
BB Bastard offers a bio-bb alternative with a proven formula for environmentally friendly BB products that break down at a much faster rate than regular styrene BBs. ECOBBs are made from, drum roll please, corn. Its actually based on polymer extracted from the corn called PLA by a company called "Natureworks" and has passed decomposition testing for several countries (DIN V54900-1(Germany), ASTM D6400(USA), EN13432(EU), Green Pla(Japan)). This polymer combined with mineral powder (which permits fine seamless polishing) enables us to maintain virtually the same finished quality as a styrene BB. The end result is a product that in the presence of carbon dioxide and water will break down completely in about 90 days.
Since water is the primary activator, specific measures have been taken with ECOBB packaging to ensure you can still store a partially used bag of ECOBBs and use them without concern. In the past, premature decomposition would leave a greasy white trail in your feedpath - ECOBBs will not prematurely decompose if left in its original packaging. One big difference with ECOBBs, unlike past PLA formulas, ECOBBs are not particularly light sensitive and light does not trigger the decomposition process (see competitors colored or silver reflective bags for ones that are).
BB Bastard believes its cracked the quality and polish issues with this ECO product so you can be assured of the performance characteristics you've come to expect from a BB Bastard brand BB product. Pricing is also very competitive with other ECOBB products, so you're also not going to have to spend an arm and a leg shooting these BBs.
Biological activation and breakdown of this product is delayed in comparison to past BioBB products (primarily starch based ones) and in combination with a unique bag design, we're sure you can use half a bag, close it, put it away, and come back to it the next game, and there will be no breakdown. As long as the remainder of the ECOBB product is sealed in its original bag, decomposition will not be triggered!
ECOBBs are available in 3 weights this season, .20gr, .25gr, and the ever popular .28gr ! We are working on bringing ECO to our entire weight line. Thts right, we want all weights we carry in ECO and regular styrene!
ABS Styrene
It is important to understand that ABS Styrene is not Polystyrene. These are two different products with two completely different sets of properties. BB Bastard does not use polystyrene in it's BB product.
The main component of the regular label product BB Bastard BB's is Styrene. While BB Bastard offers its ECOBB line of BB's for faster degradation of BB's after they've been expended on an outdoor field, the traditional styrene based product should not be dismissed as an environmental negative option.
SIRC (The Styrene Information and Research Center) was formed to answer public and industry concerns about styrene. This information is available on-line, but key conclusions are as follows:
A report on a styrene risk assessment by the [PDF] Harvard Center for Risk Analysis also concluded that there are no concerns for the general public, either from environmental or consumer exposures to styrene.
Extensive research shows that styrene exists only briefly in the environment (edit: slow in comparison to ECOBB material); it is destroyed rapidly in the air and disappears quickly from soils and surface waters. Studies also have shown that styrene is not likely to occur in drinking water. Additional information can be found under Environmental Fate Research.
SIRC has invested many years and some $14 million in funding to develop the most thorough and accurate information about possible cancer effects resulting from styrene exposure. The results of extensive health studies of workers in styrene-related industries collectively show that exposure to styrene does not increase the risk of developing cancer or any other health effect.
For more information about Styrene, see http://www.styrene.org/faqs.html
