[Blackthorne]

Since we are being specifically mentioned in this thread I think its appropriate for us to speak to the question stated on testing and quality control.

We do manufacture our BBs overseas. Its simply not viable in terms of price to have them made here. Its not that its technically impossible, and the BB would be much higher quality in terms of quality, but labor costs, material costs and business overhead would make them quite expensive.

That leaves us with Southeast Asian manufacturing and the risks that are inherent in any product from those regions. Questionable material content and quality control.

This is a list (non-exhaustive) of what we do to mitigate these problems (I can't speak for other manufacturers here)

1 - Manufacturer Relationship - We have been dealing with the same manufacturer since day one. This allows us to have a greater degree of latitude when pushing back on quality issues and experimenting on new ideas and designs.

2 - FTIR Testing - We get our batches (particularly the ECO line) tested via Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy at the University of Toronto to make sure that there we are getting EXACTLY what we ordered. We deal with government entities and have to be sure when we say its biodegradable it actually is, its the biodegradable we actually want, and that the regular product doesn't have lead or dead baby parts in it.

3 - Batch Testing - We test over much larger samples than other manufacturers. Most sample in a range of 30-500 BBs when they do bother to test. We perform third party testing across a minimum of 1000 rounds per sample, and have done tests across 10,000 rounds. When we say our BBs are +/- 0.01, its over a much larger sample. Hitting a quality goal is easy over 5 BBs. Doing across large samples is much harder to do.

4 - Shipping Controls - We have a specific series of packaging measures that reduce shipping damage to our products, specifically (but not limited to) crush and friction damage.

5 - New Serialize Bags, Same Old Warranty - We can track performance across all our orders now via the serialization of our products, and we always stand by our warranty. If you are not 100% satisfied your money back.

While we believe our product will work properly and to a high standard of performance in more guns than any other manufacturer, there are some guns that work better on other brands and that just the way it is. We will always try to do better and strive to make that list as small as possible.

This isn't meant as an ad. Its just filling in the blanks for the folks that wondered how things are done, at least at BB Bastard.