BB Guns & Air Rifles Thread


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 11:58 am
Our own member Red Ryder posted some of his collection of firearms and that included a classic Red Ryder Daisy BB rifle from years ago which he still has and uses! Recently I did some checking and we just ordered 4 Red Ryder 75th Anniversary lever action BB Guns. They are assembled here in the USA. The workmanship and accuracy is quite exceptional. The BB Guns are the longest continuously licensed arrangement in the USA and possibly the world. Red Ryder and Little Beaver was a very popular comic strip character in the 1940s and 50s.

The sale price of these 75th anniv. BB guns ranges from $50 to $60. The parts are either wood or metal with two exceptions. The trigger and trigger safety are high impact polymer plastic. I do think this is a way of introducing young kids and think supervision is pretty important until it is clear that our youngsters treat the BB Guns as a firearm. I actually did not tver get one of these as a young boy. On the farm I grew up on they were regarded as frivolous. When I first started using a rifle it was a Winchester Model 72 bolt action with .22 LR rounds. My earlier rifles were wood my father hand carved and I still have the first ironwood carved "gun" my father did when I wanted a toy gun or BB gun. Now I regard the purchase of one of these BB guns as a good investment in our children and their future values. I will post some images in a few days and hope our red Ryder will also!
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:31 pm
Davey, thanks for the Red Ryder BB gun backstory. Well done.

Adding a tad more flavor to the story. My RR has a BB pit on the stock from my Cowboys and Indians play days. Gun safety in those days on the farm was - don't get caught.

The BB pit is visible on the stock, toward the butt, in the gallery pic.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:15 am
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Other Weapons / Firearms / Long Guns / BB Guns & Air Rifles Thread

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 12:52 pm
Some Winchester related BB Gun stuff coming soon here.....
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:13 pm
Hey Davey,

What do you have?

I have added a Daisy Winchester Model 11 45 to my packaged air family.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:11 pm
This is the 75th Anniv. Red Ryder BB Gun
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:14 pm
2nd Photo
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:25 am
Nice RR package. I wish Daisy would have offered a no plastic parts model option. I would pay the extra for the anniversary model all metal and wood.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:28 am
1940 Daisy Red Ryder SRC
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:42 pm
The only plastic parts on the 75th is in the safe buttons. The lever is metal for certain. The fit and finish are quite good. The design is somewhat surprising though as real rifles tended to get upgraded and this design is pretty much like the one you have on the internet. The laser wood engraving is quite good. The wood is a Southeast Asian hardwood, not maple as some sale websites claim. I could not identify the wood. A 130 anniv. model comes out next year from the museum in Rogers, Arkansas and that will have an American Walnut stock and will sell out of the museum at around $100. My company was offered the wood work and I am not sure we will bid. The margins are pretty slim. We would write it off as a contribution and I know an outfit in the midwest is doing the plating for the metal work and that looks pretty good.
The Red Ryders chronograph at between 303 and 312 fps muzzle velocity. They are surprisingly accurate at 5 meters. We will be bidding the next tiger striped maple stocks but the American Walnut is a good project but our inventory of American Black Walnut does not allow me to bid this. All in all the 75th anniv. models are pretty hard to beat @ $50.00.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:49 pm
I myself think that we both ought to buy the 130 anniv. museum model and I am going to guess it could be sold for what we would pay for them. Again right around $100. The 75th anniv. model is so good we bought a number of them and they are already distributed. Everyone who took a crack at them was very impressed! I also got some tin art etc. and that was received in very good shape again from the Rogers, Arkansas museum. The Joe Murfin book DAISY, It ALL Starts Right Here..... I got also and that is quite a resource in itself.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 7:53 am
I am too "Old School" to warm up to plastic parts on firearms and air guns. Fact, I do not like ramp front sights, cross-bolt or tang safeties on levers. It is just me. I can live with them, just do not care for them.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 5:08 am
I assume you are using peep sights like Skinner or Ghost Rings on your lever action rifles? The thing I don't use on lever actions are scopes. Fine on a Model 70, but I prefer lever actions pretty much 1873 style. Sighting in yet another Red Ryder BB Gun today with our 11 year old relative. Then we are going to the range and take a few shots with probably an Ultimate Shadow .243 and a Super grade .243 Model 70 both we'll shoot at just 100 yards.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:12 am
No peeps, rings, scopes, etc. I prefer the iron sights that are original to the gun. Guns with extra holes and mods are okay for the original owner, but not for me. Don't care for slings either. If I were a hunter or competitive shooter, most if not all of my peeves would change to suit these actions.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 1:47 pm
I prefer both Iron Sights and Optics...depending on the application / target

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:52 pm
We did a field test of the Daisy 75th Anniv. Red Ryder. I will post a few photos tonight. The results to me were astonishing. I set up the "range" for the Daisy recommended distance and cardboard and stake supported so the BBs would not be bouncing back at us. My youngest grandson (6'3" and 22) was the instructor, and our shooting lad Adin is 10 years old. They BOTH own red Ryder BB Guns so I WAS THE NOVICE. They quickly switched to about 18 meters. We were shooting at regulation paper targets for 50 yard small bore. Both Alex and Adin were shooting very well. I was surprised that the lever action takes quite a crank to properly cock the BB. Smoke comes out the barrel with every shot.

I tried several shots and then read the Daisy instructions again. Then I got out a couple of Stewarts small plastic empty containers 2" in diameter. At 18 meters I could hit the target every shot off hand. I was quite impressed that this was quiet and the 1930 design air rifle that accurate! I also concluded that was pretty inexpensive fun. The nearest house from mine is 1/2 mile but I always wonder if shooting range noise doesn't get noticed. We did quite a bit of shooting at low expense and it does get you better at off hand steady shooting. I don't own a SINGLE Model 70 without a scope. They are incredibly accurate, but they do make a racket when the range is hot. I also know some modern air rifles that are more expensive are wonderfully accurate. It's just nice to see lever action history so well preserved by Daisy. It also makes me realize despite being a veteran and a veteran shooter that my BB experience is minimal. I feel it is too bad Winchester is not making a 9422 anymore.

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 4:46 pm
NRA BB Gun ranges are for 5 meters. I myself tried that range but it is pretty close. Anything under 10 meters seemed OK and we settled on something over 10 meters. Obviously this shooting was experimental as I had almost no BB Gun background and I "built" the range for the standard distance but my two shooters were used to shooting further. I still have yet to find the trajectory data on BBs with a muzzle velocity of between 303 and 315 fps. Out to somewhat further than 10 meters the drop was not all that great. The furthest I experimented with was 18 meters. The 1938 Red Ryder handled ranges at say 10 plus meters very well I thought.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:29 am
WHOA! Now this is a Daisy report I can relate to. Thanks to you and your shooting associated for this read.

Here's a tip your associates might know from their experience with the Red Ryder. Do a fuzzy estimate to the number of BBs you will probably use during a single shoot. Place the estimate in a lint-free cloth or strong paper towel. Add a few drops of gun oil or pellet gun chamber oil to the BBs. Closed the cloth or paper towel around the estimate and roll them around a bit. Use these treated BBs for smoother cycling, down-the-barrel friction, accuracy and more smoke. Don't leave oiled BBs in the gun after the shoot.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:13 am
I'll post photos of our shoot taken on Sunday this afternoon. Again I was pretty astonished the degree of accuracy and it is fun. I thought shooting at the very small empty Stewart's strawberry milk containers (empty) was more fun than the paper targets as they stay up until hit and then go down with a resounding noise and MOST of the impact hit points were pretty much in the center of the 2" diameter little plastic bottles, plastic screw cap tight on the "target". I'll try Red Ryder's technique on some BBs as I am planning on shooting again myself at the end or beginning of my "work"days. We have a new timber frame building to roof in the next two days at another camp and looking forward to seeing that job done!

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:23 pm
Here's some BB Gun photos if I can get them loaded.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:25 pm
Both my youngest grandson and his half brother (10 years old) own Red Ryder BB Guns. So really they are both veterans.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:27 pm
I was very surprised how accurate the Daisy 75 anniv. Red Ryder is!
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:31 pm
My youngest grandson is 6'2" and still the Red Ryder fits pretty good and he is an excellent shot with it. We did pretty much start shooting at 10 to 18 meters. At 5 meters the Red Ryder is incredibly easy to hit pretty much right where you want to.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:31 pm
You did good with the pics. Curious.....why are all shooters triggering with grip fingers outside the finger lever? There is firmer control and natural finger curl inside the lever.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:09 pm
They both have big hands. A Winchester 1894 they can fit. A Henry rifle, they can fit. I use my hand in the lever and almost think I'd want to add checkering for greater grip control. I fired 40 shots this afternoon on my own shoot and did not miss the target once shooting offhand. those images though are video and if I have problems with these still photos getting de-tuned, the video would be extreme. I did notice how they were gripping but the Red Ryder doesn't have much free board to slip the fingers in.
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