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All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => BB Guns and Such => Topic started by: desertplinker on November 20, 2023, 11:35:05 AM

Title: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: desertplinker on November 20, 2023, 11:35:05 AM
I grew up out in the country. Most of the neighborhood boys had 22s. But we also had some people who didn't like that. I had a hand me down Red Ryder from my older brother, it was a blast. Back then my eyes were much better than now, I could follow the bb in flight and this particular RR shot bbs in a spiral.  amazing that it still would hit a target at distance but it was hit or miss.

 Some boys had Benjamins and Sheridans but since I had a 22 long rifle I just did not get the bug for those until about 50 years later, as some of you might know that I am 75 years old. I know I shot hundreds of bbs through that RR and yes, I pulled the trigger with my hand under the cocking lever and got smashed by it. Once was enough.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Back_Roads on November 24, 2023, 09:09:18 AM
 My first, to be followed a year later by a Crosman 760, see bottom 760, pics borrowed from the web, never looked back :)
(https://www.cowboypapawscollectibles.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_1301.jpg)
(https://www.airgunnation.com/attachments/1533085854_20981614565b61089e268349-32890942_img_3796-jpg.18558/)
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Blowpipe Sam on November 24, 2023, 09:34:24 AM
I never had a BB gun as a kid.  I started off with a pellet rifle.  Slavia 618. I got a thrown away Remington Air master about 2010 but I never shot BB’s through it.  I picked up a Legacy 1000 a couple of years ago and decided that it would be a dedicated BB shooter for garden pests.  So I guess it’s my first BB gun! ;D
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: avator on November 24, 2023, 10:46:47 AM
I have a couple of the resin (or whatever they used) stock and foream 760s I picked up here and there. I need to put some life back into them sometime. So many airguns and so little time.
This new BB Gun Gate is giving me incentive to get them out and get them going.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: lefteyeshot on November 24, 2023, 10:56:57 AM
About 9 or 10 parents gave me a Daisy model 102 I think, didn't have a forearm. When I was 12-13 I bought with grass cutting money a Daisy model 1894. In Dec. 2011 when I was 60 I bought my first pellet rifle from Walmart. A Beeman RS2 dual cal. for $139. I'm 72 now.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Matchstickshooter on November 24, 2023, 10:58:44 AM
I never had a BB gun as a kid.  I started off with a pellet rifle.  Slavia 618. I got a thrown away Remington Air master about 2010 but I never shot BB’s through it.  I picked up a Legacy 1000 a couple of years ago and decided that it would be a dedicated BB shooter for garden pests.  So I guess it’s my first BB gun! ;D

Years ago I had a lot of fun bringing a Slavia 618 back to life.
 I had to make a new piston seal for it,as a lot of "cut up nails" were embedded  in it.
 Wasn't terribly powerful, but was pretty accurate! ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Matchstickshooter on November 24, 2023, 11:03:41 AM
 I had a lever bb gun when I was about 10. Wasn't a RR, so it must have been Crosman.
 My Dad set up a string with a clothspin,between two little saplings, holding a Necco wafer.   
Hit the wafer,not the clothspin .  (course, some got eaten)!
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: jackinil on November 24, 2023, 12:35:44 PM
Model 25 at  about 9 or 10 years old. Next was a Daisy CO2 pistol,Model 200? Memory is a bit fuzzy. It had a reservoir that you filled with bbs and a lever that loaded 5 for semiauto firing. Occasionally it would malfunction and shoot the5 full auto. Fun times.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: PasadenaMike on November 24, 2023, 03:07:13 PM
Yeah I didn’t start with a BB gun as well I had a Diana break barrel (from what I was told) recently I tried bbs but I like accuracy and don’t enjoy bbs flying back at my face so off they went to a better home. My slingshot shoots bbs well :)
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: avator on November 24, 2023, 03:33:49 PM
Yeah, BBs are for beer cans and BB traps. Nothing hard or "You'll shoot your eye out, Kid".
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: ricksplace on November 25, 2023, 06:42:11 AM
Daisy 1894 spittin image when I was 10 years old. I'm 70 now. I wore that thing out. My dad set up a range in the basement for me.  I shot it A LOT.
Now I have a Crosman 74 and a 761xl with a smoothbore (somebody changed out the rifled barrel for a smoothbore). The 761xl is unusually accurate with Daisy bbs and gives .75" groups at 10 meters with 2 pumps for 330 fps. It's a keeper.
Oh yeah -I also have a Crosman 781 SSP that throws nasty fliers so I don't shoot it much.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: EdinGa on November 25, 2023, 08:42:55 AM
I found a Daisy Pal, or whatever they were called back in the 1970s, buried in the mud on a canal bank behind our house. My dad cleaned it up and made a buttstock for it and the rest is history.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: ER00z on November 25, 2023, 03:38:45 PM
I believe my first 'bb gun' was an inexpensive Marksman branded pistol, the spring type with tilting barrel to load. Bought it out of curiosity/for plinking, as an adult. Never owned a bb gun growing up (unless you count a scatter gun, Lol).
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: TorqueMaster on November 26, 2023, 07:51:08 PM
Not really mine, but I started out with a hand-me-down Daisy Buck 105, and the neighbors had an 1894 and a Marksman 1010 pistol we played with (1010 broke -junk pot metal.) 

My first was either a Daisy 840 or a 1200 pistol -- probably the 840, which inspired interest in the pistol as well.  I remember splurging for pellets at KMart for the 840 -- though a smoothbore, it increased precision dramatically, being able to hit a 2" bike bell at 25 yards or so... that was the gateway drug that led me to order receiver halves with scope rails (my early model 840 was lacking) and splurge for a 4x15 scope. 

Completely infected, many more would soon follow...Daisy 188, Crosman 1600 powermatic, 760s, 880s, Crosman 357 with all 3 barrels...Daisy 44...tried 45 yard silhouettes with some success with a Crosman 2100...and so on...     Y'all have a similar story, I'm sure, lol. 

Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: brewbear on November 26, 2023, 11:21:28 PM
I got my first one at 18, a Marlin 30-30  followed by a few more PBs...Maaany years later, just before C-19 made it's debut, I bought a Crosman 1322 because I really didn't have the time to go to a range but at the new house (in a semi-rural area) I have a very respectable 75 yards range. Enter Umarex Peacemaker, my first but not last bb gun...
To be continued....
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Novagun on November 29, 2023, 03:58:26 AM
My first BB gun was given to me about 15 years ago. It is a Condorifle. And it has the word Mulgora on it  .
All this talk of BB guns prompted me to get it out  it still shoots . You can see the little balls fly and they don't fly straight.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: avator on November 29, 2023, 06:10:13 AM
I'm really glad this new BB gun gate is getting some action. It's bringing many of us back to where we started.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: longislandhunter on November 29, 2023, 09:33:13 AM
I remember my very first BB gun like it was just yesterday.  I was around 10 years old.  My parents had just bought some vacant land up in the Catskill Mountains and during the summer we would spend every weekend camping on our property.  I spent endless hours exploring the fields and woods and that's where I developed my intense love for the outdoors.  My dad even bought me a pair of walkie talkies (they were huge)  so he could stay in contact with me as I explored.  One weekend, after setting up the tents and camping gear my dad surprised me with a large box.  I opened it and found a lever action BB rifle and a tube of BB's.  I think it was a Daisy "Spittin Image" BB rifle.  Anyway, I remember being so excited that I wanted to bust.  My dad showed me how to use the rifle and made sure I understood that I was only to use the rifle when he was with me.  I remember shortly after we were sitting in camp and I saw a blackbird land at the top of a tree near our tents.  I asked my dad if I could shoot it and he said "sure".  My mom overheard and told my dad not to let me shoot any birds but my dad  told me to go ahead.  I took aim, fired and the blackbird fell to the ground like a sack of nickels.  My mom started yelling at my dad, although I must admit I was so thrilled with my first harvest that I barely took notice.  After that I was told by my dad that I was not to shoot any more animals and I complied.  Years later my dad told me that the only reason he let me shoot at the blackbird was because he didn't think there was any way in heck that I was going to actually hit the bird and that he felt really bad when I did hit it.  As I got older I was able to explore our woods and fields by myself with the rifle, sticking to my pledge not to shoot at any live animals.  Those days are some of my fondest memories of my youth and they also instilled in me the love that I have for the outdoors, hunting, fishing and especially for our land.  Today my mom and dad are gone and I am the owner of the land, which I lovingly take care of and hunt and fish on every year.  Even though so many years have passed since I ripped open that box containing my "spittin image" BB gun every single time I go upstate and am on our land those memories come flooding back to me and I smile.   I now prowl those fields and woods during hunting season with modern day PB rifles but those days exploring with my beloved BB gun were the best  :)  I don't know whatever happened to my BB rifle, for the life of me I can't remember.  I'm sure it was stored away in the attic of my parents home but my searches always failed to locate it.  The house was sold long ago so I cannot continue my search, but that rifle will always live in my memories  :)

Jeff
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: desertplinker on November 29, 2023, 01:25:00 PM
Jeff, what a great memory and thank you for sharing your personal story. That is just the kind of story I was hoping people would share. By the way, they have an adult version of the Daisy Red Ryder, same air rifle just a longer stock for us grown-ups. I see one in your future.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: longislandhunter on November 29, 2023, 02:31:57 PM
Steve, I do in fact plan on buying a replacement in the very near future  and even though I have plenty of air rifles to pass on to my granddaughter when she's old enough I have a feeling that it will be the first BB gun I introduce her to  :)

Jeff
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: desertplinker on November 29, 2023, 03:45:44 PM
Steve, I do in fact plan on buying a replacement in the very near future  and even though I have plenty of air rifles to pass on to my granddaughter when she's old enough I have a feeling that it will be the first BB gun I introduce her to  :)

Jeff

buy a Daisy heritage kit. Just a suggestion but you get two Red Ryders, one adult stock and one regular stock. I normally don't enable but.....
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: longislandhunter on November 29, 2023, 04:33:40 PM
The Red Ryders really don't interest me much but thanks for the suggestion.   I really just want to have the exact same Daisy Model 1864 that my dad gave me all those years ago.  I've been looking online and it seems they are hard to find and the ones I can find are rather pricey........  but sooner or later I'll spring for one  :)

Jeff
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: desertplinker on November 29, 2023, 05:19:45 PM
I'm really glad this new BB gun gate is getting some action. It's bringing many of us back to where we started.

AMEN Bill
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: avator on November 30, 2023, 07:36:34 AM
Steve...
It would be great to see some of our younger members get involved. The ones that are now experiencing our memories live.
We are an open forum with no minimum age limit.
That said, we should also be mindful of that fact when we are posting.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: bantam5s on December 02, 2023, 10:03:00 PM
For me anything that's intended to shoot pellets only gets pellets, my personal definition of a BB gun is something that's only intended to fire BB's.

With that in mind, my dad bought me a Crosman 66 at age 7 but my 1st bb gun as per my definition would be the red Ryder I bought with my 11th or 12th birthday money.
It would have been one of the last years they were made in the US I believe because it didn't say China on it, I don't think I'd be willing to say the Chinese made examples are in some way inferior but I've owned or used at least 6 since and none were as accurate as that one.
With my 1st red Ryder I could shoot honey bee's ( probably shouldn't have been shooting them ) and other similar sized bugs off dandelions all day long at 5-7yds.
Every other red Ryder I had or bought as gifts and tested first was a perfectly adequate shooter but not as accurate as that 1st.
Maybe the BB's were just more consistent then or it was the particular BB's I was using I don't know.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: buellm2 on December 03, 2023, 02:03:52 AM
Here's my first BB gun, Daisy 1894.  I got it back in the 1950s when I was 5.  My father had to cock it for me.   It's in pretty rough shape and the barrel is missing.   I've seen the barrel somewhere in my piles of stuff, gotta locate it.   It still appears to be mechanically functional after 100,000 shots.  I loved the peep sights.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Pelle on December 03, 2023, 05:36:26 PM
 My brothers and I shared two different lever Daisys and then two of us each got a 760. My recently passed brothers one is still around, I heard and another brother says he might have the Daisys or one.
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Iguana15 on December 10, 2023, 12:38:26 AM
Try a Sheridan perhaps
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: sekiar on December 10, 2023, 01:10:00 AM
In about 1947 or so I received a new Daisy model 25 for my birthday.  I shot it almost daily and living on a farm I had plenty of targets to chose from.  Charles
Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: hallwoo on December 10, 2023, 04:18:08 AM
always a Red Ryder on Craigslist for sale

got two for $35, old vintage versions with metal lever

holds 650 shots

use a BB catching alcohol bottle so U can recycle the BBs, the HDPE ( hi-density  polyethylene ) mat'l keeps the BBs from shooting out  even at 15 ft

Walmart  has a  BARRA  lever action model 1866 golden boy for $69  800 fps if U need more power than the 350 fps RR
holds 50 BBs






Title: Re: ok, I will start this off, first bb gun
Post by: Methuselah on March 29, 2024, 09:02:25 PM
I remember my very first BB gun like it was just yesterday.  I was around 10 years old.  My parents had just bought some vacant land up in the Catskill Mountains and during the summer we would spend every weekend camping on our property.  I spent endless hours exploring the fields and woods and that's where I developed my intense love for the outdoors.  My dad even bought me a pair of walkie talkies (they were huge)  so he could stay in contact with me as I explored.  One weekend, after setting up the tents and camping gear my dad surprised me with a large box.  I opened it and found a lever action BB rifle and a tube of BB's.  I think it was a Daisy "Spittin Image" BB rifle.  Anyway, I remember being so excited that I wanted to bust.  My dad showed me how to use the rifle and made sure I understood that I was only to use the rifle when he was with me.  I remember shortly after we were sitting in camp and I saw a blackbird land at the top of a tree near our tents.  I asked my dad if I could shoot it and he said "sure".  My mom overheard and told my dad not to let me shoot any birds but my dad  told me to go ahead.  I took aim, fired and the blackbird fell to the ground like a sack of nickels.  My mom started yelling at my dad, although I must admit I was so thrilled with my first harvest that I barely took notice.  After that I was told by my dad that I was not to shoot any more animals and I complied.  Years later my dad told me that the only reason he let me shoot at the blackbird was because he didn't think there was any way in heck that I was going to actually hit the bird and that he felt really bad when I did hit it.  As I got older I was able to explore our woods and fields by myself with the rifle, sticking to my pledge not to shoot at any live animals.  Those days are some of my fondest memories of my youth and they also instilled in me the love that I have for the outdoors, hunting, fishing and especially for our land.  Today my mom and dad are gone and I am the owner of the land, which I lovingly take care of and hunt and fish on every year.  Even though so many years have passed since I ripped open that box containing my "spittin image" BB gun every single time I go upstate and am on our land those memories come flooding back to me and I smile.   I now prowl those fields and woods during hunting season with modern day PB rifles but those days exploring with my beloved BB gun were the best  :)  I don't know whatever happened to my BB rifle, for the life of me I can't remember.  I'm sure it was stored away in the attic of my parents home but my searches always failed to locate it.  The house was sold long ago so I cannot continue my search, but that rifle will always live in my memories  :)

Jeff

Wow what a great story...