Thread: Red Ryder BB Gun

One of my all time favourite movies is A Christmas Story, where Ralphie dreams for weeks of getting a genuine Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun. Great movie, but I have to ask, how many of you had a (Red Ryder) BB gun? How many have bought one for your children? Have they changed over time do you think?

Do you think, in today's hyper-restrictive environment, that a BB gun is still an acceptable gift for ages 10+ (as indicated on the Bass Pro Shops website: Daisy Limited Edition Red Ryder BB Gun)

Nostalgia just wafts over me as I remember insanely covetting my best friend's BB gun, and how for ages I bugged my parents relentlessly...all for not.

So - please reminice - I'd love to relive that part of my youth through some great stories!

Mark

Originally Posted by Milton Man

Nostalgia just wafts over me as I remember insanely covetting my best friend's BB gun, and how for ages I bugged my parents relentlessly...all for not.

Mark

You'll shoot your eye out!

Personally, I don't think BB guns are kids toys. nor are catapults, knives or air guns.

Not that I think they should be banned or anything, but kids should be taught to use and treat them safely, and be responsible about them. This makes it not a toy.

If my little girl wants a pocketknife when she is older, I will give her one (if and when the wife agrees) and I will teach her to use it safely. But I will give here the very clear message that it is not a toy, and that I expect her to be responsible with it.

I got my first Red Ryder when I was five. I got to use it without direct adult supervision a few years later, maybe ten I don't remember. I do remember getting to upgrade to a Crossman airgun with a scope at thirteen (awesome Christmas present). I never put my eye out, and never shot at any living thing with it, excepting with direct permission to hunt. I still have my Daisy BB gun and it still shoots. My Crossman wore out its piston but the Daisy keeps on going, Though you can use an empty cereal box as a BB trap, I think it shoots at less than 300 FPS.

Originally Posted by Bruno

nor are catapults,

does this mean something else in europe? 'cause over here a catapult is a giant siege engine capable of laying waste to large buildings...

/very confused

Jockeys, I think he means slingshot.

Mark

Catapult, Catapult Ammo, Catapult Elastic buy Barnett Black Widow Diablo

Catapult!

Originally Posted by jockeys

does this mean something else in europe? 'cause over here a catapult is a giant siege engine capable of laying waste to large buildings...

/very confused

I'm going to guess he means slingshots...I had a really awsome wrist-rocket when I was younger. I could put a quarter inch steel ballbearing clean through one side of a tin can. Nice!

Jordan

The great strength of the red ryder is you can see the bb fly through the air and adjust your aim accordingly. The one i bought for my son was a litlle lower quality than the one i had.

Heh heh. My Red Ryder is leaning up against my closet door at the moment. It's going to be in an upcoming movie as a "Winchester" prop.

I had never owned an official Red Ryder prior to buying it three years ago, but I did get one of the other Daisy lever-action guns for Christmas when I was around ten or eleven. It was essentially the exact same gun, only without the extra doo-dads like the wood on the grip, the scroll work on the stock, etc. Those things make the gun look cool, but they're essentially useless and will only get damaged and fall apart.

I preferred that first BB gun of mine, since the lever had a smooth, sweeping action to it, whereas my Red Ryder ratchets along until you've fully ****ed it. *Cl-cl-cl-cl-CLICK!* I assume that was designed to help younger shooters operate it a little more easily...and yeah, I remember having to struggle a little bit when I first got my original, 'cause it would violently spring back to its idle, un****ed position with your hand inside the lever if you didn't manage to **** it all the way. Which hurt. But hey, that only builds character and muscle in a young lad.

I put many, many thousands of BBs through that thing. My brother got a gun just like it that same Christmas. We used to take them to the cottage and shoot at the dragon flies that hovered like helicopters just above the glassy surface of the lake water (the dock was in a calm little cove, and spared the annoying wakes speedboats would cause elsewhere). No one was ever able to hit them, though, because of the gun's low velocity and their quick reflexes. Kind of like a three-toed sloth trying to swat a housefly. Hmmph. Or, a dragon fly.

My Dad pulled off a cool shot one time, though, when he beaned a mating pair that were piggybacking along with the others. They weren't killed, just knocked apart, which was neat. Coitus interruptus at 280 fps. Guns... is there anything they can't do?

What were killed were the frogs. Oh. My. God. Though that was a hunt that could only take place every other summer or so, because the population was so thoroughly decimated. I remember saying to my Dad, "Why are there no frogs this year?"

*Sigh* "Because you killed them all, son. Remember?"

"--Oh riiiiight."

But a couple of tadpoles inevitably squirmed too far from their mucusey homestead, grew up in the wrong place and, somehow, survived long enough in that horribly unbalanced habitat to produce future generations for me to shoot. Just like that heroin cliche, it was never quite as good as the first time again (that first blitzkrieg was never equalled), yet... I still kept chasing it.

But that was fine. Later on I got an awesome, break-barrel .177 calibre, 500 fps Diana pellet rifle, which helped me destroy the squirrel population!

In summation, I advise all of you fathers, uncles, grandfathers and big brothers out there to buy the little man in your life a BB gun. I'm sure he'll turn out just fine.