BB Guns

[Ben M.]

If you don't consider shooting empty beer bottles with a bb gun a good time we probably shouldn't hang out.

This post reminded me it's been too long since I've owned one.

[joe white]

Still have my Daisy Red Rider that I got in 3rd or 4th grade and I think it will still shoot a BB. The Crossman I got at 13 lasted darn near till I was 30 but finally gave up one day. Since then I added one of the .177 single pump air rifles with a pretty good scope and I have taken out at least 150 chipmunks over the last 14 years or so. Pretty accurate after spending some time dialing in the scope. Like others have stated, I have several pistols, rifles and shotgun but you can't beat the price of ammo and cheap thrills of knocking over some pop cans. As a kid, I always liked it when the BB went into an aluminum can and spun around inside without going through.

[Bikewer]

I went through a succession of BB guns and air rifles through my childhood and teens.
First was the iconic “Red Ryder” Daisy...Still have both eyes. Among various others were a Crossman pump-action and a “Hahn” lever-action CO2-powered model. I got a Benjamin .22 pneumatic (pump-up) in my early teens and began teaching myself the elements of marksmanship.... Position shooting and all.

I put thousands of rounds through that gun, and when I joined the army at 18 back in ‘64, I qualified “expert” with the M-14 rifle.... First centerfire rifle I’d ever fired.

Air guns have a long history... Lewis & Clark took a Girardoni air rifle with them on their expedition, not only for hunting but to over-awe the Indians....

More recently I built a .50 caliber air gun out of plumbing parts... You pump it up with a bicycle pump and I shoot marbles through the thing. It’s rather scarily powerful....

[foxo]

Shortly before the Dunblane massacre when gun laws in Scotland were far less stringent my parents bought me a BB gun replica of a silver Colt handgun. I was six years old and felt like the coolest kid ever. Was closely supervised obviously and just used it for target practice and shooting at dead seagulls on the beach (I was a very morbid kid).

[imwjl]

They were an all I wanted period as a kid but it passed. These days they're an issue in schools in our area.

[Kerbie]

Please remember... a discussion of guns is allowed. A discussion of gun control is not. Thank you.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I eventually bought a (I think) Crossman BB/pellet pistol

Which also shot those little darts - we used to play "War" with them - man those things hurt - even through jeans!

I had a Daisy Powerline 880 pump style BB/pellet rifle that was pretty cool. 10 pumps to some serious muzzle velocity!

[6L6]

Originally Posted by offkey

Daisy Red Rider. I hide it in the closet so you can't see it!

Still have my Daisy Red Ryder from 1955, but it's in plain view in my closet.

Where I live, crows have wiped out the songbird population. However, my Daisy is helping to turn that sad situation around!

LOVE my old Daisy RR!!!!

[Wengr]

When I was a teenager I had a job at a large old hotel in this area. General maintenance type of stuff. Pretty tedious until the day that I was called into the office and presented with a new Crossman co2 pistol.

Management had decided that they had a pigeon problem, and I was instructed to access empty rooms, fire escapes, or anywhere possible in order to "take care of it".

[offkey]

Whenever my Grandkids are around for any length of time the Red Rider becomes the best antidote to boredom. No video games here so we go out and plink pop cans. So far it always seems to work.

[joe white]

Plinking pop cans reminds me of a game my cousin and my next door neighbor would play with our BB guns. We would create a single row pyramid of pop cans and beer cans, stacked tight together. Sometimes 10 rows high. The goal was to shoot only one can out of the pyramid. If your shot took out two cans, you got counted for two. Knock out four with one shot and you were counted for the four etc. Once every can was knocked over, the person with the lowest number of cans won. Accuracy was your friend with this game. If you missed on your first try, you shot again until you knocked a can down or out. Going first had the advantage of trying for the single can on top. We could play this for hours under the shade of a huge oak tree. My neighbor had the most interesting BB gun that I'd ever seen. You cocked it by pressing the barrel straight down on a hard surface, 2x4 scrap was preferred. This thread has brought back so many memories as I have read through it. I have lost two of the cousins that I used to shoot BB guns with and it's been about three years since I saw my next door neighbor friend at his Mother's funeral. Time slows for noone.

[offkey]

Originally Posted by joe white

This thread has brought back so many memories as I have read through it. I have lost two of the cousins that I used to shoot BB guns with and it's been about three years since I saw my next door neighbor friend at his Mother's funeral. Time slows for noone.

Maybe this is part of what I love about my bb gun. That connection to a long lost past, free childhood days when anything seemed possible.

[TaoMaas]

I had a couple of Crosman bb guns while I was growing up. I don't know the model numbers, but the first one cocked by pushing the barrel in, then back out, if I remember right. After that, I got one that you powered up by pumping the front stock. I still have it somewhere around here.

[RoyBoy]

Originally Posted by offkey

More likely to shoot the other kids eye out.

My uncle (since deceased) had an eye put out by a BB gun as a kid. He hada glass eye (and low self esteem) his entire adult life.

[H165]

I see a few other pellet people here. AWS Diana, and a Swiss Arms somethin'-or-other. Just two weeks ago gave the Swiss to a friend's grandkids.

I found both to be very fast, fairly accurate, and pretty much useless (city kid). Turned out it was more fun owning them than actually trying to find a place to shoot them.