Daisy BB Guns – Origin of a Holiday Tradition

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 12/17/2019 | J Dickson

[w1n1]

Here's how BB guns came to be a favorite Christmas present for youngsters, and a whole lot more. - For well over 100 years, the BB gun has been a rite of passage for many youngsters. It was a training tool for the next rite of passage, the first real gun. Sadly, many missed out due to a widespread misuse of the BB gun that prompted many parents to skip that first step and go straight to the .22 a few years later.
The infamous BB gun wars, where kids shot each other with BB guns, caused many to lose an eye and as time went on, the public no longer tolerated this and it faded from memory. Good riddance. As a training tool, the BB gun is a fine one and tailor-made for the younger would-be shooters. The problems arose when it was used without adult supervision. Young children need parental supervision and guidance, and they particularly need it in the formative years. The BB gun is the middle ground between a toy gun and a real gun and if it is to serve its purpose as a training gun, it must be treated as a real gun.

The muzzle should never be pointed at anything you do not intend to shoot. Lexan plastic wrap around safety glasses from the local hardware store will protect against BBs ricocheting off flat objects. Other children, pets and small game too small to be killed with a BB gun should be strictly off limits. Properly used, the BB gun can be a very valuable training aid. It takes a lot of practice to make a good shot and BBs are a lot cheaper than bullets. Training hand-eye coordination while teaching the muscles to hold steady is learned through repetitive motion. The BB gun is a great training aid here.

THE HISTORY OF air rifles goes back to the 1500s, but these were powerful arms meant for the battlefield. Napoleon threatened to execute foreign soldiers caught with one since the expensive weapons had no smoke and little noise. The Lewis and Clark expedition carried one, which still survives today. These early air guns had a compressed air cylinder or sphere that was pumped up by many strokes of a hand pump.
The first spring-loaded compressed air rifle made for children was produced by the Markham Manufacturing Company in 1886. In 1887, the company was renamed the Markham Air Rifle Company. This company was later bought out by Daisy. The future Daisy company was started in 1882 as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company.
Lack of an efficient sales and distribution system was killing the company. In 1888, Clarence Hamilton, the inventor of their windmill, showed the prototype of his new air rifle to the board of directors. The firm’s president, Cass Hough, fired it and delightedly exclaimed, "Boy, that's a daisy!", a popular expression of the day. The name stuck.

Originally given as a premium to farmers who bought a windmill, the BB gun took off with a life of its own. By 1895 the decision was made to drop the windmills to concentrate on air gun production and the firm was renamed Daisy Manufacturing Company.
Extremely efficient advertising and marketing soon made the name Daisy synonymous with air rifle. The guns were called BB guns because the first ones were made to use size BB lead shotgun pellets. Today’s BB guns shoot smaller plated steel shot, but the name remains unchanged.
After all, smaller plated steel shotguns just doesn’t cut it as a name. In 1914, Daisy introduced the famous Model 25 pump BB gun. This would be one of the most popular sellers for decades. The lever-action BB guns gave less trouble, though, and this led to the company concentrating on them.

CONTINUALLY INTRODUCING NEW models was an effective marketing strategy for Daisy. In the 1930s they began making signature guns endorsed by famous comic book and Hollywood stars like Buck Rogers and Buck Jones. In 1940, they brought out the famous Red Ryder model. Red Ryder was one of the most popular comic strip characters of all time.
Beginning in 1938, it captured the imagination of kids across the country and when Daisy introduced its Red Ryder BB gun, every youngster felt like they just had to have one. This is the gun immortalized by little Ralphie in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, about a young boy’s fervent desire for a BB gun for Christmas. Read the rest of Daisy bb guns.

[Bruiser 10]

Can’t remember how many BB-gun wars I took part in.

Not one eye lost!

I wonder how much of an urban legend ‘you’ll shoot your eye out’ was?

[GaryCrow]

I had several BB guns when I was a kid, good God I loved them! It’s inconceivable that today anyone with half a brain would look at them as anything other than a gift from God but leftists would vilify anything good and wholesome about America.

[OttawaFreeper]

When ads like these were commonplace and when schools were not union shops filled with habitual problem cases.

[M-cubed]

reminds me of the story my uncles told about how they both received BB guns for Christmas back in the 40’s.....They got up real early Christmas morning and had shot all the bulbs and lights off the Christmas Tree by the time the rest of the family got up!

[hardspunned]

The great thing about the Red Ryder is their indestructibility. I bought one for my 14 year old grandson when he was 7. My 6 year old grandson now uses it and his 3 year old brother will take it over in a couple it years. A new 6 month old grandson will eventually get it. One $25 BB gun that will last decades.

[Empireoftheatom48]

Got my Daisy for Christmas in 1958.

[real saxophonist]

[Sacajaweau]

We went from six shooters (cap guns) (Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy)...to 22s.

[READINABLUESTATE]

Never got shot with a BB gun, but I did catch a steel pellet from a wrist rocket in the middle of the back once....once!

I was six years old.

LOL!

[KobraKai]

Brilliant!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

“You’ll shoot your eye out kid.”

[KobraKai]

I got in some trouble with the law with a replica 9mm bb gun, as a teenager. Dumb dumb.

[SkyDancer]

Walmart has a huge stack of them for $29.95ea.

[Track9]

Don’t shoot like they used to. Bought my kid one. Can’t hit the barn.

[originalbuckeye]

When my older by 2 years brother and I were very young, we had matching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans pistol sets, with wrap around belt holsters. He graduated to a BB gun several years later. Never shot anyone’s eye out.

[Vaquero]

I was trained in safety by a retired marine. My dad. Never point it at anything you don’t wish to destroy etc. (pretty much the Jeff Cooper Rules)

Of course the other guys weren’t trained as such. First time I got a bb bruise on my ‘cheek’ (we used to go down to the creek as kids in nothing but our bathing suits and sneakers) I wasn’t going to take it. We set up ground rules. Nothing above the waist and preferably towards the rear end.
Kids have stupid fun. Glad I didn’t miss it.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I’ve been hit several times with BBs and they never broke the skin, but did leave a red mark.
As for eyes, I almost lost one to a home made arrow released by another kid, and I almost shot out an eye of a kid with a cork gun. Remember those?

[Bruiser 10]

This is starting to bring back memories.

I think we had some similar ‘rules’ about not shooting above the waist.

Those were the days.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I bought one a few years back. I had to modify the rear sight to make it hit on target. They need adjustable sights.