Red Ryder

[w5pv]

Red Ryder hasn't rode off into the sun set yet.I went and bought my six year old grandson a BB gun this morning his first.He was one proud little fellow telling me how he could go hunting for squirrels and birds now.It was one of the more enjoyable things in my life was watching him and his dad break the new gun in.We started off with the boring safety rules that he must adhere to and ended up letting him shoot the gun until he got bored.It is a little big for him now but by summer it will be just right.
The thing that made me mad this morning was the store acted like I was buying a firearm and not a BB gun they had to take my drivers license #. I asked the clerk if there was a waiting period and if I had to go through the ATF to buy a BB gun. I started to give him my CCL and tell all the info he wanted would be on it. I have heard of idiotic things like this happening but not here in hicksville. The next time I will order it off the internet.Nuff Said giving my self a good case of the RA.

[country gent]

That Red Ryder is probably one of the oldest BB guns on the market now. Many a shooter started out with one. A bunch of fond memories there. Hope your Grandson develops the same fine memories and skills with his.

[HARRYMPOPE]

Assault bb gun.they are very dangerous!

[Multigunner]

I found a red ryder in a junk shop years ago and bought it mainly as a wall hanger.
It still works but the action is very weak.
This is not the old original, but its old enough that its all steel and wood other than a nylon insert in the lever. Probably 70's re issue.

I've been meaning to try to restore it to full operation, but its a nice decorator item as is.

[buckwheatpaul]

According to Ralphie.....it (Drivers License Number) is the classic mothers block....you might put your eye out!!!!!

[HollowPoint]

My very first gun of any kind was a Daisy Red Ryder. I was in elementary school at the time. I don't know what ever happened to that little BB gun.

Last year when allergy season hit and I was trapped indoors, I got a wild-hair up my butt and bought another one just so I could have something to shoot in the back yard.

The box stated that it would shoot BBs at about 350 fps. Mine didn't even come close to that so I went about making a more powerful compression spring for it. I got the fps up to a hair over 400 fps for about a hundred shots or so; it eventually settled down to a consistent 380-something fps depending on the type of BBs I'm shooting.

Shortly after that purchase I got another wild hair so I bought a second Daisy Red Ryder. I started a project with it that entailed converting it from a Spring-Piston to a Gas-Piston Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. I got pretty far along and then I put that project on the back-burner so I could finish up a couple of other more important projects instead.

Within the last month allergy season has hit me again. So much so that I haven't even been able to get out and test my new project loads like I wanted to. While I've been trapped indoors I've had a chance to draw up a new trigger housing for this latest Daisy. I ruined the factory plastic trigger housing while trying to do a trigger job on it like I did on the first Daisy I eluded to. I'll be able to use the guts out of the factory trigger unit but the plastic housing is now useless other than to use it for taking measurements.

I think I've figured out how to make a more powerful compression spring for the piston and forego converting it to a Gas-Piston. I"m just wanting to get five-hundred fps out of it if I can. The new Spring I made up before was just a single Music-Wire of a similar diameter than the factory spring.

I'm thinking of making up a braided wire compression spring. It should make it lighter weight for quicker expansion while retaining it's strength over time.

I'll just have to wait and see.

I'm sure your six year old grandson will love his Daisy even more once he drops a few sparrows with it. I couldn't even begin to count the number of hapless bird I killed with my Daisy Red Ryder. What ever that number was, it went a long way toward getting me hooked on hunting.

HollowPoint

[Multigunner]

Replacing the barrel with a close tolerance drawn steel tube might increase velocity without increasing spring strength.

Also some airguns achieve full velocity in the first few inches of bore travel. These are sometimes fitted with short barrel liners and a dummy barrel to carry the front sights. That way no velocity is lost to friction.

With the popularity and increasingly sophisticated technology of airsoft guns, I've been considering converting one of the old stamped steel BB pistols to fire the 6mm airsoft BB. If I ever run across one of these to work on.
The one I had was a .177 version of the much older .118 caliber indoor target pistol.
Because the internals just did not have the umph to propel the heavier .177 BB these were not very successful. At best the trajectory was rainbowed and energy so low it barely knocked over cans.
If converted to 6mm airsoft the internals should give reasonable velocity to the light plastic BBs.

[snoopy]

Well, w/ a magazine capacity of over 300 bb's, I am not surprised.

[Buzzard II]

W5PV,
Count your blessings! Here in the Peoples Republik of Numb Jersey, you need a firearms I.D. and matching government issued photo I.D. to purchase a BB gun (rifle). You have to get a "Permit to Purchase a Handgun" permit from the local PD to get a BB hand gun. Too many liberals in government! Too many liberals, period!

[avogunner]

The squirrels in my back yard shiver in fear when they hear me lock and load with my Red Ryder. A Christmas present from Mrs. about 20 years ago.

[beezapilot]

I always politely ask if there are any guns for sale when I am at yard sales, and a nice lady gave me a KingAir rifle that was hers when she was little- a little rusty, but still spits them out well enough- Daisey bought the company in the '30s. A pre-RedRyder, but the same lines... and still plenty of fun.

[Animal]

I was a real cowboy with my Red Ryder. I learned how to work that lever action with one hand so that I could keep my other hand on the bicycle handlebars lol.

[jonas302]

Mine spent about 20 years lost in the woods I don't think it works anymore);

[destrux]

I still have mine that I got when I was six back in 1989.

It's the all metal model with the medallion in the stock. Well, all metal except for the muzzle cap and the trigger, but the lever is metal.

It's seen at least 12,000 rounds in it's lifetime, and it's taken down uncounted barn mice/chipmunks/barn swallows, but it still looks like new. I always took care of my stuff even when I was a kid. I plan to pass it down to my son in a few years, right now he's too young to operate it (he's two). He loves watching me shoot soda cans with it though. Every time I go down the basement he chases after me "shoot the cans daddy!" haha.

Oh man... the memories that thing brings back.

Oh yeah and they make a target model that is very similar (Daisy Avanti Champion Model 499) but it has no magazine as it's intended for youth instruction. I'd love to get one of those. http://www.daisy.com/node/106

[John in WI]

Mine spent about 20 years lost in the woods I don't think it works anymore);

As my dad used to say "See, now there's yer problem!"

[mold maker]

Some how I was gifted a daisy 25 pump as my first real gun. I had to stand it's stock on the ground and use both hands to pump the spring. I totally wore it out by shooting , No Abuse. Then I saved the coins to buy a Red Rider. Still have it and it still works although not as powerful as it once was.
Since then I bought a replacement to shoot thieves from my bird feeder. Chipmonks squirrels, black birds, and crows are no match although head shots are required with some.
Talk about memories, these cover 65 years.

[KCcactus]

My son got a Red Ryder from Santa a couple of years ago. My daughter got a pink Daisy lever last year. Hers looks the same except for the stock. They even let me try them sometimes. They're still fun.

[grizzlyadams]

i just ordered one with a pink stock for the grand daughter this year...she is too young to use it but i figured i better get it while i still can! ;)

[N4AUD]

My adult son got me a Red Ryder a few years ago for Christmas. I've had as much fun with it as I have with any of my "real" guns, maybe more. We have impromptu shooting matches sometimes. I gave my granddaughter a 60's era Daisy that I inherited from an aunt, though it's not a Red Ryder. Loads of fun!

[Garyshome]

I had one when i was a kid and shot a hole in the window of my parents garage. That hole was still there after they passed and my sister and I sold the house! Thanks for reminding me!!!

[lrdg]

I've got dad's from the 30's. Unfortunately the stock is pretty bad.

[lukeyduke]

I had one of these when I was a kid think I still do somewhere.

[tnpaw]

I had a Model 25, in the late 50's! The one with the nylon stock! Untold thousands of rounds thru it! Warp the butt stock one night sleeping to close to the campfire! Us Young'uns had many a BB battle when a bunch of us got together in the wood's! No head shots, but got my butt burned a many of a time because I left it sticking out behind the tree! Planned on getting it rebuilt when I got home from Nam but it wasn't to be! Little brother Threw it away while I was gone! I went thru three this past summer before I got a keeper! I shoot it a lot in the Den at a homemade Trap! It is good to have a Wife that Shoots also! Oh and I have a Red Ryder my Baby Daughter bought me around 25 years ago! Walnut Stock and all!