December 14, 2017 2 min read

Yes Christmas is here and many of us like to return to childhood memories of this wonderful time of the year.   Many of us can relate to a Christmas story (1983);  the movie about Ralphie who wanted an official red Ryder Carbine Action two hundred shot range model air rifle and his mom said no you’ll shoot your eye out.  Red Ryder, the name of a popular comic strip cowboy, was branded across the wood stock  of the Daisy airgun ensuring Daisy would be synonymous with BB airguns.

My Grandfather, who owned a general store, let me shoot his Red Ryder which he got in order to scare pests away.  It was manufactured about the 2nd year of production and actually had a higher velocity then any of the Daisys I ever had.  I still have this B.B. gun.  Daisy, over the years, has manufactured many different models.  The lever model was made in more varieties than any others.  The pump model 25 was very popular since it’s beginnings in 1913 and has been resurrected a few times in various forms.  The Red Ryder was commemorated with a 50th anniversary model in 1989.  One year under the Christmas Tree I became Ralphie only my B.B. Gun was a target special B.B. rifle with competition model peep sight.  I still have this model today.

Daisy, in 1961, started production on their “spitting Image” B.B. guns.  The first one was a Winchester type 1894 lever B.B. gun following the resurgence of interest in the cowboy.  The model 572 field master BB Gun was the 2nd in the spitting image series.  A close copy of the Remington Pump 22 Rifle,  Daisy also resurrected the S/S BB Rifle calling it a model 2.  It wasn’t successful, but is very collectable.  

Daisy also made BB pistols.  My brother had a bullseye target pistol.  It had a thumb swell just like a 22 pistol and it cocked by pulling back the slide.

My grandparents would go to Florida every winter and bring me back Hubley cap guns.  Then one year for Christmas I scored a Daisy Double Holster set of cap guns.  The holster was a black and gold pressed leather with scalloped design.  The Holster survived but the guns didn’t survive my son.

While I was rereading my diatribe we just received one of the largest Daisy collections that I’ve seen. We will start selling it in February or March

So I started digging up old ads and catalogues.  The comic book back covers brought back great memories.  As I mentioned before one of the gifts of aging is the memories give you rose coloured glasses sometimes.  

Merry Christmas and don’t “shoot your eye out”

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