Your first air gun / BB gun. What happened?

[moosedog]

I was watching The Pickers" the other day and Mike was looking at a old BB gun and was saying that most boys had one when they were young and most got it taken away. Reminded me.
The Benjamin 177 shown below is an exact copy of my first one. I was about 11 when I got my first and was reeking havoc with it. Old Mrs Maston across the street, didn't like me shooting, especially at the birds.
One day while practicing in my back yard, a Detroit Cop came up to the fence, (we lived on the corner house), and motioned for me to come over to him at which time he took my pellet gun and never spoke a word. Got in the jump seat of the scout car and they drove off.
I wonder if his son still has it? LOL

 

[KLYDE]

Still have it. My father gave it to me in 1965. Winchester Mod 423. .177 caliber, rifled barrel. Accurate beyond words.

Middle of Winter, my mother would feed the birds and I'd be up at my bedroom window letting them have it. I'd have to run out and cover up the red snow so she wouldn't get on to me. God rest her soul....she would have brained me if she knew.

The good old days.

Klyde

 

[squidsix]

Crossman 1377. The one from 40 years ago.
I shot three million bluejays with it, my father beat with a stick, grounded me for life, and took away the gun. I was seven.
Dad died years ago but I think I’m still grounded.

 

[CajunBass]

I had a Daisy of some kind. It wasn't a Red Ryder, but it was in the same class. I lost it twice. Once for a week, when I fired it inside the house. I hit a metal plate my mother had hanging on the wall. Didn't hurt the plate, but it rang like the bells of St. Mary's. My mother was not amused.

She was even less amused when some time later, I shot my little sister. It was an accident I swear. I didn't know that an empty cigarette pack wouldn't stop a BB. That was my target. I didn't even know she was back there.

True to form, my sister, got up, walked calmly into the house, THEN started to scream like a banshee and wail like a calf with it's head stuck in a fence. I never got a spanking...but the tongue lashing was worse. And I lost the BB for a month.

I still hear about that every time the family gets together. And it's been more than 60 years ago.

 

[bgrafsr]

I got a Daisy Red Ryder from my Sponsor when I was Confirmed. That was late 40's or early 50's I believe. Don't know what happened to it.

 

[ContinentalOp]

Had a 1911 air gun that shot either BBs or darts. Spring-powered, IIRC. I just remembered that I had to "rack" a section of the slide. I don't think I ever shot BBs, but I had a little target set up in my bedroom and I'd shoot the darts at it. Sometimes, they'd even stick.

It's probably buried somewhere in my closet at my parents' house.

 

[walnutred]

Still have mine, a Crosman clone of the M-1 carbine. I received it when I was 6.

 

[robvious]

my late aunt gave me my first... a Crosman Powermaster 760... still have it and the box in a closet in the basement... the box does have a bunch of small holes in it... I did not cut out the targets printed on the box... just hung it on the top wire of the fence... oops... a special memory

 

[merl67]

I am a veteran of BB gun wars. To my knowledge mama or daddy never found out lol...

 

[Bob L]

My First Airgun

I bought my first airgun (IZH-46) when I was 60 so I could practice in the basement. My Dad purchased me a 12 ga when I was 8 and a 22 rifle when I was 10 because he wanted me to learn proper gun handling. My first CF Rifle was my 30-30 that I got when I turned 14. Now that I am 70, I keep thinking about buying a Red Ryder to play with in the back yard and basement. Coming full circle, I guess.

 

[mauser9]

Mine would be the Daisy Model 25 pump I got for Xmas in 1962. Yep still got it along with the Daisy screw driver it came with to take it down in two pieces. Thrilled to get it back then but a few starlings weren't amused. Think it cost around $10-11 bucks.

 

[Classic29]

Crossman 760 Pumpmaster. Dad gave it to me for kindergarten graduation in 1970. I was 5. Still have the gun, don’t have Dad though

 

[bgrafsr]

I am a veteran of BB gun wars. To my knowledge mama or daddy never found out lol...

My buddies and I would shoot at each other in our BB gun wars. Don't know how we didn't get hurt doing that.


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DN8QWVAJg[/ame]

 

[tlawler]

Had a 1911 air gun that shot either BBs or darts. Spring-powered, IIRC. I just remembered that I had to "rack" a section of the slide. I don't think I ever shot BBs, but I had a little target set up in my bedroom and I'd shoot the darts at it. Sometimes, they'd even stick.

It's probably buried somewhere in my closet at my parents' house.

I had one of those too. Dad thought the CO2 model was too powerful and I’d get myself in trouble. It was slow enough that you could actually see the BB fly. I taught myself leading technique by shooting at flying birds(crows, always crows...never a mockingbird ). I got pretty good at it and to this day I think I’m a better shot with a 1911 over other semi-autos because of it.

For an air rifle, I had a Daisy Powerline. The one with the handle just in front of the trigger guard. I borrowed one of my Dad’s cheap Tasco scopes off a .22 and got pretty good at sniping squirrels off tree limbs and power lines. I kept losing the two screws that held the handle on the pump lever and if you weren’t careful and let the handle slip, it would smash your fingers. Ah...memories

 

[Echo40]

Mine was a Daisey Red Ryder which I received as a birthday present at the age of 6 by my grandfather. I still have it to this day, so there's nothing much more to say about it.

I shot that thing on a daily basis every Summer for a good 10 years until I got older and into other things.

 

[ExRanger714]

Daisy model 25 pump.

Moved up to a Sheridan Blue Streak 5 mm (.20 cal.) in the late 50s and never looked back.

I did have some kind of Colt SAA BB gun copy that required me to be dis-armed at school one day. That thing was so realistic it would easily get you shot today.

 

[DeathGrip]

My first was a Crossman 760. I probably got it in '68. No one dared take it from me. I wore it out, Not just the seals but the whole pump. I have a bunch of air guns now but none have even come close to the shot count of that old 760.

 

[Gene L]

My first one was a Daisy Long Rifle, probably in 1954 or so. Those were in the Davy Crockett days. Plastic stock and forearm. I don't know if it was actually any longer than other Daisys. And it certainly was not a rifle. The well-off kids had pump Daisys, which were more expensive and widely believed to be more powerful, but research doesn't bear that out. The pumps held fewer BBs under spring pressure and didn't BB rattle as much.

I loved my Long Rifle and was pretty good with it. I believe it had something like The Rifleman's Code stamped on the butt. They're hard to find now and pretty costly.

 

[jrm53]

My first BB gun was a Daisy single shot you broke it down to cock it, Dad got it for me when I was in the 3rd grade. Like a stupid kid I shot at an eastern Bluebird and I never thought I would hit it but I did, I remember that I felt so bad I killed it I cried about it. I used to quail hunt and went to Nebraska for Pheasant but in the last 20 years I don't want to kill any thing its funny how you change over the years. Jeff

 

[ajgunner]

An older neighbor kid ruined it for a bunch of us---he really did shoot his eye out. Late 60's and he was the same age as my older brother. I was only 5 or 6 and distinctly remember him popping his glass eye out with a suction cup to clean it. They sued Daisy and won a bundle but he couldn't touch it until college, and only for college until he turned 21. I think he ran through the funds pretty fast but did go to college and drove a nice car.
As a result none of the direct neighbor boys were ever allowed to own BB guns after this. We would hit the woods with the dads and shoot 22's and learned to truly respect firearms and the destruction they could do real quick. Of course years later most of us were also involved with BB gun wars. We did this at night in public parks wearing thick camo clothes and head wear including goggles. One friend took a BB to his cheek and was afraid to tell his folks. He wore it as a badge of honor until he went into the military. They cut it out of his face before they would take him. He carried it in his wallet for years after that.