Airgun World – Summer 2019

g g GU O D 85

T

he BB gun was born in America and one of
the guns it spawned very early on was made
by one of the oldest airgun manufacturers in the
USA. Daisy started in 1885, and in 1939 they
designed a new gun based upon a Western era
underlever rifle. From the outset it was a best
seller and it was aimed at the junior market. In
1938 the Red Ryder cowboy character began
and was soon very popular, even spawning a TV
series in the 1950s. Daisy named their new BB
gun for the well-loved character and the gun
outlived the comic and TV versions of the Red
Ryder, which finally disappeared in the 1960s.
In fact, the Daisy BB gun has featured in
multiple films and TV shows right up to this day.
Gamo UK bring the Daisy Red Ryder to the UK
now, and for me, it was like getting hold of a
piece of airgunning history.

SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED
It’s a small gun and it has to be, so it’s useful
as a first rifle for a youngster. Saying that, an

adult can have a whole lot of fun with it. From

the get-go the shiny black metalwork is a

delight as is the reddish dye on the wood. The

Red Ryder has the famous logo pressed into

the right hand side of the stock; the cowboy

on a horse is forming the words with a throw of

his rope. Another really cool feature is the

saddle ring on the left-hand side, and it even

has a leather thong looped through it, so cool!

The only modern synthetic parts that can be

seen are the cocking lever and the trigger;

other little ones are front post sight and the

wedge ramp on the rear sight.

This BB gun holds 650 rounds of ammo,

the internal magazine has an access gate right

at the front of the thick, bull barrel on the

left-hand side. You just push in and up on the

gate, and pour in the BBs. I used Daisy BBs

from the famous 350 round cardboard tube.

INSTRUCTIONS YOU CAN’T LOSE

The list of instructions stamped into the top of

the barrel just in front of the welded-on rear

sight. As detailed here: 1. PUT ‘ON SAFE’ 2.

COCK 3. FEED B-B 4. AIM 5. TAKE ‘OFF

SAFE’ 6. FIRE. All very clear indeed.

I like the use of the safety. Low-powered BB

gun or no, all guns must be treated the same.

The safety is a manual one; it is set behind the

trigger blade, and locks it off when set on

‘safe’. Push in from the left to set to safe and

back over to the right so it shows the red band

around to button when you are ready to fire.

UNDERLEVER ACTION

With instructions noted and BBs on board I

tried the underlever. It is quite easy to operate,

not so easy that you can swing it when the gun

is in the shoulder, like a real Western

underlever, using the three fingers of the

trigger hand, but it is easier than similarly

designed plinking airguns. Just drop the gun

out of the shoulder and use the forward or

supporting hand to pull the underlever down

TOP VALUE GUNS

STILL GALLOPING ON!

Tim Finley is holding a piece of airgun history,

in the form of the Daisy Red Ryder

»

Side views of the

Red Ryder.

Airgun classics don’t have to be

high-performance superguns.