# What was your childhood bb/pellet gun?



## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

My brother and I both had crosman 760 pumpmasters. With a max of 10 pumps they fired a BB at an advertised velocity of 625 fps. Although I have watched YouTube videos that show that they are closer to 580 fps or so when fired over a chronograph. Those things were poison on sparrows, chipmunks and such. I even killed a squirrel with mine once, but they seemed a little underpowered for that job. I had friends who had red rider guns, so I got to play around with those old classics as well. The ad shows them doing 350 fps, but real world chrono results shows them doing closer to 280. We killed birds with them but you definitely had to be close. My pumpmaster has lung since gave up the ghost and I am toying with the idea of picking up a Daisy 880 powerline or something else to play around with. I have a great starling spot close to home!


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Mine was a Benjamin Sheridan .177 pellet gun. My grandma had some grapevines and fruit trees around her house and I spent many days “helping” grandma rid the local area of avian thieves!


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

Red Rider lever action spring loaded. Still have it.

Didn't have a compass in the stock though.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

My dad wouldn't purchase a BB gun for me, he told me that I had a 30-06 and a 22 that I didn't need one. So I scrounged the area that we were living in at the time for pop bottles. At the time you got 3 cents for a 12 oz bottle and a nickle for a quart bottle.

Once I had enough money (I thought) I headed down to the local Western Auto to get me one. Once there I found that I couldn't afford a Red Rider so I bought a plastic stock Western to Auto model.

After that I was a terror along the Mexico border hunting snakes and lizards with my friends. For target practice we would set up a set of plastic army men and take turns shooting them.

When that BB gun bit the dust you could place your thumb over the barrel and hardy even notice it when the BB hit it when you pulled the trigger. 

I very seldom purchased BB's in the tubes, it was always in cartons like pint milk jugs. And man did we go through a lot of those cartons. 

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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Crosman 788 BB Scout....A lot of birds and squirrels fell victim to that gun.


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## BGD (Mar 23, 2018)

Don’t know make or model of mine. It was one my dad got me that was made to look like a replica of an old Winchester lever action rifle. I shot a lot of bb’s through that thing. Rule at my house was you could only shoot robins if they were in the raspberry patch. Barn swallows, pigeons, and starlings were all free game with no restrictions. Good times!


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Mine was a Benjamin .22 but I don’t recall offhand what model.

I actually still have it which amazes me.

I can’t believe how many rats I shot on the feed lot with that thing over the years.

Wow. This is actually giving me some flashbacks that I had completely forgotten yet loved.

One of our equipment barns overlooked the feed lot and it had a loft with a big open window /door to hoist stuff up into the loft.

I would lay down on a pile of bailing twine and burlap sacks and pretend I was a sniper and just wait for the rats and squirrels to come running up for a quick meal.

Ohhh and the pigeons…. I must’ve killed hundreds upon hundreds of pigeons that were pilfering grain.

Well I’ll go to sleep now with a fond memory.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Sheridan .22cal. Let my brother "borrow" it when I was in my 30s and never saw it again. I'm sure it wound up in a Pon Shop. His place was broken into and a few weapons were stolen. I now have a ?? brand single **** .177 that says it spits pellets out at 1200fps. It does great minimizing the collared doves around the place.


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

Daisy model 25 for my 8th Birthday.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Anybody remember Rusty Shackleford on here?

he used to shoot ECDs with his air guns and had piles of them regularly


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## Irish Lad (Jun 3, 2008)

Sheridan 5mm (.20 cal). Long before Benjamin bought them. Good times and memories with it.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

We used to have an old standard issue Daisy. It put in significant starling duty but wore out and I think the folks chucked it.


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

My parents wouldn't let me have a BB gun as a kid. They didn't want me shooting birds out of the neighbors trees (smart parents, because that's all I wanted to do). I finally bought one for myself when I was in my mid-thirties. I bought a Daisy Powerline 880. It was a great BB gun--very accurate with pellets and respectable with BBs. Unfortunately, I misplaced it this summer.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

I too, like AF CYN, was not allowed a bb gun for the same exact reasons.
A few years ago I bought a RWS Diana in .22 caliber with a very nice matching scope.
It turns pigeons and ECD’s in to puff balls and is great summertime backyard retriever training.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I'd switch to head shots on those euros, those things are good eating. I have no idea how pigeons taste, but with the number around my home I am tempted to find out.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Daisy Pump, 1956-57.


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

AF CYN said:


> My parents wouldn't let me have a BB gun as a kid. They didn't want me shooting birds out of the neighbors trees (smart parents, because that's all I wanted to do).


 In the early 70's it was a whole different era. Centerville was a small town lol. We had a peach orchard and my parents counted on the money from the crop. My dad would buy me Winchester 22 birdshot and have me kill the robins in the orchard so they couldn't peck holes in the peaches. I can't imagine turning a 10 year old kid loose to kill birds in the yard nowadays. Neighbors would be freaking out lol.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Bax* said:


> Anybody remember Rusty Shackleford on here?
> 
> he used to shoot ECDs with his air guns and had piles of them regularly


I remember Rusty and that he was an airgun enthusiast


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

My dad felt BB guns were too dangerous so he bought me a double barrel .410. His way of thinking was kids dont feel a BB gun is all that dangerous so they are fairly careless with its use. On the other hand a kid knows a shotgun is dangerous and treats it much more respectfully than he would a "simple bb gun", therefore its a "safer" gun.

I get his logic... it makes sense to me as an adult... but I as a kid, I was ecstatic to ask for a bb gun and get a full blown shotgun LMAO.

-DallanC


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

DallanC said:


> My dad felt BB guns were too dangerous so he bought me a double barrel .410. His way of thinking was kids dont feel a BB gun is all that dangerous so they are fairly careless with its use. On the other hand a kid knows a shotgun is dangerous and treats it much more respectfully than he would a "simple bb gun", therefore its a "safer" gun.
> 
> I get his logic... it makes sense to me as an adult... but I as a kid, I was ecstatic to ask for a bb gun and get a full blown shotgun LMAO.
> 
> -DallanC


Well since me and my friends used to have BB gun wars and intentionally shoot each other with BB guns I would have to say your dad is probably right.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Here is a question I have had since this thread was posted. 

What BB/pellet gun works best when you are harvesting a batch of birds for sparrow surprise? 

If you have "too much gun" you mess up what meat is there. Not enough gun and they flitter off, plus you need some knockdown power if you want to take on starlings and ECDs.


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## hondodawg (Mar 13, 2013)

IIRC mine was a Crosman, We would roll up duct tape like tiny joints and shoot them at each other as kids. The Sheridan worked the best but that was too much money. I may or may not have accidentally have shot out the middle Payne of glass in a neighbors sliding door as a kid. I’ve been looking for a quality pellet rifle. Something that doesn’t make that much sound to not alert neighbors. 


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Catherder said:


> Here is a question I have had since this thread was posted.
> 
> What BB/pellet gun works best when you are harvesting a batch of birds for sparrow surprise?
> 
> If you have "too much gun" you mess up what meat is there. Not enough gun and they flitter off, plus you need some knockdown power if you want to take on starlings and ECDs.


I doubt any .177 air rifle will be overly destructive on meat.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

The key thing to understand about hunting birds with pellet rifles is the same thing about hunting cottontail with a high power rifle.

And that is only take head shots. No waisted meat, and the bird doesn't get away wounded. 

You might miss a few but you will become a better shot.

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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Critter said:


> The key thing to understand about hunting birds with pellet rifles is the same thing about hunting cottontail with a high power rifle.
> 
> And that is only take head shots. No waisted meat, and the bird doesn't get away wounded.
> 
> ...



All true, but those sparrow heads are awfully small....................


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Catherder said:


> All true, but those sparrow heads are awfully small....................


Remember the old saying:

Aim small, miss small.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Catherder said:


> All true, but those sparrow heads are awfully small....................


 It's not like they won't be back if you miss!
I only wish I could get away with it in my neighborhood.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I keep a BB gun in the food pantry by my back door. I have no houses behind me, just acres of fields. The black birds are always getting in the dog food bowls (as my 2 labs watch them do so) and steal their food. I shoot birds on the lawn, the fence and off the top of my shed. My wife thinks I'm crazy! Hey! hunting season year round.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I briefly had a BB gun when I was a kid....uh as a matter of fact I was only a kid briefly...anyway, I shot at a rabbit and the BB ricocheted off a rock and hit a window. My dad took the BB gun away and burnt it in the furnace....uh after I took out the clinkers and filled the hopper full of coal...fed the cows and pigs...chickens..shoveled snow and spread manure on the corn field after making my lunch for school.

Geeze, those were the days.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

We always lived in town growing up so Dad wouldn't let me have one. I had a couple of friends that had one, so I got to shoot some as a kid.
I bought one at a family sale 30+ years ago that a judge made their grandpa sell all his guns when he did something really stupid. I got there towards the end and there wasn't much left.
There was a Benjamin .22 from the 30's. In great condition. Paid $30 for it. Still shooting it. I have taken a whole lot of the EC doves with it.
I also got a .30 cal Remington semi auto from the 30's that was in perfect condition for $200. They threw in 10 boxes of ammo from the 30's with it. It's a pretty gun.
I've never have shot it.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

2full said:


> ..................................................
> I also got a .30 cal Remington semi auto from the 30's that was in perfect condition for $200. They threw in 10 boxes of ammo from the 30's with it. It's a pretty gun.
> I've never have shot it.


I have a number of 30 Remington semi-autos and pumps....reload for them too.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Benjamin .177 I got for Christmas in 1991--Best Christmas EVER! I still have it and here is a pic of the old girl! She still shoots well! My dad took the saw to the stock because it was a little long for me. We had to weld the pump arm back together because of over use. Those two carved marks on the stock were made with a kitchen knife to celebrate by first kills (sparrow and starling). My dad caught me sawing away on that new gun and quickly corrected my behavior! So no more notches were carved but I killed hundreds upon hundreds of sparrows/starlings with that thing on the family farm and along the river when I was a kid. 

We used to play BB gun wars a bunch, one pump rule (sometimes!). One such BB gun war battle I was on the top of the haystack in my fort and my second cousin was way out in the field shooting up at me. I called time out but he kept laughing and shooting and it kinda pissed me off. I gave the old benjamin a few pumps and aimed a foot over his head and took the shot. I dropped him like I hit him with a 30-06! He got up after a minute screaming holding his mouth with blood everywhere. I shot in in the bottom limp and the pellet was buried deep! We tried to dig it our with our swiss army knives but couldn't get it and he was hurting so we had to fess up. He had to have the DR remove it and I believe still has the scar. Man, I got my butt kicked for that one and lucky I didn't hit him in the eye! So many BB gun stories--I was hell on wheels!


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## bthewilde (Feb 8, 2018)

Daisy Quicksilver - circa 1994. My mother argued that I was too young, but I loved that gun and used it so much I blew the pneumonic tube out. After that, I got a Daisy Powerline that I still have! We lived on the edge of the valley in Las Vegas and many a lizard met their demise at my 6 y/o hands.


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## BearLakeFishGuy (Apr 15, 2013)

I had the Crossman 760 pump master. After 40 years, I still have it. I've had to rebuild the pressure chamber twice in 40 years and it still shoots well. Parts are readily available and to have a BB gun that has shot tens of thousands of BB's is remarkable to me.
Scott


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I was just thinking my Red Ryder is an assault weapon. It holds something like 600 rounds…


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Never had one as a kid, my dad didn't think I should have one, however he did buy me a .22 rifle when I was 8.


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