Reeder Custom Guns - Did you start with one?

I started at about age 4 with a gold colored Daisy BB gun. I had to pinch it between my legs and struggled greatly to cock the lever. In the first 5 minutes I learned about the “bear trap” concern of making the lever snap on you, seemingly with enough force you could never again effectively pick your nose! But the hours of enjoyment and backyard adventures I had. Later, perhaps 1969, I got a M95 version with wood buttstock and swoopy plastic forend. I still have two of them! I could see the BB in bright light. It taught me about trajectory and windage. Skills I still use. A fantastic experience.

There were Daisy guys, Crossman, (first pump up model I experienced as 760 and 140 models), and the odd Sheridan or Benjamin enthusiast. In the shootouts the pneumatic boys were always cautioned about minimal number of “pumps” allowed. I never trusted those guys, another lifelong lesson! I’m still a lover of air-guns and have at least a couple dozen varied over a huge span of types, makes, calibers, and styles.

I actually owned both the models in this add. Not particularly good designs but immeasurable satisfaction with their appearance looking like the arms I truly desired. It was around 1972-74? The lady’s hairstyle is telling in this add. Lol

Where did you come from?!

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Learned to shoot with it. Later I got a #25. Fastest repeater around at the time! I learned to reload fast by putting a bunch of BB's in my mouth and "blowing" them into the magazine. I am sure the slobber didn't help anything but I could reload fast.

I bought a modern-made #25 about 8 years ago. Around $40. I still use it.

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My cousin Sid and I had an older Daisy, all stainless steel. My first rifle was a target Mossberg .22 with a peep sight, and a full stock from the 1940's, probably a training rifle left over from WWII.

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Shooting team I remember, short indoor range. I only saw pictures. They used older Winchester or Remington .22 target models with the heavy duty sling mounts and hand holds.

The local 4-H, I think, has air gun, .22, and Skeet training for young folks.

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Those Daisy's were remarkable, real metal with deep bluing.

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Wasn’t long after that I got a Crossman pump pistol. I had one in .177 and one in .22 cal.

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My dad had one, I loved it. I now have one just like it in need of a rebuild. What a nostalgic memory!

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Now a days. It’s a real hammer on squirrels out to 50 yards. Very accurate but a real learning experience to shoot! It recoils in two dimensions , first forward then in reverse. To shoot it accurately you have to let it recoil on its own off a good large sand bag with the least amount of contact from the shooter!
My old Diana spring piston was no where as finicky and every bit as accurate, but nowhere near as powerful. The Benjamin wears an Hawke scope. The nitro piston and springers are hard on scopes do to the two way recoil! have a Diana co2 pistol in .177 that I scoped it. It will take a Squirrel out to 20 yards for about the first 20 shots on a new co2. Fun stuff sitting on the back deck hunting squirrels and shooting spinners. I have a couple of 22 rimfire spinners screwed into trees at different distances. They have 1, 2, and 3 inch target. That .25 cal will spin even the 3” at 50 yards. It has about the same power as a subsonic 22 rimfire!

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The Crosman hits like a hammer pushing normal Diablo .22 pellets just shy of 900 fps (the box says 1100-1200, total BS. Magic pellets?) But I get 1-1/2” groups to 65 yds. I paid like $120 for it new with a 4x scope and rings. I think from Midway.

The FWB is a jewel and as fine as any wood stock hunting rifle. Only 675 fps in .177 but I can hit a quarter at 50 yds! I rebuilt it several years ago with parts, piston head sourced from Canada. I could have upped the spring to a 900 fps level but I was afraid I’d hurt that superb accuracy. Shooting 9mm or similar disposable cases at 25 yds. is fun!

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Sheridan BlueStreak in 5mm (20 cal) which was once popular but hard to come by today. For a pistol it was a Crossman 150 or 160 I can't remember but it was a CO2 finally no pumping!
Spent many a summer afternoon hunting big game ... the dragonfly in the pastures. Fond memories indeed!

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made around 1950.it an a old double barrel 12 ga. they were found in a closet of a house my parents bought around 1960 when I was 3 years old.my dad was told that they had been in that closet for over 10 years. i got it on my 4th birthday. I do remember the "bear trap " and it hurt like hell i you didn't cock it fully .good times

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Yes I started with a Daisy single cock BB gun and then many more. But my best memories plate more recent. In 2021 I was severely injured when a lady ran a stop sign in front of me. I was in a wheelchair for about 4 months and during that time my wife and I lived with my parents. Our own home just 2 miles away has steep stairs.

One afternoon my Pop comes and pushes me out to the porch where he has set up a shooting range in the yard with plastic jugs and bottles. A pair of brand new Red Rider BB guns where there with about a million bbs! I spent many hours there. The most fun was shooting over the pond. I would try to see how close I could bet to the stump about 50 yards away. I would have to allow for wind drift and use the tops of a tree as a sighting line! Just pure joy!

My great nephew was born with a daisy in his hand it seams. Now at age 9 he shoots in the competition for 4H. He won 1st place I. His age group at the state fair last October.

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Did you start with one?

I had a Red Ryder Carbine with a wood stock.

daisy

I was at ASU in the early 1980’s they had an ROTC

I have my dad's early 1940s with a tattered canvas case.

Crossmen 760 , I think I was in 3rd grade

Oh the Crossman 130 .22 cal. My early handgun experience too

I have a Benjamin Trail NP XL 725, .25 cal

I have a Crosman Nitro piston .22 and FWB 124D .177

Also a Crossman 760 and when that was worn out a

daisy red rider

Therapy