Daisy is a company that makes and sells inexpensive BB gun

BB gun

BB guns are a type of air gun designed to shoot projectiles named BBs after the birdshot pellet of approximately the same size. These projectiles are usually spherical but can also be pointed; those are usually used for bird hunting. Modern day BB guns usually have a smoothbore barrel, with a bore...

s and other air gun

Air gun

An air gun is a rifle , pistol , or shotgun that fires projectiles by means of compressed air or other gas, in contrast to a firearm, which burns a propellant. Most air guns use metallic projectiles as ammunition. Air guns that only use plastic projectiles are classified as airsoft...

s.

History

Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan

Plymouth, Michigan

Plymouth is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,132 at the 2010 census. The City of Plymouth is an enclave completely surrounded by Plymouth Charter Township, Michigan.-Geography:...

. In 1886 the company started to give BB guns with purchases of windmill

Windmill

A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

s. The gun was so popular the company started to sell guns instead of windmills. The gun received its name when General Manager Lewis Cass Hough fired one and enthusiatically said "It's a Daisy!' In 1958, the company moved the corporate offices and manufacturing facilities from Plymouth to Rogers, Arkansas

Rogers, Arkansas

Rogers is a suburban city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 55,964. The city is located in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Area, in the northwest corner of the state.-History:...

. The Plymouth factory was demolished in 2005 and replaced with a condominium complex called Daisy Square. One wall of the factory building remains in front of the complex, at least for the time being. The wall has been free-standing since the factory was torn down, and was supposed to be built into an apartment building, but the wall was not included in the completed building, and is still standing. (January, 2008)
The Daisy Administration building, on Plymouth Rd, is still standing and has become an office complex and restaurant. After the Daisy Corporation vacated the building the lower floor was converted in to two offices and a restaurant. The restaurant has changed names three times. First it was the Plymouth Landings, then Dunlevy's Bar and Grill and finally Plymouth Crossing. (August 2008)

Airguns

Daisy is best known for their inexpensive youth BB guns, modeled after lever action rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

s. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Red Ryder model

Red Ryder BB Gun

The Red Ryder BB Gun is a BB gun made by Daisy Outdoor Products and introduced in 1938 that resembles the Winchester rifle of Western movies...

, which is still in production today, despite the fact that the Red Ryder

Red Ryder

Red Ryder was a popular long-running Western comic strip created by Stephen Slesinger and artist Fred Harman. Beginning Sunday, November 6, 1938, Red Ryder was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, expanding over the following decade to 750 newspapers, translations into ten languages and...

 comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 was canceled in 1963. These simple smoothbore, spring-air BB guns fire at low velocities, and are marketed to children ages 10 and over. In addition to the spring air BB guns, Daisy also markets a line of multi-pump pneumatic rifles capable of firing pellets or BBs to the same age group.

Production of the Daisy Model 25

Daisy Model 25

The Daisy Model is 25 BB gun, modeled after a pump action shotgun with a trombone pump action mechanism. The Model 25 dominated the low price, higher performance airgun market for over 50 years before discontinuation...

 was restarted in 2009. Featuring a spring feed mechanism and modeled after a pump action shotgun with pumped cocking, the Model 25 dominated the low price, higher performance airgun market for over 50 years (1914–1978).

The Powerline models are Daisy's more powerful, more accurate line of airguns, marketed to youth ages 16 and over, and adults. The Powerline rifles include multi-pump pneumatics and spring-piston break barrels, have rifled barrels designed for shooting pellets, and are capable of greater velocities than the youth line. Powerline pistols are multishot double action designs, powered by CO₂

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 powerlet

Powerlet

A Powerlet cartridge is a small disposable metal container holding of liquid CO2 and often a small quantity of oil, used as a power source for certain air guns, paintball markers, and a few airsoft guns...

s. BB models are smoothbore, while pellet models have rifled barrels. These are styled to resemble firearm

Firearm

A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

s, and are often used by adults in place of firearms for inexpensive training and practice, or in jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

s where firearms are heavily restricted or prohibited.

The Avanti line consists of Daisy's target guns. These are pellet guns, either single stroke pneumatic or CO₂ powered, with high quality sights and built to much higher standards. Some models use barrels from Lothar Walther, a top European barrel maker. Even the least expensive Avanti model, the 717 pistol, has been used by world championship 10 m Air Pistol

10 m Air Pistol

10 metre air pistol is an Olympic shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation . It is similar to 10 metre air rifle in that it is shot with 4.5 mm caliber air guns at a distance of 10 metres , and the programme consists of 60 shots within 105 minutes...

 shooter Don Nygord to shoot a medal winning round in a California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 state championship. The Canadian Forces adopted the Daisy/ Avanti model 853C target rifle for their cadet program's marksmanship training program, as well as competitive 10m target shooting.

Daisy also makes, as part of the Avanti line, the model 499, billed as the "world's most accurate BB gun". This is a true competition BB gun, with target iron sights

Iron sights

Iron sights are a system of shaped alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in telescopic sights or reflector sights...

, and a precision bored smooth barrel, to be used only with Daisy's precision ground steel BBs that are special made for the 499. The 499 is unusual in that it is a single shot, muzzleloading spring airgun. The 499 is most commonly used in 5 yards (4.6 m) BB gun competitions by youth groups such as 4H and Boy Scouts

Scouting

Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....

.

During the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 Daisy BB guns were used in Quick Kill training for soldiers in basic training

Basic Training

Basic Training may refer to:* Basic Training, a 1971 American documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman* Basic Training , an American sex comedy* Recruit training...

.

Daisy also sells a line of spring-air rifles marketed under the Winchester Repeating Arms brand name. These are moderately priced break-barrel designs with wood stocks, with velocities ranging from 500 ft/s (152.4 m/s) to 1000 ft/s (304.8 m/s). For a time, Daisy also imported and marketed an Umarex

Umarex

Umarex Sportwaffen GmbH & Co. KG is a manufacturer of air guns , tear-gas and signal pistols, paintball markers under the RAM brand and airsoft guns, based in Arnsberg, Germany...

 made, Winchester branded copy of the Winchester 1894 rifle. This is a multi-shot CO₂ pellet rifle using the standard Umarex revolver action. This model is now marketed under the Walther name.

Rimfire rifles

In 1988 Daisy briefly made a line of rimfire rifles, the Legacy rifle. These were bolt action rifles chambered in .22 Long Rifle

.22 Long Rifle

The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as .22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have...

, and were available in a number of different styles. Options were wooden stock or plastic stock with adjustable buttplate, and single shot, 7 shot box magazine, or 10 shot rotary feed (the magazine was similar to, but not interchangeable with, the Ruger 10/22

Ruger 10/22

The Ruger 10/22 is a semi-automatic rimfire rifle chambered in .22 Long Rifle. It has a removable 10-round rotary magazine which allows the magazine to fit flush with the bottom of the stock. Higher capacity magazines are also available...

). While these are very rare, the inexpensive construction and the fact that they are firearms, not airguns, has led to little collectors' interest.

V/L caseless rifles

Daisy was the first company to introduce a production caseless ammunition

Caseless ammunition

Caseless ammunition is a type of small arms ammunition that eliminates the cartridge case that typically holds the primer, propellant, and projectile together as a unit...

 and rifle, the V/L Rifle, in 1968. The V/L ammunition consisted of a .22 caliber bullet with a small disk of propellant on the back, and no primer. The rifle resembled a typical spring-air rifle, but the hot, high pressure air served not only as a power source but also to ignite the propellant on the back of the V/L cartridge. The V/L guns and ammunition were discontinued in 1969 after the BATF

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...

 ruled that they constituted a firearm, and Daisy, which was not licensed to manufacture firearms, decided to discontinue manufacture rather than become a firearms manufacturer. About 23,000 of the rifles were made before production ceased.

Collectibles

Daisy often makes special edition runs of its products, usually the lever action youth BB guns, in addition to prints of outdoor art and other collectible items.

Lawsuit

Daisy was the defendant in a lawsuit after a Pennsylvania teenager, John Tucker Mahoney was accidentally shot in May 1999 when a friend fired one of their BB guns at him, believing it to be empty. This left him severely brain damaged. The lawsuit alleged that the company hid manufacturing defects, specifically the BB guns jamming, and demanded that the gun in question be recalled. The company settled the lawsuit with Mahoney's family for $18 million in a case that received worldwide publicity. Mahoney died of his injuries in October 2003.

External links

• Daisy.com – Official web site
• US Army Quick Kill training http://www.i-kirk.info/misc/quickkill/qwikill.htm
• An Encyclopedia of Daisy Plymouth Guns; A chronology of the BB guns and toys made by the Daisy Manufacturing Company in Plymouth, Michigan. Book is out of print. Previous link no longer functions.