MacTech
Member
Yes, we all know the DRR is an underpowered, wimpy little "toy" (it's not a toy, actually, it's still a legitimate projectile weapon, albeit one with a rather low velocity), and there are far better alternatives for a child's "first gun", but there's also something indefinable about the humble old DRR.....
Yes, there's no denying it, there's definitely the "A Christmas Story" factor about it, I wonder how many of these humble little carbine repeaters have been sold by just that movie alone?, but there's also the fact that presentation of a DRR from a adult family member to a child is also a kind of rite of passage, as it were, it says to the child "I think you're responsible enough for this now", a kind of "coming of age" thing as it were
Well, to bring my long rambling open to a start, my nephew has been showing signs of interest in the shooting sports, he has asked where I go shooting, we've talked about guns in general, he knows the Eddie Eagle rules *AND* Jeff Cooper's Four Rules, and not just by rote memorization, he understands why they are important
He's also on his Cub Scout shooting team and is one of their better shooters, IIRC, and since the Cubs use BB guns, I figured it may be time for Logan to get his first gun
First things first, I called my sister, expecting to be....shot down (sorry, coudn't resist
), but she had no problem with it, I even asked her point-blank "Is Logan responsible enough to own a BB gun, is he mature enough?"
both answers were yes
So, tonight, I stopped off at KTP, and picked up Logan's first gun, a 70th anniversary Red Ryder Carbine in the infamous cardboard box with bonus tin of ammo, and a 1500 BB bottle of Copperhead BB's for his "stocking stuffer"
I asked for the box to be opened so I could inspect the gun, I was expecting a cheap, plasticky gun with crappy pallet wood, but was actually impressed, the build quality was actually relatively decent for a child's first BB gun, and the wood, albeit rather plain, had decent, if light, grain structure, the only feature that screamed "Cheap!" to me was the cocking lever, a cheap, plastic part
When I got it home, I couldn't resist taking it out and shouldering it myself, light, nimble, points well, the tin of BB's stared at me from inside their bubblewrapped container....
I figure I should at the very least *function test* it, just to make sure it works, so I set out a couple comforters as a backstop, put a small pine board in front of them, put a clay bird in front of the board, and a spray paint cap in front of the clay, dropped a single BB down the loading port, locked the port, and cocked the gun (target was approx. 10 feet away)
Click off the safety, align the sights on the spray paint cap and pull the trigger...
Pop!
the paint cap jumped sideways, and the clay fractured cleanly in two, I walk over to the target, the paint cap had been completely penetrated, the clay cleanly halved, and I found the fired BB lying next to it on the comforter
not too bad for 10 feet away, I decided to do one more function test, put an empty Ocean Spray 20 oz orange juice bottle in front of one of the clay halves, go back to the shooting position and drop in a second BB
This one hit the juice bottle hard, spinning it and ripping the label a bit, but I was then "treated to the sound of the BB ricocheting off the bottle and bouncing off into the corner, the Ocean Spray bottle looked to be too hard for the BB, upon closer inspection, other than a ripped label, the bottle had nary a mark on it...
Yes, I was wearing shooting glasses, didn't want to shoot my eye out, after all
So, after that, I decided to turn my attention to the stock (don't wanna' use up all Logan's ammo before he gets to use it himself....), I tried some Tru-Oil on a small portion of the stock, and liked how it pulled out some character in the wood, so I decided to give the stock a light application of Tru-Oil, I'll do it over the next day or so, to see the results, it's definitely going to improve the looks of the stock and foregrip....
I may even take it back to KTP and have Logan's name engraved on it somewhere, they have a local engraver that has a booth up in the gun department, and he does some nice work, a simple name inscription would generally be about $10 or so, and I think Logan would like that his gun is personalized
Who knows, if he shows responsibility with this gun, there may be a Savage Scout coming his way for his birthday next year, either that or maybe an H&R Versa-Pak.... (if only the VP came with wood furniture....)
Anyone else giving airguns/firearms to the younger set for Christmas?
Yes, there's no denying it, there's definitely the "A Christmas Story" factor about it, I wonder how many of these humble little carbine repeaters have been sold by just that movie alone?, but there's also the fact that presentation of a DRR from a adult family member to a child is also a kind of rite of passage, as it were, it says to the child "I think you're responsible enough for this now", a kind of "coming of age" thing as it were
Well, to bring my long rambling open to a start, my nephew has been showing signs of interest in the shooting sports, he has asked where I go shooting, we've talked about guns in general, he knows the Eddie Eagle rules *AND* Jeff Cooper's Four Rules, and not just by rote memorization, he understands why they are important
He's also on his Cub Scout shooting team and is one of their better shooters, IIRC, and since the Cubs use BB guns, I figured it may be time for Logan to get his first gun
First things first, I called my sister, expecting to be....shot down (sorry, coudn't resist
), but she had no problem with it, I even asked her point-blank "Is Logan responsible enough to own a BB gun, is he mature enough?"both answers were yes
So, tonight, I stopped off at KTP, and picked up Logan's first gun, a 70th anniversary Red Ryder Carbine in the infamous cardboard box with bonus tin of ammo, and a 1500 BB bottle of Copperhead BB's for his "stocking stuffer"
I asked for the box to be opened so I could inspect the gun, I was expecting a cheap, plasticky gun with crappy pallet wood, but was actually impressed, the build quality was actually relatively decent for a child's first BB gun, and the wood, albeit rather plain, had decent, if light, grain structure, the only feature that screamed "Cheap!" to me was the cocking lever, a cheap, plastic part
When I got it home, I couldn't resist taking it out and shouldering it myself, light, nimble, points well, the tin of BB's stared at me from inside their bubblewrapped container....
I figure I should at the very least *function test* it, just to make sure it works, so I set out a couple comforters as a backstop, put a small pine board in front of them, put a clay bird in front of the board, and a spray paint cap in front of the clay, dropped a single BB down the loading port, locked the port, and cocked the gun (target was approx. 10 feet away)
Click off the safety, align the sights on the spray paint cap and pull the trigger...
Pop!
the paint cap jumped sideways, and the clay fractured cleanly in two, I walk over to the target, the paint cap had been completely penetrated, the clay cleanly halved, and I found the fired BB lying next to it on the comforter
not too bad for 10 feet away, I decided to do one more function test, put an empty Ocean Spray 20 oz orange juice bottle in front of one of the clay halves, go back to the shooting position and drop in a second BB
This one hit the juice bottle hard, spinning it and ripping the label a bit, but I was then "treated to the sound of the BB ricocheting off the bottle and bouncing off into the corner, the Ocean Spray bottle looked to be too hard for the BB, upon closer inspection, other than a ripped label, the bottle had nary a mark on it...
Yes, I was wearing shooting glasses, didn't want to shoot my eye out, after all
So, after that, I decided to turn my attention to the stock (don't wanna' use up all Logan's ammo before he gets to use it himself....), I tried some Tru-Oil on a small portion of the stock, and liked how it pulled out some character in the wood, so I decided to give the stock a light application of Tru-Oil, I'll do it over the next day or so, to see the results, it's definitely going to improve the looks of the stock and foregrip....
I may even take it back to KTP and have Logan's name engraved on it somewhere, they have a local engraver that has a booth up in the gun department, and he does some nice work, a simple name inscription would generally be about $10 or so, and I think Logan would like that his gun is personalized
Who knows, if he shows responsibility with this gun, there may be a Savage Scout coming his way for his birthday next year, either that or maybe an H&R Versa-Pak.... (if only the VP came with wood furniture....)
Anyone else giving airguns/firearms to the younger set for Christmas?
