Red Ryder BB Gun

Red Ryder BB Gun
Daisy air rifle ad in a '40s era comic book
Type	Air rifle
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Manufacturer	Daisy Outdoor Products
Produced	since 1940
Specifications
Weight	1 kg (2.2 lb)
Length	76 cm (30 in)
Cartridge	BB
Caliber	.177
Barrels	smooth bore
Action	lever action pneumatic stroke
Rate of fire	5-10 RPM
Muzzle velocity	73 metres per second (240 ft/s)
Effective firing range	9 metres (9.8 yd)
Feed system	gravity
Sights	rear notch, fixed front blade

Daisy Outdoor Products (known primarily as Daisy) was formed in 1888 to manufacture windmills. As a sales promotion, they started providing air guns with the purchase of each windmill. With the popularity of the air guns, they began producing them for sale. In the 21st century, Daisy is known as a company that makes and sells entry and novice level BB guns and other air guns. Their Red Ryder BB Gun is perhaps their best known and longest production item which has been featured in many TV shows and movies since its introduction in the 1930s.

Daisy was started in 1882 as Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan. In 1886 the company started to give away BB guns with purchases of windmills. 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 enthusiastically said "It's a Daisy!' In 1958, the company moved the corporate offices and manufacturing facilities from Plymouth to Rogers, Arkansas.

In 1993, Daisy was acquired by the private equity firm Charter Oak Partners. The Plymouth factory was demolished in 2005 and replaced with a condominium complex called Daisy Square. One wall of the factory building remained in front of the complex until its demolition on November 18, 2013. The wall had 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. The Daisy Administration building, on Main Street, is still standing and has become an office complex and restaurant. In 2016, Daisy was sold by Charter Oak to another private equity firm, Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., who combined it with Gamo Outdoor.

Daisy is best known for their inexpensive youth BB guns, modeled after lever-action rifles. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Red Ryder model, which is still in production today, despite the fact that the Red Ryder comic strip 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.