The Daisy Air Rifle, BB Gun

Although Clarence Hamilton had started Plymouth Air Rifle with his partner Cyrus Pinckney, and the pair got two patents on air rifles, Hamilton took his third design to a company in which he owned stock, Plymouth Iron Windmill Company.  He proposed to the company president that they give an air rifle away with each purchase of a windmill.  The president, Lewis Cass Hough, took Hamilton's prototype, and shot a BB into the wastebasket in his office.  Zing!  It was an impressive shot.  Next he took the gun outside and shot into a wooden shingle, and zing, the bb went through the shingle.  Hough said "that's a Daisy!", and the name stuck. It wasn't long (1894) before the company dropped windmill sales, and changed the name of the company to Daisy Manufacturing. 

Comments

[Anthony]

I grew up shooting Daisy bb rifles, http://www.airgunwarehouseinc.com with my dad which back in the late 70’s was socially acceptable and in my neighborhood expected by most kids. There weren’t too many Christmas’ that passed where either I or one of my friends got a new air rifle as a gift. Fast forward to 2008 and now it seems that everyone frowns upon a child shooting a bb gun. What I find particularly amusing is that children haven’t changed but those growing up in a time when it was acceptable have now had their opinions swayed by teenagers and adults who end up committing horrible crimes using guns. This has nothing to do with children shooting bb guns yet many people chastise me for allowing my son to shoot one. I grew up just fine and am a well adjusted man with no desire to harm anyone or anything so I’m just not getting all the fuss. Use judgment, supervise and educate and things should be fine.

[Web]

What great technology! Plus technology keeps getting more economical now, and that’s what people really notice. Wind energy, solar power, hybrids and zap EV’s, our choices are good. There are now electric cars being sold everyday, you just plug it into a regular power outlet. When people test drive them they say it’s far more fun to drive an EV.

[Joe]

Hello,
I have been interested in Air guns, bb guns and now pellet guns
http://www.airgunsbbguns.com since I was a child. I dreamed of having an
airgun just like the boy in the movie A Christmas Story.
It was all I wanted, but I received the same answer: You will shoot your eye out! After enough asking and begging I received my first Daisy for Christmas.
The big difference was that along with the gun came a large pair of safety glasses, though not like the ones they have today. The glass had to be 1/4 thick with a thick rubber mesh on the side. They were very big and hard to get used to because they were made for adults.

Wearing a modern pair of Daisy safety glasses. They not only protect your eyes, they're light, colorful, and fit great, and as my children put it, they look cool. Now everyone can not only be safe, but also look cool doing it.

I cannot stress enough how important safety glasses are, along with all the
safety rules. My children never shoot without my wife or me present, and
only at targets with the right back stop behind them. I spent a lot of time
teaching them safety and the proper shooting methods with BB guns.

[Daniel Webb]

Charles Hamilton was actually dead-set against the Plymouth Iron & Windmill Company offering up a free air rifle with the purchase of a windmill, which was one of the reasons he left and started Plymouth Air Rifle.

As it turned out, his anger was too quick as the local farmers had little interest in the windmills (which were also his design), but plenty of desire to own the BB gun. It took the company that would become Daisy a year to start producing air rifles and only once they realized that they were making far more money on BB guns then they ever did on windmills.

The Plymouth Air Rifle factory burned down in a mysterious fire sometime in the 1890's (reference is not handy) shortly after their entire inventory of air rifles were stored in the warehouse (guess what was the one of the first things that burned?), so if anyone has a Plymouth "Magic" BB gun, hang on to it. You have a real rare gem.

Hamilton turned to manufactured an excellent line of boys .22 target rifles, many of which are still found at antique shops across the country. Any Hamilton .22 rifle is also well worth collecting.

It should also be noted the first BB guns were also manufactured in Plymouth Michigan by W.F. Markham, a full year before Hamilton introduced his to the struggling Plymouth Iron and Windmill company in 1886.
Markham is often given credit for inventing the first BB gun, (or more than likely, one of his employees) in 1885.

-Webb

[Ernesto Tinajero]

I grew up thinking bb gun. was a right of passage to being a man. I still have fond memories of my Daisy bb gun when I was a boy.

[Dave Lee]

I grew up in Plymouth, Mi. in '46~'68. I remember the Daisy factory quite well. In 1957~1958 the factory burned down, closing it's doors, before moving to Ark. Some thought it might have been arson, but was never proven. Every kid in Plymouth had "fire" BB guns from the fire. I can clearly remember Daisy employees tossing charred cases of rifles over the fence to the local kids waiting on the RR tracks. I personally got 3 pumps with burnt plastic stocks. We would cut the butt off, add a belt for a sling, and shot them like the modern day assault rifles. For months after the fire, there were kids selling brand new pumps for 50 cents! Sure wish I'd kept them :-( Great fun thinking back on this era.

[donald drumheller]

I have a daisy bb gun model 24 no.12 made in plymouth,mich. single shot u.s.pats.nov.3 1908-aug.17,1915.is this gun valuable.

[[email protected]]

I have a Daisy BB gun model #27 dated Aug 17 1915. What is it worth?

[Jim]

I have a Markham King No.1 bb gun that seems to work fine with the tube and has a good wood stalk, but the nickle plating is quite worn on the barrel and was wondering if it would hurt the value to renickle it professionally or help, and what the estimated value may be now. The gun reads. King No.1 The Markham Air Rifle Co. U.S.A..Patented dates Sept, 27-1892,Jan, 28,-1896, April,7-1898, april,11-1902, oct, 27-1903, Jan,29-1907. Any help on value would be great-just an estimation on full restoration value and 70% nickle remaining with good stock and functioning. Thanks