Canadian Airgun Forum

Thanks, that very nicely clarifies to me what I felt to be the case but hadn't clicked till you mentioned it. I see myself as a target shooter, not a collector. Guess from now on only pellet guns in the "collection".

Tylerjaclyn, the Defender is a nice gun. I would have kept it had it not been for the co2 leaking. It is all metal and feels really nice to hold and shoot. Accuracy isn't there, I have come to learn not to expect this from BB pistols. But it does mimic the real deal somewhat nicely. Somewhat that is because it lacks a slide action or the ability to cock the hammer. For the low price I suppose it isn't a bad gun to own. But instead of getting another I'll hold off till I come across one that has blowback and a full slide, along with double/single action capability. Figure if I can't have a BB gun to shoot at targets might as well get one that is more realistic than the Defender. You know, an excuse to use the BBs I have sitting the shelf.

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The RedRyder was named most important gun (not airgun, GUN) in modern history. It introduced so many kids to guns, it was the first airgun for so many people. Ted Nugent (even if he's sometimes a bit of a wacko) wrote and awesome piece on the RR.
You don't have to get the RR, the Marlin Cowboy is pretty nice too.
I have 2 RR, a brown and pink one, a Marlin, a Daisy model 25 and a model 99. BB guns are tought to beat for plinking fun. Throw a bunch of empty soda can in the backyard with a bunch of friends and make them jump and spin.

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You can’t buy a single airgun for everything. Golfers use many different clubs, airgunners need more than one gun

My town has a ridiculous stance on backyard plinking, no such luck putting pop cans to sleep here.
But the RR and its underlever action seems like a nice setup, especially since you can just load it up with BBs and shoot away. Will pick one up when they go on sale, they're cheap enough it would be a good way to use up the BBs I have.
Since everyone I know either owns one or has shot one. Suppose this means no respectable airgunner should go without that experience.

Guess I'm soon to be BBless-free again. Yay.

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No, no, it was bigger than that! It looked like a weird monkey-dog thing!
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Are the Marlin and Red Ryder similar in power ?

hey Joolz every town has the same bylaws even in the "country" you still need to be outside city limits.. the limits are just smaller.
RR is on sale at TSC but that doesn't help you all out west there really. I looked when I was there and if they were the commemorative edition I would have bought a whack and passed them on but it was the regular version but in kit with BB and targets and stuff.

It is a lever action (versus under lever) and the lever "action" is very stiff as it is cocking the spring and that take some work. This kids will find ti tough and certainly even an adult can do it quick shootin' cowboy style but speed will pick up when you get your technique and knuckles toughened up.

It is the classic gun from a classic movie and be careful "or you'll shoot your eye out kid".

And Scott I was wondering that also. The Princess often has the Marlin on sale.

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Keep you powder dry and your seals oiled.
Shoot straight and safe.

http://plinkercases.ca/

How things changed from when we were kids. I suppose too many incidents of not-too-bright people misusing their airguns resulted in these measures being taken. Can't say that's a bad thing although it can be over the top as stories of others have shown.

But truth be told even if we were allowed to shoot in our backyards I still wouldn't. Our house is a mecca for kids from up and down the street and beyond. We have a super cool yard with all the toys kids drool over and even a guard tower style play structure with slide, rope ladder, etc. Last thing I'd want is for the parents of these kids to be scared to send them over. Which is why I always keep my guns out of sight whenever a kid ventures inside the house.

So this Merlin, do you then agree that it'd be a better gun than the RR? I thought the RR had this underlever that works similar to a Winchester from western movies. Sounds like fun but well, not if it takes too much effort to cock. PA doesn't show the Merlin on their website but it looks like they get all sorts of new stuff in all the time. Their new flyer come out tomorrow, who knows what goodies will be in it.

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No, no, it was bigger than that! It looked like a weird monkey-dog thing!
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If you buy a Red Ryder and build a BB-gun shooting gallery near the play structures, those kids might never want to leave your backyard.

I don't think I said the Marlin was better than the Red Ryder. I still prefer the RR for the nostalgic value and have no idea about how they "perform" beside each other.

I may be wrong but these are considered "lever action", like the guns in the westerns, and that an "under lever" is a springer where the cocking lever is under the barrel, like the Browning Leverage... and as opposed to a "side lever" where the cocking lever is... well... on the side. As I say I may be wrong but that is how I have under stood it.

PA doesn't always put the brand or name of the gun in the adds but I believe I have seen it on the wall when ever I have gone and it is the gun on-line that looks like the RR... again may be wrong as I often am.

It was great to watch my daughter develop her cocking style with it when she first got it (she was 111 at the time). She set up cans all over the side field a the farm and ran around playing Fallout. She hasn't used it in a while but then again she moves on quickly through lots of things.

_________________
Keep you powder dry and your seals oiled.
Shoot straight and safe.

http://plinkercases.ca/

I read a few reviews and i think the red ryder is the better gun based on them.

Spot on, and something that dawned on me only recently too. A few months ago I bought the mini Uzi at knock-down price, unpacked it, tested it and realized it was going to wreck the garage and I could hardly be seen out in the garden with it. Fortunately Cabela's has an easy returns policy so although it was a bargain there seemed little point (for me at least) so I put the cash toward a pellet shooter with which I would have a reasonable chance of keeping what I fire inside the pellet trap!
(I am keeping the KWC 1911 though for the reasons stated i.e. mainly play around with the action then put it away again, shoot it occasionally as well though.)

So as with life it is the same with airguns:

If you are having a bad experience - lower your expectations and start over.

Every airgun has strengths and limits and as long as you understand them when you buy and use then unless it is truly defective... you get what you paid for and the rest is up to the shooter to do their part to try to reach or exceed the limit of the intended use/capabilities of the equipment.

You cant blame a screw driver for being a bad hammer.

_________________
Keep you powder dry and your seals oiled.
Shoot straight and safe.

http://plinkercases.ca/

Not to knock your regular steel BB guns here...but I have found that you can buy very accurate 6mm Air Soft replicas that won't cause major problems shooting them. You can use an old cardboard box with no worries about steel BBs bouncing around; as the plastic 6mm BBs can do very little actual damage but still give you the fun of shooting.

Looked for a pic of the boys up on the tower when i had just built it with rifles in hand (last summer when they were 1 and 3) and looking dead serious on a zombie and/or bad guys watch, fingers on trigger, locked and loaded. But couldn't find it. It's in one of my backup drives somewhere. Give it another 5 years or so and I already know where my airguns will endup.

Officially BBless as of tonight. Returned the MP45 to princess for a full refund. While there I asked for them to try and locate another but no luck. So aside from the M4-177 I have no guns to dispose of those many steel BBs (hesitant to risk damaging the rifled barrel in the M4 by using BBs). But while there I saw the Marlin side by side with what I think is the RR (said zombie buster or something). The Marlin looks better, has somewhat decent sights. The rear sight in the RR is just a welded blade with a fibre optic for front. Not impressed with that. But the stock on the Marlin is exceptionally short. Still though, once they go on sale will have to nab one of the two.

Doug you are so right: I have this great 6mm plastic BB blaster that I picked up from Princess last month or two for just $15 on sale. What a great fun gun. Truly hard to put down - went outside to fire a single shot. A dozen later I finally had to zip inside and put it down, hesitantly. Awesome to see the BB go flying through the air like a tracer fire. And surprisingly accurate too. Doesn't come with sights, so I added this cheap red dot I had sitting around. I have two other springer pistols that shoot 6mm plastics but they're crap. Is yours a co2? Good looking but don't all airsofts come with the lame orange tip?

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No, no, it was bigger than that! It looked like a weird monkey-dog thing!
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Yes; it is a Co2 pistol that I bought from Replica Air Guns last week.

https://www.replicaairguns.ca/kwc-g1911-co2-airsoft-gun

Here in Canada - NO orange tip is required; only in the U.S. is it the law.

Tons of fun to shoot cheap inexpensive basically harmless plastic BBs!

Lets see some groupings from this and your newly arrived B1

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No, no, it was bigger than that! It looked like a weird monkey-dog thing!
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