Let the stories fly about backyard pellet gun shooting as kids or with your kids.

[PHEASANTPETE]

When I grew up we used to shoot a lot at targets with our neighbors wood fence as a safety backdrop in the summer. Neighbors did not complain that we did and even our one neighbor was a detective and his sons would shoot with us frequently. We had a nice set up that other kids envied. I cannot count how many kids shot in our backyard. Some rode their bikes over with there pellet guns while others shot ours. Later we shot archery there. Needless to say we did not live in the inner city or the hood. I hope there are still places like that for kids to enjoy being kids. My sisters even shot sometimes but mostly they thought they were above us boys and our boyish behavior. Let the stories fly about your childhood backyard shooting or with your own kids in the backyard.

[3dsauces]

Pellet guns are banned here in ozzie :’(

[bamaranger]

I never owned a "pellet" rifle. But I wore out at least BB guns, a Daisy and a Crossman.

The Crossman had a unique cocking mechanism, the barrel reciprocated fore and aft and that set the spring. It was the first "real" gun I bought for myself. It also was the first home gunsmith chore I did, when I fashioned a rear aperture sight, when the factory rear blade/leaf departed or broke, I don't remember which. About age 10.

One of my current summer amusements is taking bamaboys Red Ryder and shooting at carpenter bees, on the wing, with it.

I'll admit that his full auto airsoft AK is a better AA gun though.

[PHEASANTPETE]

Wow, I did not know that. Surely a leftist plot designed to keep boys and girls from developing a healthy hobby involving guns. Them sneaky Bass Terds.

[twobit]

I cut my teeth so to speak on a Crosman 101 .22cal pellet rifle in 1965. When I was five my father started me out on this pellet rifle and taught me gun safety, sight picture, trigger control, etc,,,. He had to cock it and pump it at first as I was not strong enough. He had had it since the late 40's or 50's. I never had a BB gun or a toy gun. Papa taught me that no guns were toys. By age of six I was shooting 22's, a model 94 30-30, and a Remington 760 in .270 caliber. All with cut down stocks for my size. The 30-30 and .270 were with hand loads. I shot and killed a deer with the 270 that year at 50 yards.

The Crosman pellet gun was powerful enough for rabbit hunting and it took many rabbits and squirrels. We had a steel bullet trap so we could shoot the pellet gun in the shop or yard. I wish I still had that model 101 but it quit holding air in the late 70's and someone else in the family took it after Papa died in the eighties. They probably threw it away.

[603Country]

We shot BB guns instead of pellet guns. The pellet guns came later.

One day the neighborhood bully snatched away my BB gun and shot me in the tail. Hurt like heck. But my Grandmother was watching. She marched out, snatched the BB gun from the bully, told him to "grab your ankles" and shot him in the butt. He screamed and ran and thereafter never bothered us. Grandma was really something.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

slightly related... my dad was raised by his mother ( a nurse ) after his dad died when he was young... nurse grandma hated guns, this transferred to my dad, so when I was a kid, I had to beg & plead to get a single shot .410... he figured out everyone wasn't going to die, just because we had a gun in the house, though he never took up shooting ( or fired a shot, that I ever heard about ) he eased up a bit on fearing guns...

fast forward 20 years or so, & he & my mother were retired & living in Missouri... they had a big woods across the road, & used to get all kinds of birds into their bird feeders, which he used to get great enjoyment sitting in front of the picture window watching them eat... that is, until the squirrels from across the road discovered the feeders...

Well... dad was really dismayed over the squirrels chasing off the birds, & eating all the bird seed... one day the neighbor offered to let him use his pellet gun, to shoot them, or scare them off... well dad turned down his offer, but a couple days later, he was at his wits end, & borrowed the pellet gun... when that next squirrel came & that hit the feeder, he poked the pellet gun out the door, & fired off a pellet to scare the squirrel away... well danged if that thing didn't drop dead right there... hit the squirrel right square in the head

well... dad felt so guilty, he gave the pellet gun back, & cleaned the squirrel, & had mom cook it ( they had never gone hunting, or cleaned wild game before, since ... he just couldn't "waste" the animal he accidentally killed ) BTW... of course mom couldn't get all the hairs off the meat, having never done that before, but they begrudgingly ate the squirrel dad "killed"

BTW... he did find a way to keep the squirrels out of his feeders... he discovered wrapping the wood post in bare copper wire, attached to a cord he could plug in, in the house worked quite nicely at training the squirrels to stay off his feeders

[PetahW]

.


Many years ago, my late next-door neighbor used to distribute bird seed in the strip of woods directly in back of her home - attracting hundreds of birds (reminiscent of the Hitchcock movie "The Birds") of all kinds, including a brood of Ring-necked Pheasants, that were so fat they couldn't fly.

Anyway, about 35 years ago, my (then) 12-y.o. Son sat in the same strip of woods, but directly to the rear of our home - where he proceded to slay a huge Pheasant that was waddling by, with one shot from my .20cal Sheridan Blue Streak pumpgun. .

When I found out about it, I admonished him about ground-shooting birds - but have to say that the Pheasant had (cooked) breast meat that was as dense as a beefsteak.



.

[Brian Pfleuger]

We used to have a blast with our BB guns. My first that I actually owned was very similar to the Crossman Classic 2100. I can't imagine how many pigeons and starlings my uncle, cousin and I killed with that thing and theirs. Certainly many thousands, as my uncle lived on a farm and my cousin and I used to shoot them under bridges (it was safe under the circumstances, I assure you) and in my neighbors abandoned barn too.

Shot myself in the hand with my uncle's gun when I was 9. That stings, let me tell you. The Dr said that if someone told him you could shoot through a hand and not hit a single bone or tendon he would have never believed it but I did. Still have the scar. One where it went in, with a nice line that they opened up to assess damage and a small hole on the back where they took it out.

We tried to make one of them into a "sawed off". We found out the barrel wasn't solid and there was just a tube inside a tube. It didn't work so great after that.

I also learned that those large rubber WWF dolls are BB proof, or at least Junk Yard Dog is. I can still see the BB, like it was slow motion, coming back at me. Hit me right below my left eye. I'm lucky I'm not blind.

Sounds like a lot of negative but I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

adding truth to that old movie line "you're going to poke your eye out with that thing"

[aarondhgraham]

A few years back I purchased a Daisy BB rifle as a gift,,,
My friend's 8 year old daughter was the recipient.

I bought a pack of plastic toy animals,,,
Then I hid them around their back yard as targets.

So there we were,,,
8 year old girl and a 59 year old man,,,
Crawling on our bellies through the back yard jungle,,,
Shooting at lions, tigers and bears as well as the occasional T-rex.

My young friend is now 12 years old,,,
But she still drags out her BB rifle when I visit,,,
We don't crawl around anymore but we still like "hunting".

When I was a kid,,,
If you didn't own at least a Daisy,,,
Well, you were just some unfortunate kid that we pitied.

Myself, I had a Crossman Hahn 45 CO2 BB pistol,,,

An unknown model Daisy BB rifle,,,
And a Crossman .22 Pump.

Of course I had a holster for the Hahn revolver,,,
And I had made a raggedy bandolier to hold tubes of BB's and CO2 cartridges,,,
I wore the Crossman pellet rifle on a sling and had a backpack for PB&J sandwiches and a canteen for water.

My friends were all as well heeled as I was,,,
I wish I had a picture of me and my neighborhood gang,,,
We were all armed to the teeth and probably resembled a miniature Wild Bunch.

Plenty of open fields with targets of opportunity,,,
Occasionally we would pop a rabbit with a pellet rifle,,,
But mostly it was shooting at dirt clods and scraps of whatever.

We were ready for anything that south-side Oklahoma City could throw at us.

Aahhh,,,
Good times.

Aarond

.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

Couple of summers when I was 13 /14 / 15 age range. Saved up my own money from a job when I was 13, and plunked it down for an RWS/Diana model 45 in .177 @ $150, which was a lot of money back then, espec. for a 13 year old. Killed a lot of backyard nuisance birds with it those summers at home, and later too. I gave myself 5 points for a starling, 10 points for a grackle, 15 points for a blue jay, and 50 points for a crow. Only ever got 2 crows I think, over many years, but tons of grackles and starlings, and an occasional squirrel or dove (during dove season of course). In college, I had a different one - a model 34 RWS - very similar, and on several occasions I was able to kill 2 starlings with one shot. Pretty funny to see two dead after a shot, after another 5 of them scatter. Dog food is great bait. I stopped shooting blue jays because they got relatively scarce.

Oh, back up in time to age 11 or 12. Convinced grandma to buy me my first pellet gun - Daisy Powerline 880 - the kind you could pump up to 10 times. Killed a few birds and I think one chipmunk with it, roaming the hills, but mostly just soda cans and milk jugs. That one would single load pellets or feed from a BB reservoir, but I shot pellets almost exclusively, because it was a rifled barrel.

Good times.

P.S. Starlings are not protected, but for some ridiculous reason, great-tailed grackles ARE considered protected migratory species, so nuisance or not, don't do what I used to do and shoot them. Starlings and House Sparrows, shoot away. Crows and doves, during their season, sure. The rest, well... read up on your laws. One of my big pet peeves is the feds regulating species that used to be migratory, but have now evolved to become non-migratory. They have zero business regulating geese which don't ever leave the pond down here, let alone this state - they they can shove their federal waterfowl stamp where the sun don't shine for non-migratory season. Same with grackles - these nuisance ones don't migrate any more. Well, some do, some don't.

[2ndsojourn]

My buddy and I had Red Riders and another buddy had some other Daisy. You name it, we shot it. Some live targets, sometimes just tin cans. Their yard, my yard or just roaming around at the resorvoir looking for stuff. Once we even ran from one cover to another offering ourselves as moving targets. Yep, dumb stuff. (Head shots were off limits.)

Fast forward 45 or so years, I have a bigger back yard than most folks in my neighborhood with woods and a stockade fence. We have Crossman pumps that shoot both BB's & pellets, and a shootin' gallery. Also had a stack of hay bales for bow & arrow and crossbows. One day my neighbor came over with a couple break action, high powered air rifles and his young daughter and her friend. We shot an assortment of stuff for an hour or two and then sat out and had a couple beers. Meanwhile, his daughter's friend who had never shot before this, just kept on shooting for another hour or so. Wouldn't stop.

The shootin' gallery is still there and I still take the pellet guns out once in awhile just for kicks. My girlfriend enjoys it too.

Hey look, a squirrel!...

[PoiDog]

I bought a Sheridan .20 caliber 8 pumper back in 1971. I even had to get an FOID card since I live in IL and the rifle was powerful enough to trigger their silly laws.

The rifle was a blast to shoot, and very accurate. I've actually had and sold two of them, and have another one on hand right now. I think I paid around $30 for the first one, but now they're up over $100 from what I've seen recently.

They're still a lot of fun to shoot, but I pretty much replaced it with an RWS springer. That thing is like a laser for accuracy.

Recently the law was changed, and I mean like last year, so the Sheridan may not trigger the need for a FOID anymore.

[Picher]

My first BB gun was a well-worn Daisy Red Ryder that required constant bore oiling to get any velocity. Then, I wore out two Daisy Pumps, including one sent back to the factory for rehab. I was shooting 10 Winchester tubes of BBs a week and could hit empty ones from the hip at 15 feet quite often.

The house had close neighbors on either side, but the back yard was 100 yards long before any buildings, so I shot about every day, mostly at bottles placed on a 55 gallon drum, modified as a rubbish burner. I'd chip them down to the base, then tip the barrel top, emptying debris into the barrel.

One day, when I was about 12, while shooting at a hard target backer in the attic, a BB came back and hit the pump's rear sight blade flattening it before ricocheting off my forehead. Another 1/8" higher and they'd have had to call me "One-Eye".

I mounted a scope on my second pump, a crude image, but it could hit tin can tops at 50-60 feet better than my brother could with his open-sighted .22 LR. It ticked him off when I'd knock down the cans before him.

At about 13, I bought a Crossman pump-up .22 pellet rifle that seemed more like a real rifle, and though it was more accurate, the flat .22 pellets didn't seem to kill critters as well as a BB gun. Follow-up shots were also excruciatingly slow, so I got rid of it. Twenty-two rimfires became the weapons of choice after that.

[Pilot]

I grew up in the 60's, and 70's when kids were allowed to have toy guns, BB guns, and then when old enough a .22, etc.

There were several large oak trees outside my bedroom window. Usually I was satisfied with just shooting at the trees with my trusty, pump up Crossman 760 (now who didn't have one of those?) Of course with acorns, come squirrels, and one day curiosity got the better of me. I took aim at one of the grey tree rats, and pulled the trigger.

The next day, my Dad came in from outside, and as we are eating breakfast, matter of factly says that he found a dead squirrel on the lawn. I said, Oh yeah? Hmmmm, must have been sick. (sick from a copper BB). Nothing else was said about the matter.

[Xfire68]

We had a late 60's Sheridan Blue Streak when growing up. Still have it but it needs repair.

Lots of birds and squirrels and a few "Magic" shots that I still brag about today.

[Mystro]

I grew up hunting and killing with a pellet gun. I lived in a rual wooded and farming community. We all played outside, made forts, made our own long bows, and went on hunting trips daily for birds, rabbits, or any small game with out pellet guns. I learned at a very early age how to hunt by trial and error with that pellet gun. By the time I was 12, I was a efficient killing machine.. I leaned that accuracy and shot placement is what kills anything the quickest. When I started to hunt with a actual gun like a 22lr, I couldn't believe how easy it was to hunt with a more powerful gun. All those lessons I learned with a pellet gun was priceless in my hunting career. Still to this day, I could survive very well in the woods with a old pump pellet gun if I had to.

I even remember playing war with our pellet guns. We would put on our snowmobile suits and helmets and have a "one pump" rule with our guns. Then we would select teams and go out into the woods and precede to shoot at each other. We were tough kids back then.

[overthere]

Magnum wheel man, that is an awesome story. I can picture the consternation of what to do with the squirrel and the silence that must have resided at the table when it was being served

[mete]

My father never permitted us to have BB guns . He thought all to often kids [and adults !!] thought they were toys . We did however learn to shoot 'real guns' at about 8 Years old , 22LR ! And look where I am now .I agree with my father ! He did profit from my shooting over the years as many fine venison dinners !

[SHE3PDOG]

I shot airsoft guns a lot as a kid. My buddies and I would shoot bottles off of a swing set in his backyard. They don't hurt quite as much as bb guns, but they were alright. I moved on to shooting bb guns, then my dad's pellet rifle, the my grandpa's 12 gauge was the first actual gun I ever fired.

[rmocarsky]

AARONDHGRAHAM,

I had that single action!

It's power blew away the old BB rifles that weren't CO2.

Rmocarsky

P.S.: After I out grew it, my mother carried it in her glove compartment to scare away bad guys if needed. It looked that real.

[4runnerman]

Being 52 yrs old now, I can say I did the same thing. Started with a BB gun and then a Pellet gun. I shot in the back yard all the time. Big cardboard box filled with Blankets and such. Life was simple and fun. My mom ( bless her soul ) Was always against guns of any nature. My dad- He would come out and shoot with us sometimes. The days of the Red Ryder are all over. But the memories live forever.

[Husqvarna]

a friend of the familay gifted me a bolt action spring powered rifle, magazine fed but kinda pointless because it took all my might to work the bolt, I am talking resting the buttplate on the ground and using all my weight

and I was a big kid , like pushing 200pounds at 12 years old

My dad always had me shooting against the wheelbarrow (stood it up on the front wheel and the rim) as a bullet catcher I guess, but I didn't realize that and lined up my toysoldiers on the top rim

Not really used for hunting save for some pest control at my mums stable, but crows are damn smart so I had to find good hiding spots or shoot from inside vehicles or open windows to get them.

When my borther finalyl got his hands on it (I had advanced to .22s by that age) he bought the wrong kind of bullets and they are still odged in the barrel

[aarondhgraham]

It's power blew away the old BB rifles that weren't CO2.

It would wing a BB out there with some authority,,,
Enough to bury a BB about 1/4" deep into the palm of my hand.

If you could actually hit anything with it,,,
It was enough to drop a sparrow,,,
About 40 shots per cartridge.

Several of my friends had that Crossman spring powered BB pistol,,,
The one that was made to look like a 1911 Government .45,,,
They weren't nearly as powerful as my pistol was,,,
But theirs were so much cheaper to shoot,,,
And they also shot those nifty darts.

A big old wave of Nostalgia is sweeping over me,,,
I wonder if I can find one on EBAY.

Aarond

.