Quality BB gun?

[MBanning]

My nephew wants a BB gun for his birthday. He is turning 9 and I would like to get him something nice. He is a responsible young man who already has a .22LR for pest control on the farm.
It seems most BB guns are all plastic and quite cheap. I don't want CO² cartridges, PCP, or anything that is too hard for him to cock. Are there any decent options? Budget isn't unlimited but I would be happy to pay a few $100 for wood and steel over plastic.
Thank you for looking and for any help you may be able to offer,
MBanning

 

[Pomyluy]

I've heard good things about the Diana Oktoberfest, but personally haven't shot / don't own one (yet).

 

[Coffee_and_Pipes]

Given his age, I’d probably get him a Red Ryder. I understand that’s going in the opposite direction, but here are my reasons:

• Inexpensive — he’ll have plenty of time for nicer BB guns when he’s a little older and can appreciate them more, and inexpensive means you could buy 2-3, and impromptu shooting competitions are fun
• Low/no maintenance — pour BBs into it, lean it in the corner when finished shooting
• Simple, easy to use action — he’ll be able to shoot it without constantly handing it to an adult, if his family wants that
• Low velocity — you can somewhat see the BBs arc as they fly off, so it’s a great opportunity to learn about trajectories and holding for elevation, plus lower velocity could mean lower collateral damage to surroundings, and, he’s already got a .22

I’m all for your nephew having all the best BB guns there are, but I’d argue that right now is about setting foundations, and a Red Ryder, or 3, is great for that.

 

[Coffee_and_Pipes]

Alternatively, find a nice BB gun for yourself, like what you mentioned above, and take it over to his place and have him shoot it with you, and tell him that when he reaches ___ age, the BB gun will be his.

 

[hlee]

I was at my dads place and ran across my old red Ryder a couple of years ago. Grabbed a couple of empty soda cans out of the recycling and threw them in the yard. Popped each a couple of times, then handed it off to my smirking teen-aged son. We went back and forth for about 1/2 an hour, and he learned how much fun a simple spring operated BB gun can be.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

I was going to say Crosman 760 - variable-velocity pump/bolt action. BBs feed from a magazine, .177 pellets single feed. Smooth bore, but pellets are as accurate as one can get without rifling. These things have been around forever - I remember the guys in my neighborhood had them. Yeah, they are plastic and cheap... but they WORK.

So I checked the Crosman web page to insure they're still sold, and see that the 2100 is offered... similar to 760 but has a rifled barrel.

I'm not sure "quality" and "BB" are achievable on the same platform.... Even when I was a kid in the early '60s, most BB guns had plastic stocks. I had a weird Crosman model that was cocked by pumping the barrel straight back into the receiver and it had a wood stock, but I can't even find it on google now (not that I looked very hard) - maybe the V350..

 

[CavReconScout]

Our BB gun club uses these. Not horribly expensive, but really accurate https://www.daisy.com/product/daisy-model-499b-champion-competition-rifle/

CMP sells these M853s. I have one with the Monte Carlo stock and it’s a shooter too.
https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/sporter-air-rifles/

Not in the same price range as the Diana, but they sure shoot great!

 

[Basher]

Does it have to be a BB gun, or can it be a pellet gun?

If it can be a pellet gun, I’d recommend either a Weihrauch HW30S or an HW50S in .177. The 30 is a little smaller and is easiest to cock, which translates to lower velocities though still enough for small game at short distances (~20y and in or so). The 50 is a full-size rifle that’s still easy to cock, but pushes velocities up into the 700-800fps range, making it capable of small game at more extended ranges (~40y or thereabouts). Both are a ton of fun to shoot and being break-barrel/single-shot, he won’t blow through pellets too fast and will learn to make each shot count. More importantly, both are quality air rifles that should last generations if properly cared for.

 

[supercorndogs]

Winchester number 12 or daisy number 25 pump action bb guns. I had modle 25 when I was little that was the most fun non co2 non pcp air gun I have shot.

 

[SortOfClear]

Firearms - Feinwerkbau 300s .177 Target Air Rifle

This is the gun that started it all for me in 1986 in ROTC. I learned 3 Position shooting with this rifle in high school. Those were the days. These were an Olympic grade pellet rifle in the early 80s and will punch a single hole at 20 meters. Out of nostalgia, I purchased this one when I taught...

www.snipershide.com

Lever cocking air rifles might be what you are looking for. Tend to have better fit & finish.

 

[spife7980]

Daisy powerline 880 is the only answer. Better than a red ryder but its cheap enough that he can take it apart etc for science and experimenting. Its plastic... but I still have mine 30 years later.

Pumping it once is super soft, 10 pumps will take down a whitewing. Bam, instant ballistics lesson. But unlike my break barrel springers, its easier to get the 10 pumps than overcoming the spring.

 

[steve123]

Even now in my old age I wouldn't mind a higher quality BB gun. I've been tempted to buy this one, lol!
It uses a battery system and gets good reviews.
Barra 400E. https://barraairguns.com/cdn/shop/files/400e_polymer_001.jpg?v=1744401420&width=2000

55 years ago I started with a Daisy Field Master BB gun which was perfect for me at age 9.
Then a few years later a Crosman 760 multi pump but they were made better back then.
Then a German made Diana M27 youth sized barrel cocker pellet gun which was massively better made and much more precise!
I shot so much I broke all these but the Diana lasted 3-4 years vs a year or so for the others.

BB's bounce back because they are steel, depending on what they hit, and a kid I knew when I was a boy had his eye ruined by one coming back at him. Eye Pro is mandatory IMHO.

BB guns are typically 2-3 fpe whereas a youth pellet gun will be 6-8 fpe.

The pellet gun was the clear winner, the others just cheap toys if compared.

The really old Crosman 22 cal M140 pellet guns were decently made metal and wood multi pumps and they can be rebuilt. I had one that I won at a FT match which had just been fully rebuilt by Mike Baker out of Cottonwood AZ. I think this one would be good for the kid because one pump using a 14.3gr pellet is about 300 fps, and two is about 400 fps, then as he grows and he can handle pumping more it'll be about 700 fps at 8 pumps which will go right through a Cottontail rabbit 20 yards away.

The Benjamin and Sheridan multi's are similar.

I have a compressor so my grandson will likely end up with a cool little pcp and they have really neat ones nowadays. Wish I had one when I was a kid.

Actually I'm still a kid at heart so this year when my family goes on our annual camping trip I think I'll get one of these for us to play with at camp, along with some of my other pcp's of course, to shoot on steel and to do some hunting.

 

[buffalowinter]

I've heard good things about the Diana Oktoberfest, but personally haven't shot / don't own one (yet).

Just bought one. Brings back memories.

 

[LA260]

My nephew wants a BB gun for his birthday. He is turning 9 and I would like to get him something nice. He is a responsible young man who already has a .22LR for pest control on the farm.
It seems most BB guns are all plastic and quite cheap. I don't want CO² cartridges, PCP, or anything that is too hard for him to cock. Are there any decent options? Budget isn't unlimited but I would be happy to pay a few $100 for wood and steel over plastic.
Thank you for looking and for any help you may be able to offer,
MBanning

Look into Gamo. I have one of their wood models I bought over 20 years ago. Still shooting great and it has a feel of a real rifle.

 

[steve123]

Look into Gamo. I have one of their wood models I bought over 20 years ago. Still shooting great and it has a feel of a real rifle.

I'm really not trying to be contrary but a Gamo springer is one of the worst for a few reasons, however 20 years ago they were better made than recently.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

Story time. Maybe other geezers can relate.

I was 7 when my dad brought home the BB gun I had wanted for months. I still remember that late afternoon in the back yard, which abutted a deep woods where we kids played. My first target was a pine tree. Dad was right behind me so he could reign in any errant gun movement.

That's all I remember of the first evening. The best part of the story comes the next afternoon after school.

I came in the door already begging my mother to let me shoot. No, no, said she, you have to wait for your father to come home. O please Please PLEASE, I'll be CAREFUL! Dad told me what to do!

She gave in. She said, ok, but you can only have 10 BBs. Then you have to wait for your dad.

So I took those 10 precious BBs out with the rifle (lever cocked, probably a Daisy). I put some green Army men on the little mound of dirt - my first BERM! - like Dad had showed me. Then I backed up and carefully picked off the plastic menaces, taking my time to make my 10 BBs last.

Then they were gone.

And I stood there looking at that pile of dirt and thought... yeah. I dug into the dirt. In moments I had my BBs back.

I shot all afternoon with those 10 BBs.

Looking back, I'm sure my mother was watching carefully. I'm surprised she didn't call me in... but she didn't. She let me have my fun.

That was over six and a half decades ago. The first of a million days afield.

 

[carbonbased]

I put some green Army men on the little mound of dirt

I remember using firecrackers to blow those guys up too. good times!

 

[spife7980]

Story time. Maybe other geezers can relate.

I was 7 when my dad brought home the BB gun I had wanted for months. I still remember that late afternoon in the back yard, which abutted a deep woods where we kids played. My first target was a pine tree. Dad was right behind me so he could reign in any errant gun movement.

That's all I remember of the first evening. The best part of the story comes the next afternoon after school.

I came in the door already begging my mother to let me shoot. No, no, said she, you have to wait for your father to come home. O please Please PLEASE, I'll be CAREFUL! Dad told me what to do!

She gave in. She said, ok, but you can only have 10 BBs. Then you have to wait for your dad.

So I took those 10 precious BBs out with the rifle (lever cocked, probably a Daisy). I put some green Army men on the little mound of dirt - my first BERM! - like Dad had showed me. Then I backed up and carefully picked off the plastic menaces, taking my time to make my 10 BBs last.

Then they were gone.

And I stood there looking at that pile of dirt and thought... yeah. I dug into the dirt. In moments I had my BBs back.

I shot all afternoon with those 10 BBs.

Looking back, I'm sure my mother was watching carefully. I'm surprised she didn't call me in... but she didn't. She let me have my fun.

That was over six and a half decades ago. The first of a million days afield.

I really enjoyed reading that.
I don’t remember a specific day like that but I got my red Ryder bb for a birthday, a year or two later for the daisy pellet pump on Christmas or a birthday, a year or two later was the marlin22.
I do remember my cousins having tons of the little 100 pack sacks of bbs and me never having enough and having to mooch. Now that I’m typing this, maybe there’s where my accumulation of ammo/reloading thing started…
Anyways, my favorite bb times were up in the tree house in town hunting the garden stealing birds- or the robins when they would come through and cover everything in poop.

 

[ironman56]

If you go the red rider route. Don't get the marlin one it's plastic made to look like wood , I bought one a few weeks ago with a order from midway ,it went backorder and I forgot about it ,well it came yesterday and after unboxing it I was disappointed with it. Too much plastic and rear peep sight instead of a open notch , but it was cheap and I have shot it a bit , someone else mentioned a Barra and I have the 1000z iirc it a pcp and a very good one ,loaned it to a neighbor and he's had it ever since, I bet he's shot 50 squirrels with it , I've got a safe full of pcp air guns so I don't miss it much , if I was going to buy a springer I'd get a under lever the break barrel models tend to not be as accurate because the scope is not attached to the barrel , ,the Barra electric model look interesting too