TO BB OR NOT TO BB
Written by: Der Luftmeister
There is little doubt that most shooters, regardless of whether they shoot firearms or airguns, started with a BB gun. Mine was a Daisy No. 100 Model 38 single shot that was cocked by pulling the stock downward as in opening a double barreled shotgun. Dropping a single pellet down the muzzle was the only way to put the BB in place. If I recall correctly, that gun cost $1.75 at that time. In those days, there were two other BB guns were popular, the Daisy Red Ryder and the Model 25 pump.
Today, there are numerous BB guns available, but some of them are repeaters that can also be used as a single shot pellet rifle. These include models such as the Crosman 760, 66, and 2100 as well as the Daisy 880. Although these multi-pump models can be used with BBs, they have rifled barrels and shoot at high velocity when given several pumps. I have never favored shooting steel BBs through the rifled barrels. One old gun of this type that I examined had very pronounced grooves in the rifling where a constant diet of steel ammunition had scraped away the metal. When I refer to a BB gun, it is the smooth bore type that comes to mind.
Three of the fine BB guns available from Compasseco are the Winchester 1894, the Red Ryder, and the Grizzly Model 840. It is the last of these that will be featured in this essay. My association with the 840 goes back several years to when I picked up a like new specimen in a pawn shop for $8. I was not really concerned much with this type of gun at the time, but thought that it would fill a gap in my modest collection of airguns. I set the gun aside without much thought, but eventually decided to work with it.
For shooting down the hallway, I usually set up a brown paper bag that has folded newspapers toward the back and a few crumpled up papers in front. For a BB gun that is all you need. I taped a target to the bag and started shooting. Wow! At 25 feet, my first three shots gave a very small cluster. None of my other strictly BB guns shot like that.
The Daisy 840 loads at the receiver rather than in a steel shroud around the barrel. That means that the barrel is a full 19 inches in length rather than the short tube used in guns like the Red Ryder. Being loaded by means of a bolt action, the breech is open when the bolt is pulled back. The shooter has a choice of pushing the bolt forward to load a BB from the 350 shot reservoir or placing a single pellet in the open breech. Cocking the 840 requires the pump handle which doubles as the forearm to be pulled down and pushed back in place. Only one pump stroke can be used so the power level is similar to that of other BB guns that have a cocking lever.
The 840 Grizzly is a handsome rifle that resembles a pump rimfire. It has a raised ridge on the receiver that has grooves which can accommodate clamp on mounts for a scope or red dot sight. The open sights are better than on most BB guns, and the rear sight is adjustable for elevation. The safety on this slick BB gun is located in the trigger guard.
Just for fun, I set up the chronograph to see what velocity the 840 gave. My first few shots were so uniform that I decided to send 20 BBs across the chronograph. The result was astounding. The average velocity was 304 ft/sec with a standard deviation of only 3.2 ft/sec! The velocity is right in line with most single cocking BB guns, but the velocity uniformity is excellent. When I switched to Daisy Max Speed pellets the average velocity was 278 ft/sec with a standard deviation of 3 ft/sec. The velocity with pellets is lower because a pellet weighs about three grains more than a BB.
I got some small groups shooting with open sights, but wanted to see what the 840 was capable of so I mounted a 2-7X AO airgun scope on it. With Daisy Max Speed pellets what I got at a distance of 25 feet were five 5-shot groups that averaged 0.56 inch. I later got almost the same results when using Gamo Match pellets. Although the accuracy was not as good as with pellets, BBs grouped quite well.
Now you may think that this would not be possible from a smoother bore. Remember that pellets have most of the weight in the head and the thin, hollow skirt acts like the webbing on a shuttlecock used in badminton. The pellet flies straight on regardless of whether it is spinning or not.
Most shooters of BB guns are content to hit pop cans, but the Daisy 840 is capable of much better accuracy than that. In my opinion, a better starter BB gun does not exist. If you have a youngster who wants to enjoy air gunning with you, check out the 840. It does not require a lot of pumping and it will shoot the same .177 pellets as the Tech Force BS4 or TF79 that Dad shoots.
There is little doubt that most shooters, regardless of whether they shoot firearms or airguns, started with a BB gun. Mine was a Daisy No. 100 Model 38 single shot that was cocked by pulling the stock downward as in opening a double barreled shotgun. Dropping a single pellet down the muzzle was the only way to put the BB in place. If I recall correctly, that gun cost $1.75 at that time. In those days, there were two other BB guns were popular, the Daisy Red Ryder and the Model 25 pump.
Today, there are numerous BB guns available, but some of them are repeaters that can also be used as a single shot pellet rifle. These include models such as the Crosman 760, 66, and 2100 as well as the Daisy 880. Although these multi-pump models can be used with BBs, they have rifled barrels and shoot at high velocity when given several pumps. I have never favored shooting steel BBs through the rifled barrels. One old gun of this type that I examined had very pronounced grooves in the rifling where a constant diet of steel ammunition had scraped away the metal. When I refer to a BB gun, it is the smooth bore type that comes to mind.
Three of the fine BB guns available from Compasseco are the Winchester 1894, the Red Ryder, and the Grizzly Model 840. It is the last of these that will be featured in this essay. My association with the 840 goes back several years to when I picked up a like new specimen in a pawn shop for $8. I was not really concerned much with this type of gun at the time, but thought that it would fill a gap in my modest collection of airguns. I set the gun aside without much thought, but eventually decided to work with it.
For shooting down the hallway, I usually set up a brown paper bag that has folded newspapers toward the back and a few crumpled up papers in front. For a BB gun that is all you need. I taped a target to the bag and started shooting. Wow! At 25 feet, my first three shots gave a very small cluster. None of my other strictly BB guns shot like that.
The Daisy 840 loads at the receiver rather than in a steel shroud around the barrel. That means that the barrel is a full 19 inches in length rather than the short tube used in guns like the Red Ryder. Being loaded by means of a bolt action, the breech is open when the bolt is pulled back. The shooter has a choice of pushing the bolt forward to load a BB from the 350 shot reservoir or placing a single pellet in the open breech. Cocking the 840 requires the pump handle which doubles as the forearm to be pulled down and pushed back in place. Only one pump stroke can be used so the power level is similar to that of other BB guns that have a cocking lever.
The 840 Grizzly is a handsome rifle that resembles a pump rimfire. It has a raised ridge on the receiver that has grooves which can accommodate clamp on mounts for a scope or red dot sight. The open sights are better than on most BB guns, and the rear sight is adjustable for elevation. The safety on this slick BB gun is located in the trigger guard.
Just for fun, I set up the chronograph to see what velocity the 840 gave. My first few shots were so uniform that I decided to send 20 BBs across the chronograph. The result was astounding. The average velocity was 304 ft/sec with a standard deviation of only 3.2 ft/sec! The velocity is right in line with most single cocking BB guns, but the velocity uniformity is excellent. When I switched to Daisy Max Speed pellets the average velocity was 278 ft/sec with a standard deviation of 3 ft/sec. The velocity with pellets is lower because a pellet weighs about three grains more than a BB.
I got some small groups shooting with open sights, but wanted to see what the 840 was capable of so I mounted a 2-7X AO airgun scope on it. With Daisy Max Speed pellets what I got at a distance of 25 feet were five 5-shot groups that averaged 0.56 inch. I later got almost the same results when using Gamo Match pellets. Although the accuracy was not as good as with pellets, BBs grouped quite well.
Now you may think that this would not be possible from a smoother bore. Remember that pellets have most of the weight in the head and the thin, hollow skirt acts like the webbing on a shuttlecock used in badminton. The pellet flies straight on regardless of whether it is spinning or not.
Most shooters of BB guns are content to hit pop cans, but the Daisy 840 is capable of much better accuracy than that. In my opinion, a better starter BB gun does not exist. If you have a youngster who wants to enjoy air gunning with you, check out the 840. It does not require a lot of pumping and it will shoot the same .177 pellets as the Tech Force BS4 or TF79 that Dad shoots.
posted by Randy Mitchell at
1:09 PM
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