By B.B. Pelletier
Today is a fun day. Imagine you work at the Daisy Manufacturing Company around the year 1960. It might have been a few years earlier, but probably not much later.
You’re cranking out BB guns by the million each year, and the monotony is getting to you. So you decide to do something different.
In another part of the plant they make true toy guns that don’t shoot anything. These are for the smaller boys and girls who aren’t yet ready for the responsibility of a real BB gun.
To hold their interest, these toys are painted with bright colors that contrast vividly with the almost black finish you put on BB guns. So your idea is to paint a few real BB guns with some of the bright toy colors. Blue and pink are especially attractive, having been blended to suit the marketing department’s brainstorm that kids want their guns to be gender-specific.
In the injection-molding department, you get the guys to make a special short run of white plastic stocks, similar to the real Annie Oakley and Space Ranger stocks they recently made for the marketeers. Those guns never sold well, but you won’t be selling the guns you’re about to make, so it doesn’t matter.
Daisy Targeteer pistol
Daisy number 25 pump rifle
The guns you chose to doll up this way are Daisy’s number 25 pump gun and the Targeteer pistol. Both familiar icons of American youth, they look positively other-worldly in electric “Toy Blue” with white styrene stocks.
Once they are together, you decide these guns look so special that they are presented to some person (or persons, because nobody knows for sure how many were made) who is in favor at Daisy.
A few guns also make their way into the hands of some of the old-time Daisy employees who collect what the company makes. In 50 years, they have all changed hands and all that anyone can remember is that a few were made for one reason or another.
Obviously, they were made because you see them here. One man owns both these BB guns and has little motivation to part with either one. The number 25 pump gun is in nearly new condition, only with evidence of handling and storage. The Targeteer pistol has more wear but still shows a lot of the original paint. The white styrene on both guns is yellowing, but not as much as it appears in these pictures.
Though they are at least 45 years old, they use the same BBs as today’s airguns. If they aren’t shooting hard when you get them, a little gun oil in the right place brings them back most of the time.
These unique airguns and others like them are what keep many collectors young at heart. You never know when you’ll encounter a strange item like one of these (or both!). Go to the airgun shows and watch the gun auctions and you’ll run across something strange sooner or later.
Now, the title of this article is incorrect. You’ve seen these two guns, right here!
Hey,Have you ever heard of a Annie Oakley BB Gun??
Thanks,Brian
Brian,
I have heard of an Annie Oakley noisemaker gun from Daisy. It has a white plastic stock an gold-painted metal.
B.B.
BB,
Well I`ve found it very interesting the #25 and the 177 pictures. Did some employees really make there own verions of guns from time to time.I know somebody that has a real factory built Annie Oakley BB Gun.I can get you a picture of it and tell me what you think.I`ve talked with other people and the`ve said they have heard about one but have never seen one.
BB,
By the way this gun I`m talking about is Plymouth,Mich.
I actually spoke to Orin Ribar who worked at Daisy more than 40 years and is now the curator of the Daisy museum. I told him I had heard of an Annie Oakley gun and he said they had never made one. I have seen the noisemaker.
B.B.
B.B.
I talked to Orin a couple of times in the past few months and he told me the same thing.But what are the chances a employee made the gun on the side or something,like the pictures of the two examples you have the #25 and the 177 It is made on a model 80,bronze color and white stock and forearm. Is there any way I can email you a picture??
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Please send the photo to this address:
expedition459@yahoo.com
B.B.
Hi
Just to put the question at rest. Yes there is an Annie Oakley Daisy BB Gun. I know because I bought one in the original box with the white holster belt included. It was at a garage sale and the price they were asking was a whole $2. I have sold it since, but wish I didn’t.
Kim whateva@cox.net
Kim,
Thanks for your input! I have a photo of a Annie Oakley BB gun and I maintain contact with the man who owns it.
Daisy still denies such a gun was ever made! But they did make an Annie Oakley noisemaker gun. Was that possibly what was in your box, or do you know for certain that it was a BB gun?
B.B.
I am 13 years old, Do you think i am old enough for my own bb gun ?
What I think doesn’t matter. It’s what your parents think that counts. What do they say?
B.B.
I got a camoflage daisy and there was something the matter and i took it apart and can’t get it back together
Call the dealer. They should be able to fix it. If not, Daisy can do it.
B.B.
I have the Annie Oakley air rifle (noisemaker as you call it). I bought it in grade school and kept it as one of my treasures all these years. I never heard of an AO BB gun — just the cap gun and holster — which I would dearly love to own. I’d be very happy with my air rifle and that gun, if I could get it. I also had the AO cowgirl outfit, but my mother must’ve tossed it long ago. Not that it would quite fit now. 🙂
I have a Daisy air rifle here and it has Daisy No 25 and Plymouth Mich. USA on it but nothing else. what would someone expect to pay for a well used one? my email is can.lindsay@ihug.co.nz
thanks
nelson
nelson,
Anywhere from $40 to $250. It depends which version of the Plymouth-made 25 you have. They were made in Plymouth from 1913 through about 1957.
B.B.
I have the Annie Oakley air rifle from approx. 1960. I slipped it past the nuns at recess when I brought it back from the store. I have kept it all these years. The “noise” is now just a weak burp, but that’s to be expected. I guess. I know my own noises have been reduced to weak burps over the years.
Any idea how much this rifle is worth? It was played with, so it’s not pristine, but it’s in good shape overall.
An Annie Oakley noisemaker in good condition will fetch $80-100 on Ebay.
B.B.
thank you for your earlier advice, b.b! I killed my first pigeon yesterday with my gamo recon.
Slugbird,
Good for you. I guess the Recon has what it takes. You, too.
B.B.
ok so..
i was at my great grandmothers this past weekend cleaning out her house and getting things that we wanted to keep. and i came across this Daisy no.25 BB gun its the exact gun as in the picture above but the stock and pump handle are both darker wood. i was just curious if this BB gun was worth anymoney or would be in the future?
Take a look at this report:
/blog/2005/11/daisy-no-25-pump-bb-gun/
That gun has a wooden stock and may be more like what you saw at your grandmother’s.
These guns range in value depending on which sub-model they are and the condition they are in. A pristine 1913 variation with all its black nickel is worth several thousand dollars. Mine, which has only traces of the silver nickel that is under the black nickel, is worth about $300.
A more common 25 in average condition is worth about $75 is it has wooden stock and pump handle. $50 if they are plastic.
How many grooves does the pump handle have? How much blue or black paint remains on the gun? How much rust is there?
B.B.
There is a Daisy Annie Oakley SILVER Super Smoke Noisemaker on eBay Now for only $1.00
Froggy,
It’s been taken down.
B.B.
I have the blue Daisy Targeteer pistol with white Styrene grips I have searched for it in the past but only found the black one with the woodgrain grips. I did not realize just how rare my pistol may be.
shawnmaxwell@comcast.net
wow! all this talk of an Annie Oakley 'pop'air rifle + canteen in origial box and cap gun with holster and Annie Oakley outfit and I have all of them but nobody seems to wanted to buy them when they were on Ebay.I'm interested in selling them folks,but I'm not going to give them away either.Their rarity and condition deserves a reasonable price because of that.If your interested
email me at crownvicky1955@yahoo.ca and we'll see what happens.
You'll never get seen on this old report. I do a new one every weekday and there are over 1,200 of them now.
Go here and make sure you have photos to go with the items:
http://www.airguns.net/classifieds/classifieds.php
Also, what you have are considered toyguns. You will be in front of airgunners, some of which cross over into the toygun collectibles. Just be aware of that.
B.B.
B.B.
I came across your blog when I typed in Blue and White BB gun. I had no idea they were so rare. As a young girl I had a blue and white BB gun and was telling my husband about it. I was trying to find a photo on the internet to show him. Guess it WAS something special!! ( I always thought I was something special to have a blue and white BB gun, the boys all had brown and black ones) I can't find one any where like it. The stock was white and the metal was blue. I just thought it was a "girls" BB gun. May have to dig a little deeper to find out what it is. PS that was at least 40 years ago. I don't remember getting it new. So it had to have come from an estate sale or yard sale back then…
I know the BB gun you refer to. It was probably the Daisy model 110 Rocket Command gun. It was a lever action, much like a Red Ryder. I owned one back then, too.
It had a space motif on the side with rockets and stars, and was called the Space Command gun. And it had two holes on the side of the receiver to accept a scope mount.
It's an uncommon gun that brings about $300 in good condition today.
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B.B.