I never had a Red Ryder either. I was a Crossman man, after graduating from my dad's hand-me-down from when he was a kid in the 30's- a gawdawful Daisy single shot, cocked like breaking open a single shot shotgun, loaded by dropping a BB down the barrel, a true muzzle loader. Accuracy was virtually non-existent, muzzle velocity in the realm of 50 fps or so. Barely good enough to hit and sting a kid sister in the butt. But, nigh onto 60 years later it and the Crossman Killer Diller occupy point of pride in the gun cabinet. (I really ought to see if it will still light up my kid sister.)
Feeding that thing set a pattern to follow the rest of my life. My measly allowance went for buying BB's, all of it, every week. Milky Way bars, Cokes, comic books? Nope. BB's, all the way man. (Well there was the occasional pack of Greenie Stickum Caps, and the odd condom or two.) The gun shot best with Winchester's, at first in the 250-count red cardboard tubes and later in the yellow/blue tubes. Honest to god, as a six year old I range tested different brands. (Will it hit an empty bean can at 15 feet or not. Definitely critical for sniping the correct butt cheek when the prey was hiding behind the grape arbor.)
Don't even get me started on .22's, which my parents didn't allow until well after all my buddies had graduated to one. I wonder why.
