Loading ...
Visitors Love the Daisy Museum and the Daisy Plant
Posted by Junior Shooters
By: Andy Fink
This museum is something else. If you ever get to Rogers, Arkansas you have got to go there. This year, 2010, Daisy arranged a tour of the museum and their manufacturing plant as part of the Daisy National BB Gun Championship 2010. Friday was not only practice day for the BB gun championship, it was also tour day.
(Right: The Washington County Jaycees BB gun team in front of the Daisy mural on the side of the Daisy museum in downtown Rogers, Arkansas.)
(Left: Shader Brown kneeling. One of the participants at the Daisy BB Gun Championship 2010. He is shooting the Daisy Avanti 499 competition BB gun.)
Most of the participants picked either the morning or afternoon to go practice at the local high school. This gave them the opportunity to visit both the Daisy museum and the Daisy plant where they saw Daisy Red Ryders actually being manufactured. Daisy provided a bus that shuttled back and forth from both locations. These tours were fun and very interesting. I was very impressed with how friendly all of the Daisy personnel were.
(“In 2009, Daisy replicated 1,000 of the first model Daisy which the Daisy Museum sold to collectors.” First model BB gun shown above in museum display.)
A replica of the first Daisy BB gun was displayed at the Daisy Airgun Museum in historic downtown Rogers along with almost every model made and the history of the company. Specials on some of Daisy’s products were also available for purchase, so if you go to the championship, you really want to stop by the museum.
(Above: Lewis & Clark’s Air Rifle taken on their expedition west in 1803.)
(Pneumatic rifle circa 1770 from Denmark.)
(Left: Red Ryder with two Daisy Red Ryder BB Guns slung in scabbards.)
The Daisy Museum is a separate non-profit corporation, established to protect and display to the public an amazing collection of airguns and Daisy memorabilia. Museum displays include antique airguns dating to the 1700s as well as just about every model of Daisy made. Antique artwork, most of which was used in past Daisy advertising, adorns the walls.
The Daisy Museum gift shop markets the complete Daisy product line as well as some limited edition collectibles which are exclusively available through the museum (or www.daisymuseum.com)! In 2009, Daisy replicated 1,000 of the first model Daisy which the Daisy Museum sold to collectors. This pre-patent "wirestock" gun was first made in 1888 by the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan.
(Right: The home of the first Daisy BB gun, the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company 1888 in Plymouth, Michigan)
(Above left: girl with the Independence BB Gun. Above right: boy with a replica of the first Daisy BB gun. Below left: Girl with Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. Below right: girl with camouflage patterned BB gun.)
(Above: Daisy model 85 pump action 100 anniversary BB gun.)
(Left: Boy with the “Duke” model Daisy BB gun.)
Everyone visiting the museum seemed to enjoy it. The antique artwork and displays really showed off all of the airguns displayed. I was extremely interested in some of the antique airguns from the 1700s and 1800s. I took the opportunity provided by having so many of the juniors there to take a ton of photos of different airguns held by some of the participants in the event. If you want to see more photos of the museum and juniors who visited, click on:
DAISY PLANT TOUR
Going through a manufacturing plant is always interesting. The Daisy plant was certainly that and fun as well.
(Left: Daisy Winchester Model 94 receivers waiting to be put together in on of the icon rifles of the Old West.)
Many of the juniors couldn’t bear to move past the huge barrels filled with BBs where they kept running their hands through them before the BBs get packaged into tubes and bottles.
(Right: They loved the BBs in the BB barrel.)
One of the things I didn’t know about Daisy is that Daisy supplies drill rifles to JROTC units of all service divisions. These are non-firing replicas.
(Left: One of the participants with Daisy’s non-firing 1903 Springfield replica drill rifle.)
Daisy guns are subjected to quality evaluation and rigid testing. It was very interesting to observe the process. They are even tested to ensure they meet velocity requirements.
(Above right: Each gun is tested to meet velocity specifications. Below – left & right: cutouts of Red Ryder with faces of a couple of the BB gun participants.)
Daisy had a cut-out of Red Ryder that I took advantage of to take photos of some of the athletes that were with the tour I was part of. If you want to go check out more photos of the plant and BB gun participants taking the tour then click on:
Want to build your own BB gun? Two adults, coaches out of each plant tour group, actually got to build their own Red Ryder BB guns and take them home. The coaches really seemed to enjoy it and taking home their own Red Ryder that they made was a real thrill.
(Above right: Coach making his own BB gun. Below: “Oh, yeah! I made it and I’m taking it home!”
So, don’t forget the Daisy Museum and plant tours when visiting Rogers, Arkansas. I guarantee it will be a pleasurable experience.
(Right: Placing the saddle ring on the Red Ryder receiver.)
www.daisy.com.
Comments