"I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!" --"Ralphie," from A Christmas Story
It's the movie that plays on repeat beginning on Thanksgiving and ending after New Year's Day, and it's easy to see why. Capturing as it does the angst and joy of Christmas through a child's eyes, A Christmas Story remains funny and relevant in perpetuity. But what a lot of people don't know is that the Daisy BB gun that Ralphie wanted so bad didn't actually exist at the time (although it does now!).
In fact, there's a lot about the Daisy story that most Americans wouldn't guess! For example, it began life as ... a windmill company? It's true: Back in the late nineteenth century, a man named Clarence Hamilton owned the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company. He also operated the Plymouth Air Rifle Company, which was located just around the corner.
The windmill company wasn't doing well; transportation costs were eating into profits. The windmill company's board had almost dissolved it when someone got the idea of giving the little air guns away as a premium with each windmill purchase. Plymouth Iron Windmill Company's General Manager L.C. Hough test-fired the gun and exclaimed, "Boy, that's a Daisy."
Where does American cultural history, ballistic innovation and a generational understanding of gun safety intersect? Follow the compass on the BB gun's buttstock and you'll find this terrific episode of American Rifleman TV!
