RARE! Daisy WW1 Number 40 Military Variant 2
Description:
An EXTREMELY rare Daisy the number 40.WW1 air rifle complete with ORIGINAL SLING and BAYONET! The is a true barn find, as found condition.This is truly an UNTOUCHED relic.The original lead shooter, The only negative is the standard number 25 shot tube is missing, other than that is it complete with minor surface rust and a dry wood stock from being in storage for many years. The gun cocks and fires loudly! Manufactured from 1919 to 1932 only. World War I focused the attention of America on war. Our last few conflicts had been regional ones in Cuba, the Philippines and elsewhere, but this war involved most of the world.
Daisy was busy making BB guns as always, so when the youth in this country started looking at things military, they thought about bringing out a BB gun that looked like a military rifle. Work on the project took from 1914 until the gun came out in 1916.
The gun had a full wooden stock, much like the Springfield 1903 rifle. It also had a khaki-colored sling that attached to eyes on the butt and forearm. But it had one other feature that made it the most infamous BB gun of its day–a bayonet!
Yes, the No. 40 came with a genuine steel bayonet that attached to the muzzle of the gun. The bayonet was blunt-tipped and covered with a tiny rubber tip. Because it was removable, boys either lost it or parents removed it for safekeeping and today the bayonet is far scarcer than the gun. At the last Roanoke show, I could buy a decent No. 40 (not a nice one, but all the parts there and working) for $300 or so. One with a bayonet was above $700. So you figure out what that appendage is worth. It’s such a coveted item that there are aftermarket bayonets people have made to use as placeholders.
I once bought a rusty No. 40 for $75 at a flea market. Of course, it had neither the sling nor bayonet at that price, but it was a complete gun. It worked fine and shot pretty hard–in the 325 f.p.s. range as I recall–so that was good. So, for a short while, I owned this gun. When I bought it, I did so because I knew I could make some money selling it. But I was also captivated by the look of the gun. It LOOKS like a million dollars–just the way a BB gun OUGHT to look.
Wayne will understand what I am about to say and I know others like Kevin, Vince and BG_Farmer will, as well. Some guns just beg to be held! The 1903 Springfield is such a rifle. The 1917 Enfield doesn’t look as inviting, but when held it feels even better than a Springfield. A Weatherby Mark V is another rifle that invites holding. Well, the No. 40 Daisy BB gun is like that. It just looks right!
However, the first time you cock the gun, it doesn’t FEEL right at all! The rough cast-iron lever pulls away from the stock very hard, and you find yourself wondering how some small boy could ever have cocked this thing. I used to be a small boy and I can tell you we had numerous ways of doing things adults didn’t think we could. Although I never saw a No. 40 in my youth, I’m quite sure I could have dealt with it had one come my way.
The cocking lever also only came out away from the gun in an arc of about 90 degrees, so Daisy didn’t use all the leverage they could have. That, coupled with a stiff mainspring, was the reason for the hard cocking.
The No. 40 used the new 50-shot, forced-feed shot tube Daisy had recently developed for use in the No. 25 pump gun. As a result, the No. 40 never rattled the way gravity-feed BB guns do. It always sounded as solid as it looked.
Lead shooter
In 1916, the BB gun world was still one governed by lead shot. It would be more than a decade before the steel shot that we know today would come about. Lead air rifle shot, as it was known, was 0.175″ in diameter, nominally. That’s larger than today’s steel shot that runs around 0.172″. More importantly, the lead shot tubes used a swaged (ed to cause a constriction) shot seat to hold the next BB in position, so it didn’t just roll out the barrel. The air transfer port in a BB gun like this is an actual tube that mechanically pushes the BB through the constriction and starts it on its way down the bore. Then, a blast of air through the tube accelerates the BB up to the final velocity. See photos for a true representation of the gun.
NOTE: A bayonet just sold on EBAY for $500 alone! Another went to $674.00 JUST FOR THE BAYONET!
SOLD