Was the Daisy 99 kinda powerful? Compared to 499?

[JeffOYB]

In the 1970's I won a Daisy 99 at a Jaycee's turkey shoot. That was fun! It was a great gun. I used it for plinking after that for years. I recall it being fairly potent. Better than any other lever-cock Daisy-type BB-gun I or my sidekicks ever had. (It was a different story when a kid with a Sheridan first showed up on the scene...)

A few years ago I looked into this type of gun again, for my own boy. I bought him a 499. And, sure enough, it's very accurate...but it's also very weak. Intentionally so, according to the info, it being a 5-meter trainer.

But I still wonder about the 99...

I see them come up on the secondhand market.

Were they a lot more powerful than the 499?

Thanks for any insights... JP

[Jim Morrison]

It’s been a while since I fooled with BB guns. But once i did. There were two Jaycee model 99. One was a 50 shot or so magazine fed and the other was a “bulk” fed. The 499 was a later model which was ‘muzzle loaded. Common to all BB guns is the action spring.

This common ‘factory’ spring propels the BB right at 300 fps. Back in the hay-days of the Jaycee BB Gun Programs, non-factory spring were available but not legal to use. And they didn’t add much to the performance.

What made the 499 accuate was the barrel. The is nothing you can do to the 499 to make is more accuate. With a 499 it’s up to the shooter.

There are two BB targets, one is the 15 foot A46, The other is the 5 meter AR4.

Both model are still fun to shoot.

[Guest]

Thanks for the details!

I had heard that the newer 499's were significantly de-tuned to 250fps and that the old 99's were much stronger. My own recollection is that I used my 99 for "power shooting"---that it was the strongest of all our local BB-guns in addition to being more accurate.

I wonder if the 99 was as accurate as the 499. And also if my recollection was right and it was stronger.

We like our 499 and its accuracy but it's as weak as heck -- suitable only for the 15-foot event for which it was designed. I just don't remember my 99 being weak at all.

[Jim Morrison]

What are your best scores with the 99 vs the 499?

[Jim Morrison]

I should have added:

best scores with the 499 / 99 at either the 5 meters or 15 foot target?

[dhurt]

Hey Jim Morrison!! Rather off topic, but I used to shoot your air pistol matches, once upon a time. I recall winning a few "silver dollars" that you gave as prizes. Many years later, I have a 7 year old son that gets silver dollars from the tooth fairy! How about that for nostalgia... It was a lot of fun to shoot your matches, and I am still trying to improve....making a little progress after 20+ years. Best regards, Dwaine Hurt.

[Jim Morrison]

D Hurt:
Good to hear from you. At the time you shot in the postal match, where were you located.

Did you ever get to shoot in the Daisy Program?

[dhurt]

Howdy, Actually, I shot your "club" matches. I think in the bowling ally basement in south Omaha, and at another location, maybe Papillion? I lived in Red Oak, IA at the time and currently live there once again. I recall coming home from Iowa State to shoot your matches, must have been early 80's. I never shot the Daisy rifles. It is pretty much a pistol match wasteland around here other than Doc. Schlictemeirs matches. It was always nice to shoot in Omaha. Yours, Dwaine

[Jim Morrison]

The joke about that time was "What location are we going to shoot next."

I finally had to give it up in the mid 80's due to travel time with my job.

Doc. Schlictemeirs is conducting pistol match at the Weeping Water Club which is located near Weeping Water, NE.

Good to hear from you.

[Jim Morrison]

Pistol Instructional Clinic to be Held
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A pistol instruction clinic will be held on Saturday, June 6th from 1-5:30 p.m. at the Weeping Water Gun Club. The clinic will be taught by 12 -time National Pistol Champion Dr. William Schlichtemeier.

Participants should bring their own .22 pistol. In addition, participants should bring .22 ammo, eye and ear protection, a stapler, masking tape to repair targets, a pen, and a writing pad. Binoculars or a scope would be helpful. No holsters are needed, as the clinic will focus on marksmanship, not combat situations.

Responsible juniors are allowed; they must be able to hold up their pistol with one hand.

Advance registration only. Please call 558-2211. Cost is $22 and checks may be made out to the Weeping Water Gun Club.

All levels will notice improvement.

This appeared in the Canfield news letter which you can sign up via their web page.

http://www.canfields.com/

[JeffOYB]

Hi! Sorry for the huge delay in replying! : ) I guess my spamblock ate my reply-notices. To get back to the topic/question... I wrecked my 99 when I was a teen so it's no longer with us. I've never scored my 499. I'm just impressed by it, is all. It shoots dime-size groups, all right, at 15-25 ft or so. I'm mostly just curious about the power of the 99. But from what you've posted they used the same spring unless you modified it and changed out the spring which I never did with my old 99. Maybe its accuracy got us kids mixed up and we decided that it was more powerful! I had the chance to get a nice 99 with sling at a gun show yesterday for $50 and it brought back memories. Yes, it was the repeater, which is nice. I wondered if my teen might appreciate it more than our 499 muzzleloader. Getting a target tempo going is fun, but muzzleloading is fine, too.

[alanwein]

The 499Bs that show up for our club have a wide range of velocities. It is apparent that some come from the factory with weak springs. There is a detectable difference in the velocity that you can hear while they shoot. Some guns are weak just because of the spring, while others need a different kind of grease/lube in the compression chamber. I have seen 3 different types of grease in the compression chamber in the last 5 years in new guns. My understanding is that 'Slick 50' is the current lube and I have had good results using it to repair guns. The last gun I fixed was so slow it would not penetrate the target/cardboard and a replacement spring has the shooter smiling again. That was a 2 year old gun.