BB Gun Industry has Rich History in Northville/Plymouth

Plymouth gets a lot of the attention when it comes to the historical local BB gun market – attention of the Red Ryder BB Gun variety, the sort that little boys were cautioned about in the classic movie A Christmas Story.

The more Dave Murphy delved into it, though, he realized the local industry was more intricate than it seemed.

Tuesday at the , Murphy shared with members of Northville's Rotary Club some of the history behind the four – yes, four – competing BB gun companies in the Northville/Plymouth area.

"I started deciphering bits and pieces," he said.

Speaking to a group of about 20 people, Murphy shared information about the companies, three of which were in Plymouth and 300 yards from one another. What most people probably do not know, he said, is that although Daisy gets most of the attention when it comes to BB guns the company actually started out as an iron windmill company, which bought out its competitors before moving out of state.

"Daisy moved out and moved to Arkansas," he said. "It devastated the city."

Referring to a collection of guns on a display table, Murphy went through the history of the guns in his collection. Ironically, as a child growing up in Plymouth he wanted a BB gun but was never allowed to have one. Now he has a collection of 16.

"A lot of these guns are here today because they're toys. They're the guns that Mom took away," he said, adding that they ended up in attics and such and were forgotten about until they became collectibles. There are about 10 serious collectors in the country, he said.

"I wanted a small collection that tells the story," he said. "That's what he have here."

Murphy did most of his research with the help of the Plymouth Historical Museum. All along he read books about the guns and became familiar enough with the history from his independent research to notice there was "misinformation about who made what guns," he said.

This prompted Murphy to volunteer his time to put together a poster for the Plymouth museum detailing the history of the industry in this area. It includes a timeline, pictures of the many guns manufactured and a map that shows where the companies were located.

The Northville company, Dubuar Manufacturing, was known for making globe air rifles. Eventually, it was bought by Daisy.

Murphy's neighbor, Traci Sincock, the director of  and member of the Rotary Club who invited him to speak, heard of her friend's interesting hobby from her husband.

"He thought maybe this would be good stories for us," she said. "History's very important to Northville people."

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the type of BB gun in the movie "A Christmas Story." That BB gun is a Red Ryder BB Gun.