Item: Daisy Buck Model 105 Spring-Powered BB Rifle
Rating: 4.7
Author: Greg

Daisy Buck Model 105 Review — The 8-Year-Old's First Rifle, Cocked Easily, Shot Freehand, and Genuinely the Right Way to Start

Our Rating

4.7 / 5 ★★★★☆

Current Price

C$79.99 CAD

Buy on Daisy →

Manufacturer Number: 992105-633
SKU (Daisy Canada): 272121
Power source: Spring-powered lever action
Caliber: .177 BB (steel)

Pros

Spring-powered lever action cocks easily enough for an 8-year-old to operate completely unassisted — the single most important spec on a youth first rifle
29.8 inches long and light enough that the same 8-year-old can shoulder it, aim it, and shoot it free-hand without needing a rest, even fully loaded with hundreds of .177 BBs
350 fps muzzle velocity is the correct power level — fast enough to be satisfying on a paper target, slow enough to be safe for supervised backyard use
Crossbolt trigger-block safety is positive, intuitive, and impossible for the young shooter to engage or disengage by accident
Real wood stock and steel-over-plastic construction — feels like a rifle, not a toy, which matters for the lifelong respect-for-firearms lesson the first rifle teaches
Blade front sight + fixed open rear sight is the right teaching configuration — the shooter learns iron sight alignment before ever touching a scope
C$79.99 CAD at Daisy Canada is an honest entry-tier price point — and Daisy has been making essentially this rifle since 1886, so the spare-parts and warranty ecosystem is mature

Cons

Fixed open rear sight is the right teaching tool but offers no windage or elevation adjustment — sight-in is by knowing your holdover, not by dialing the sight
BB-only — no pellets — which is correct for the price tier and the use case but means you can't easily move the same rifle up to higher-precision target shooting later
Spring power means cocking effort is a one-shot-per-cock operation; nothing about that surprised anyone in our family, but it's worth saying clearly for first-time buyers

An 8-year-old in a red shirt and camo cap, free-hand shooting the Daisy Buck 105 at a paper target across a clearing in a blueberry farm — The single image that explains why we bought the Daisy Buck 105 — an 8-year-old, fully on his own, shouldering the rifle and shooting free-hand at a paper target across the clearing. No rest. No coaching to "hold it up." The rifle is light enough and short enough that the kid does it himself. **That's the whole review in one frame.**

The first rifle that’s actually sized for the first rifle owner

There’s an entire category of “youth” rifles on the market that aren’t actually sized for kids. They’re adult rifles in 50%-shorter packages that an 8-year-old still can’t shoulder properly, still can’t hold steady, and still can’t cock by themselves. The kid ends up shooting from a rest because that’s the only way the rifle works at his size — and the independence that’s the whole point of learning to shoot well never actually arrives.

The Daisy Buck Model 105 is the rifle that fixes that. At 29.8 inches overall length, it’s genuinely scaled for a small-framed shooter. The spring-powered lever cocks with kid-sized hand strength. The wood stock is light enough that an 8-year-old can hold the rifle on target free-hand, fully loaded with hundreds of .177 BBs, for as many shots as he wants to take. The kid runs the rifle. Not the other way around.

We tested ours with our 8-year-old at the local property — outdoors, supervised, on a paper target backed by a blueberry-farm dirt berm. The photos in this review are his. The lever-action cocking shots are his. The aiming and free-hand standing shots are his. We didn’t help. We didn’t need to. That’s the editorial proof of the product — and it’s the only meaningful test of a youth first rifle.

Unboxing — Daisy heritage in a clean retail package

Daisy retail box with the 'It all starts with Daisy' tagline — The retail box — clean, dark, professional. "It all starts with Daisy" wordmark front and centre. Daisy has been making BB guns since 1886, and the brand presentation reflects that 140-year track record.

Side detail of the Daisy box showing the Buck graphic — Side detail — the Buck graphic on the wood-grain side panel. The packaging is bilingual French/English for the Canadian market.

The Daisy Buck graphic on the box — the brand mark that's been running on this product line since the 1960s. Heritage that matters.

Unboxing the Daisy Buck 105 — Unboxing — the rifle ships fully assembled in a single piece. No tools required to deploy.

The Buck 105 fresh out of the box on a wood surface — Fresh out of the box — wood stock, dark receiver, blade front sight visible. The first impression is "this looks like a real rifle," not "this looks like a toy," and that matters for the respect-for-firearms lesson.

The build — what C$79.99 actually buys you

Close-up of the wood stock on the Daisy Buck 105 — The wood stock — real wood, smooth finish, no shortcuts. At C$79.99 CAD this could easily have been moulded plastic, but Daisy kept the wood and the rifle is better for it. The wood gives weight where weight is needed (the shoulder), keeps it light where lightness is needed (the rest of the rifle), and gives the young shooter the tactile feedback of a real firearm.

Overview of the Daisy Buck 105 receiver — Receiver overview — clean, simple, no extraneous features. Spring-powered lever action mechanism visible under the stock.

Side profile — the lever-action geometry. The whole rifle is 29.8 inches end-to-end, which is what makes it shoulderable for a small-framed shooter.

Daisy mark on the receiver — Daisy mark stamped on the receiver — the brand heritage made visible. Same logo that's been on these rifles for generations.

Cocking lever detail — this is the part that has to work for an 8-year-old's hand strength. Daisy got the spring tension right.

Trigger and crossbolt safety detail — Trigger and crossbolt safety — the safety pushes through the receiver and is colour-coded so the young shooter can verify safe/fire at a glance.

BB loading port on the Buck 105 — BB loading port — pour standard .177 steel BBs into the reservoir and the rifle holds hundreds at a time. The 8-year-old can pour and load completely independently; no adult hands required for the loading sequence.

The 8-year-old runs the rifle — the actual test

This is where the review stops being about the product and starts being about the kid using it. Every photo from here on is the 8-year-old, no adult assistance.

The 8-year-old shoulders the Buck 105 and aims downrange — Shoulder mount — the young shooter shoulders the rifle without help. The 29.8-inch length-of-pull works for his body. He gets a real cheek weld, a real shoulder mount, and his trigger-hand index finger sits naturally on the trigger guard.

Eye lined up down the iron sights of the Buck 105 — Eye down the sights — the blade front sight aligned with the fixed open rear, with the cheek weld giving him a consistent sight picture. This is the foundational skill — and the iron sights teach it the right way.

The young shooter aimed downrange at the target — Aimed downrange — paper target set up on a wooden frame at about 10 yards, dirt berm behind. Safe backstop, supervised range, and a kid who's running his own rifle.

Wider view of the shooter aiming at the target with the field in context — Wider view of the shooting position — and the target setup at distance. About 10 yards out, paper bullseye on a wooden frame, blueberry-bushes backstop. The kid has been on target for several shots already and is settling for another.

Shooter and target in full context — Full context of the shooting setup — the target, the shooter, the rifle, the safe backstop. This is what an introductory shooting session should look like.

The shot has been fired — the shooter's stance immediately afterward — Shot fired — the rifle has minimal recoil (it's a 350 fps spring-piston BB rifle, not a magnum), so the young shooter's stance barely changes during the shot. That's deliberate Daisy engineering — the rifle teaches good form because it doesn't punish the shooter for being a kid.

Followthrough after the shot — Followthrough — the shooter holds his position after the shot, sights still on the target. The minimal recoil makes follow-through coachable; the kid is learning the discipline naturally because the rifle doesn't fight him.

Between shots, lowering the rifle to reset — Between shots — the rifle is light enough that he doesn't need to set it down to rest his arms between sequences. He'll cycle 10-15 shots before pausing.

The shooter repositions for a follow-up shot — Repositioning — small movements between shots to fine-tune his hold. The combination of low weight + small dimensions + low recoil means the 8-year-old can manage the entire shooting cycle without adult intervention.

The cocking lever — the spec that has to work

For any spring-piston BB rifle marketed as a youth first rifle, this is the spec that decides everything. If the kid can’t cock the rifle himself, he can’t operate the rifle himself — and the rifle has failed at the only thing it has to do.

The Daisy Buck 105’s lever cocks with roughly 10–12 pounds of hand effort. That’s well within the range that an 8-year-old of typical strength can manage, and our shooter cocked it dozens of times in a single session without complaint. The photos below are unedited — every cock-the-lever shot is the kid, no help.

The 8-year-old grips the cocking lever to begin the cocking stroke — Cocking sequence — start position. The shooter grips the lever with his off-hand while keeping the rifle pointed in a safe direction. **This is the moment the rifle's spec sheet either works or fails.** Daisy got the lever tension right.

Mid-cocking stroke — Mid-stroke — the lever travels through its arc. The shooter's wrist is straight and his arm is doing the work without strain.

Cocking stroke complete — Stroke complete — the spring is fully compressed and the action is cocked. He'll close the lever back to ready position and the rifle is ready to fire.

Rifle ready to shoot again — Ready to shoot again — the entire cock-and-reset cycle takes about 4 seconds in his hands. He can manage the rate of fire without slowing down to wait for help.

The “easy cocking” claim isn’t marketing fluff — it’s the editorial proof of the product. Daisy’s spring tension is calibrated for the user. If you’re buying this for a 6 or 7-year-old, the cocking might be on the edge of their strength; if you’re buying for a 9 or 10-year-old, they’ll find it trivial. For our 8-year-old, the rifle landed exactly where it should: hard enough to feel like a real piece of equipment, easy enough that he was never asking for help.

Why this is the right first rifle — the editorial argument

The Daisy Buck Model 105 is purpose-built for a single, specific use case: a small-framed first-time shooter learning the fundamentals of safe rifle handling under supervised conditions. Every engineering decision serves that use case.

Length. 29.8 inches is the right size for a 7–10-year-old to shoulder properly. The kid gets real form practice, not a “hold this thing while leaning on the bench rest” experience.

Weight. Light enough to hold on target free-hand for a full shooting session. The kid learns standing-position offhand shooting from the first day rather than being trained to shoot only from a rest.

Cocking effort. The spring tension is calibrated for the shooter — easy enough that he can do every cocking cycle himself.

Power. 350 fps is fast enough to be satisfying on a paper target at 10–15 yards, slow enough that minor handling errors are forgiving, and slow enough that the rifle is safe for supervised backyard or property use (always with eye protection, a safe backstop, and adult supervision — these aren’t optional, even for a 350 fps BB rifle).

Sights. Blade front + fixed open rear is the right teaching configuration. The shooter learns iron sight alignment as the foundational skill before ever touching a scope. By the time he moves up to a higher-tier rifle, the sight picture is muscle memory.

Safety. The crossbolt trigger block is positive, intuitive, and impossible to disengage accidentally. The kid can verify safe/fire at a glance, and the safety is large enough that little fingers can operate it deliberately without fumbling.

Heritage. Daisy has been making essentially this rifle in some form since 1886. The spare-parts ecosystem, the BB ammunition supply, the warranty path — all mature. This isn’t a one-season Amazon import. It’s a product that’s been refined for 140 years.

How it earns the 4.7/5

The Daisy Buck Model 105 earns a strong 4.7 / 5 because every engineering decision serves the actual user. Length, weight, cocking effort, power, sights, safety, heritage — all dialed to the small-framed first-time shooter. The 8-year-old running the rifle in the photos above is the editorial proof.

It’s not a 5.0 because:

The fixed open rear sight is the right teaching tool but offers no windage or elevation adjustment for fine-tuning sight-in
BB-only — no pellets — which is correct for the price tier and the use case but means the same rifle won’t move the shooter up to higher-precision target shooting later
The spring-piston action is genuinely easy to cock for our 8-year-old, but a 5 or 6-year-old might find it on the edge of their strength — the rifle is sized for ages 7+ realistically

What we’d love to see from Daisy:

An optional aperture rear sight kit so families who want to progress the same shooter into more precision work can do that without buying a different rifle
A slightly larger BB reservoir capacity indicator window so the young shooter can see when he’s running low without breaking aim

Verdict — buy it as the first rifle

The Daisy Buck Model 105 at C$79.99 CAD from Daisy Canada is the right first rifle for a 7–10-year-old learning to shoot under supervised conditions. The 8-year-old in the photos above ran the rifle completely independently — cocked the lever himself, loaded BBs himself, shouldered and aimed and fired free-hand without a rest. That’s what a youth first rifle is supposed to do.

It’s not a permanent or competition rifle. It’s a teaching rifle, and that’s the right design for the price tier and the user. Buy it as the first one, get the kid 1,000 BBs and a few paper targets, set up a safe backstop in the yard or on a property, and let the kid run his own rifle. That’s how you raise a safe, competent, lifelong-respectful shooter.

The Buck 105 has been in continuous production for decades for a reason. It works. Available in Canada at C$79.99 CAD with free shipping over C$74 from Daisy Canada.

For Hunt & Live readers thinking about a first rifle for a kid in the family, this is the one.

Daisy is a heritage American brand — founded 1886 in Plymouth, Michigan, currently headquartered in Rogers, Arkansas — and the Canadian distribution arm at Daisy Canada handles the Canadian market with full warranty support. Daisy is a strong candidate for our Recommended Brands roster once we have additional Daisy products on the site (the Daisy Red Ryder Model 1938 is the natural next review).

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Daisy Buck Model 105 Review — The 8-Year-Old's First Rifle, Cocked Easily, Shot Freehand, and Genuinely the Right Way to Start