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Bill · New Member

I am totally enamored with the accuracy of the 499's that I've bought my grand kids. I know this isn't the first time its been thought of or asked about but has anyone taken apart and figured out to mount a scope on them? Current collection is one Red Ryder, two 499's, one Daisy 99, one RWS 48.

I took one shot at converting the Red Ryder to wear a scope. I got the aftermarket mount, stock and loop style handle. Thinking I was ready to rule the world. What a huge disappointment when I saw the best I could do with the scope Red Ryder was 3 or 4" groups at 45 feet.

No wonder I missed so many sparrows as a kid. at that time my rifle was a Christmas present when I turned 7. It was a JC Higgings, sold by Sears and made by Daisy. I can't imagine how many thousands of bb's I put through that little rifle.

And I can't imagine what my kill ratio would have been (lived on a farm) had I of had a BB gun that could consistently hit a dime at 45 feet.

So back to the original question. Has anyone mounted a scope base on a 499?

Thanks for your time. Bill.

shawn706 · Member

Accurate as the 499 is, that accuracy drops off quickly after about 7m. It like the red rider is a knuckle baller, with a smooth shot tube. With the shot tube being a bit better quality controlled on the 499 I still wouldn't expect to see better than 2" group at 45'. My team has shot some at 10m just to try something a little different at practice and if the light is right you can see the bb lose stability about 2/3s of the way to the target. Hope you come up with a good way to mount a scope. I'd be interested in hearing about your results.

cobalt327 · New Member

This is known by those who own a 499 but for those not familiar with them, the problem with mounting a scope is the lack of any solid mounting points other than the top stock screw. The scope rail made for the Red Ryder uses the rear sight for one of the mounting points but the 499 lacks that type of rear sight. The 499's peep sight mounts to a raised stamped metal tabs that sort of act like a dove tail and it's enough to mount the Daisy peep or an open sight, but not really beefy enough for much more. I suppose a lightweight red dot might work but that's something I haven't tried yet. But I’m afraid using only the tabs to mount a scope may overtax them and keeping a scope zeroed using them could be a problem.

A fellow at THR has made a scope mount that could be adapted to the 499 (it’s on page 16 of the thread linked to in my sig). The rail blank is the thicker of the two shown HERE. The scope mount is shown below:

Another option to the peep sight, but maybe not as precise as needed, is to mount an open sight to the existing 499 rear sight tabs. I use a modified 499 for some woods walking and offhand shooting, so I swapped the peep sight for a rear sight originally for the Daisy model 953. This is a FO sight (it costs $3.00) and I usually don't much care for them, but it has worked out well. I use it with a post front sight insert in the 499’s globe front sight. The 953 rear sight on the 499 is shown below:

BTW, my 499 now shoots over 425 fps average with just a spring change, and the spring is a Daisy part that costs $4.00 plus shipping from Daisy. The best part of this is, there is no loss in accuracy. In fact, after making this mod another fellow shot his smallest group ever! The cocking effort is the same as cocking an unmodified Red Ryder.
ETA The MV of an unmodified 499 is around 240 fps.

Modified Daisy 499:
High.......430
Low........424
Avg........426

shawn706 · Member

That's pretty awesome. I'm always amazed at what people can come up with when they get a notion.