The No.108 has a special place in my world of collecting Daisy’s. The Lighting Loader from 1939 is very interesting. It sort of came before the wildly famous Model 40 also known as the No.111 Red Ryder. Except the story is the Red Ryder was actually developed in 1938 and not released until 1940. The 1972 Red Ryder was renamed the Model 1938 in recognition of this. Personally I think the Model 39 Lightning Loader has a great feel to it. It doesn’t have the saddle ring or the etching on the stock and the foregrip is smaller than that of the Red Ryder. But this is what I actually like about the Model 39.
Without the frills and sporting the pre war cast iron lever gives this carbine a serious look. The barrel is considerably shorter than the Red Ryder making this an SBR… just kidding.
From what I gather they must have sold this model as they were getting ready to license and market the Red Ryder. The No. 108 is getting more difficult to find in good condition. A lot was going on in the world when the Lightning Loader came out in 1939. By 1942 all production was halted until 1945 after WWII. The Model 39 and the Model 40 variants 1 to 4 are the last guns to get the cast iron levers. The post war iron shortage caused the company to go with cast aluminum from 1947 onwards.
