Replica Airguns March 2026 Mystery Box Unboxing
Today’s unboxing, we’ll call it the March 2026 Unboxing Preview!
I had no idea what was in this box, and honestly, I like it that way. It makes every delivery feel a bit like Christmas. A box shows up from the warehouse, I crack it open, and my job is to let you know what’s inside and what might be coming soon to the store. A lot of the time these are products we’ve never carried before. Not always, but usually there’s at least something new or unexpected in the mix.
As usual, getting into the box was its own little challenge. Good thing I had my “box cutter “ handy. Once I finally got through the packaging, it was clear right away this one had some interesting stuff inside.
What was in the box?
1) Annie Oakley Lil’ Sure Shot BB Rifle
First out of the box was something a little different: the Annie Oakley Lil’ Sure Shot.
This one is brought to you by Air Venturi / Western Justice, and it’s essentially a Red Ryder-style lever action BB rifle with some nice Western-themed touches. Right away, it stood out with the stained solid wood stock, wood forearm with engraving, and engraved Annie Oakley artwork.
Here are some of the listed specs and features:
Ammo: .177 caliber / 4.5mm steel BBs
Action: Lever cocking, spring piston
Barrel: Smoothbore
Overall Length: 36.25 inches
Capacity: 550 BBs
Claimed Velocity: Up to 350 FPS
Weight: 3.3 pounds
Max Shooting Distance: 212 yards
Once I opened it up, it definitely gave me that familiar Red Ryder / Marlin Cowboy vibe, but it feels like it may be just a bit bigger overall. Maybe a slightly longer stock, maybe just a bit more substantial in the hands. I’ll have to compare it side-by-side with a Red Ryder later to know for sure.
A few things I noticed right away:
It has a metal lever
Metal frame
Metal barrel
A plastic muzzle tip
A rear sight that appears adjustable
And surprisingly, a Weaver-style rail on top for mounting an optic
That top rail is actually a nice touch. You could absolutely throw a small scope on this if you wanted to, and why not? It makes for a fun little plinker, and the engraving gives it some real visual appeal too.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these little lever-action BB rifles. They’re just fun. They’re simple, classic, and a great way to introduce younger shooters to safe rifle handling. Rifles like this tend to be a bit easier for beginners since they’re not as quick to wave around as a pistol.
So yes, this one looks like it should be a lot of fun, and I’ll be doing both a Tabletop Review and a Field Test Shooting Review on it soon.
2) .68 Caliber Nylon Balls (100 Count)
Also in the box was a pack of 100-count .68 caliber nylon balls.
These feel noticeably heavier than the rounds I was using in my earlier T4E TC68 review. The previous ones were around the 2.8 to almost 3 gram range, and these new ones feel more like they’re getting up into the high 3 gram to 4 gram area.
That added weight could make them especially interesting to test in the TC68, since more projectile mass can sometimes translate into more energy on target, even if velocity comes down a bit.
So these should be fun to test out, and as it turns out, they may have arrived for a very good reason…
3) Steambow B08 / .68 Caliber Rubber Ball Crossbow Platform
This was the big surprise in the box, and definitely the highlight item.
If you watched my SHOT Show coverage, then you may remember this one from the Steambow booth. It’s a really cool product: basically a magazine-fed rubber ball shooting crossbow-style launcher in .68 caliber.
I had already gotten a chance to try it at SHOT Show, and Steambow was great about letting us check it out there. So it was pretty exciting to see one show up here for review.
Some of the box highlights:
Detachable magazine
8-shot capacity
.68 caliber projectiles
Includes 25 foam balls
Comes with a 35-pound limb
AR-style adjustable buttstock
Protective shooting glasses included
This product has a lot going on in the box. Once I opened it up, there were multiple components and accessories packed inside, including:
Main body / receiver section
Foregrip
AR-style buttstock
Upper receiver section with included magazine
35-pound limb
Bow string and related accessories
Lubricant / wax for the string
Mounting hardware and tools
Protective glasses
25 included foam balls
There’s definitely going to be some assembly involved before I can do a full review, so that will be part of the tabletop video.
The main unit itself feels solid and substantial. It has some good weight to it, and overall it looks like a very cool design. The included 35-pound limb should offer a decent balance between usability and performance. At SHOT Show we were only using a lighter 25-pound setup, which was very easy to draw, great for casual target practice, but obviously not the high-performance option.
One of the things I like about this platform is that it gives you that crossbow-style shooting experience while using reusable .68 caliber balls. That can make it easier and cheaper to shoot compared to bolt-style systems, where each arrow or bolt can get expensive fast, especially if you miss the target and damage one.
And since I now also have those heavier nylon .68 caliber rounds from the same box, I should be able to test both the included foam balls and the heavier options to see how they compare.
This one should make for a very interesting review.
Final Thoughts
So that was the March 2026 mystery box. We’ve got two very different products here:
The Annie Oakley Lil’ Sure Shot, which looks like a fun, classic lever-action BB rifle in the Red Ryder tradition
And the Steambow B08 / .68 Caliber Rubber Ball Crossbow Platform, which is something a little more modern, tactical, and definitely unique
Both of these are getting the full treatment, so expect Tabletop Review and Field Test Shooting Review videos for both products.
The Annie Oakley should be a blast to shoot, especially if it performs anything like the other Red Ryder-style guns I’ve reviewed over the years. And the Steambow system looks like it could be a really practical and fun way to enjoy crossbow-style shooting without the cost and fragility of traditional bolts.
I’ve still got a few earlier products to finish up as well, but I’ll be getting to these as quickly as I can.
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