Back to the Daisy's, what they shot was technically "Air rifle Shot" which indeed was a .177" dia. BB shot is .180" dia. While I do believe in the early days Air rifle shot was made of lead, I will be 70 come March & what I shot as a youth was already the copper washed steel. The "Red Ryders" I shot had a port in the tube surrounding the bbl & you just poured the "BB's (Yes we called them that too) in, held a Bunch. We had no need to cary any in our mouths. There were earlier models which were single shot & have heard of boys spiting the BB's down the bbl from the muzzle. A Daisy 25 pump had a positive feed & held about 50 shots, A Red Rider was a gravity feed & you could pour that tube full, several hundred as I recall but you needed to hold the muzzle "Skyward" while levering to insure feeding.
