Daisy 880 Review: Is It Actually Good For Squirrels And Rats?

If you’re looking for an air rifle you can rely on, look no further. You can’t go wrong with the Daisy Powerline 880.

FYI, Prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.

Getting my hands on the Daisy Powerline 880 was a definite trip back to my childhood. When I was a boy, everyone had the Daisy single-pump spring-loaded BB gun; it was a must-have item. Then, one of the older boys came to the weed field one day, and he had this new pump-up pellet airgun. It was the Daisy Powerline 880, and the pump-up design gave it so much more power than our BB guns. Once you could shoot pellets instead of BBs, there was no comparison.

Now, decades later, as an adult who has a drastic need to blast the pigeons in my neighborhood into history, I finally got the chance to put the Daisy Powerline 880 to a serious test, and let me tell you, folks, this will get the job done. Here's my personal review, and if you’d like to see how it stacks up against other models, check my Best Air Rifles review.

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Daisy Powerline 880 - Multi Pump Pneumatic .177 Cal. BB/Pellet Rifle

HIGHLIGHT:

Comes with a 4x15 scope in the kit.

KIT CONTENTS:

The kit includes everything needed, from unboxing to pest control, although some accessories are very basic. The kit includes a scope, and it even has a set of safety glasses. It seems that the good folks at Daisy really care about customer safety.

SCOPE CAPABILITIES:

The scope is what you would expect from an included scope, especially one shipped with a Daisy air rifle. The optic is a fixed 4x magnification, which is more than enough for an air gun and the distances it's designed for. One good thing about the narrow view is that the shooter will focus on the target; the bad part is finding and following the target. That said, practice will fix the issues presented by the fixed scope. Use the BBs and a pillow in a box across the yard to practice. You can reuse the ammo for more practice.

SIGHTING IN:

Since my target of choice sits on stuff that I don't want to be destroyed, I opted to install the scope immediately. The open iron sights look fine, maybe a little on the cheap side. I am sure that is why they include the scope and the fact that this air rifle can perform to the level of magnified optics. I was lucky. My Daisy Powerline 880 was close to dead-on right out of the box and at typical backyard distances. I was in the small black ring within about 20 BBs and switched to pellets. I was happy that the pellets took about 12 more shots to get it, punching one ragged hole. The pigeons would soon not be happy.

NOISE & ACCURACY:

The Daisy Powerline is a little loud for shooting in the backyard, and its power is not a joke, so younger shooters should definitely use it under adult supervision. The accuracy is surprising for a pump-up pellet gun, and I did not expect it to be this accurate. Outside of the loudness, the scope sits right on the receiver, so a big ol melon like mine is somewhat complicated to get that close to the stock. These simple things would not stop me from getting another if a grandkid needed to come and shoot with me.

CLASSIC AIR RIFLE FEEL:

My favorite part about the Daisy Powerline 880 is it looks and feels like the air rifles I had as a kid. I have a fantastic Stoeger air rifle that almost got me grounded from the Missus as I over-penetrated my backstop and was shooting into the drywall in the shop. The Stoeger is impressive, but the Daisy 880 walks, talks, and feels like an air rifle. Nostalgia sometimes wins. Nostalgia wins until you are set in position, a new pellet is loaded, and it's time to pump the long handle ten times to get ready to end the pigeon mess all over the patio; then, the compressed air canister guns start to show their advantages.

TRAINING VALUE:

I remember my old pellet gun; it had a wood stock, and it was heavy, from the metal barrel and the solid wooden stock; man, those were good times. I would take the air rifle up the canyon, run along the creek's end, and attempt to nail every squirrel and chipmunk I could spot. After the rodent extermination, it was time to poke holes in the beer cans. Everyone was kind enough not to throw them away so I would have targets.

SHOOTING FUNDAMENTALS:

My old school air rifle shot slow enough to see the BB or pellet leave the muzzle and make a slow arch across the creek. With the new world of air rifles, there is no trajectory watching from behind the gun nowadays. One great thing about the pumper pellet rifle is it will teach new shooters to take their time while shooting. In a shooting world that is super focused on semi-auto and fast rates of fire, shooting a gun that takes time and thought may improve new shooters' skills. Thinking through the shot and proper placement of a shot may be the greatest gift one of these Daisy Powerline 880 air rifles can give to the shooting world. This gun can also shoot in the backyard if you have a good relationship with the neighbors. The crack from the muzzle may make some folks unhappy and, worse, maybe scary for others. Be a good shooting sports ambassador, and apologize if shooting on your home range offends people. Better yet, ask them to join you and learn what Daisy is about.

DAISY LEGACY:

Like many others, when anyone mentions the trade name Daisy, my head automatically plays the scene from 'A Christmas Story' and the 'Daisy Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock'. The pellet gun I had as a kid was a Crosman, and all of us wild bunch had Crosman air guns. I don't think that was due to our folks being brand loyal; it was due to the sporting goods store only carrying Crosman.

AMMO:

The pellets I used for my time in the yard were the ones from the shelf at Walmart. I honestly do not remember the make or brand. I know that pellets come in weights and different styles; hell, they even have hollow point pellets; who knew? Plan on getting a Daisy Powerline and want to drive tacks with it? You must get all the different pellets in your area and spend time dialing the best-performing ammo to your pump-up air gun. The difference between pellets can be two inches of accuracy lost.

OVERALL VALUE:

Ultimately, you should choose the air rifle that best fits your shooting needs. If you are an old timer like me, for about a hundred bucks, you will have a pump-up pellet gun that feels right in your hands. And this time around, it has a scope; that way, you can find a whole new bunch of trouble to get into and be able to afford to fix it and not have to tell Mom and Dad about your dumb mistakes that are now someone else's job. By the way, another affordable option I reviewed separately is the Daisy Adult Red Ryder. So feel free to check it out, too. That's all for now.

Get it from Amazon now: $76.99 & FREE Returns