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.

If you’d like to see how the Daisy 880 stacks up against other models, check my Best Air Rifles review.

Daisy Powerline 880 Multi-Pump Pneumatic Rifle .177 Cal (BB or pellet)

HIGHLIGHT:

Comes with a 4x15 scope in the kit.

PERSONAL BACKSTORY:

Daisy Powerline 880 in .177 caliber, BBs, or Pellets. Getting my hands on this air gun was a definite trip back to my childhood; what a great trip down memory lane. The difference between then and now is the Daisy Powerline 880 is not a young boys' air rifle; this one packs a punch. 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 a new Pump-up pellet gun and became our royalty. The pump-up action gave it so much more power, and then to use a pellet instead of BBs, there was no comparison.

KIT CONTENTS:

Now, as an adult who has a drastic need to blast the pigeons in my neighborhood into history, I have my hands on the Daisy Powerline 880, and let me tell you, folks, this will get the job done. The kit includes everything needed, from unboxing to pigeon killing or eradication. However, it looks best on paper. The kit has an included scope; it even has a set of safety glasses, so the good folks at Daisy 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 distance this gun is made to use. The diameter or range of view is 15x. 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 just across the backyard for a distance. 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; this tool must have adult supervision when shooting. 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.

OLD-SCHOOL MEMORIES:

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 stoner 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 seem to take advantage.

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, that was good times back then. 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 to refuse to throw away so I would have targets to get better at open iron sights.

BACKYARD SHOOTING:

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 that t comes off the muzzle end 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.

NOSTALGIA:

Like many others, when anyone mentions the trade name Daisy, my head automatically plays the scene from "A Christmas Story" and the “Daisy Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock.” The pellet gun I had as a kid was a Crossman, and all of us wild bunch had Crossman 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 Crossman.

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 within. 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:

When writing a review, I discuss the comparison; the choice is yours, so get one that fits your shooting world the best. 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.

MY BUDDY’S REVIEW:

After reviewing a bunch of high-powered pellet guns, most of which shoot 22-caliber pellets, I have to say finding a pump Bb gun on the market is very exciting. I enjoy plinking and setting up a bunch of the little spinner targets around the yard, sitting on the deck, and seeing how well my open iron game is.

BACKGROUND:

When I was a kid, only a few buddies had a pump-up BB gun; we all had a single pump unit. However, no one had the Red Ryder with a compass in the stock. I like the ability to use BBs instead of pellets. I also like that this air gun can pump several times and not shoot through the vinyl fence or soffit on the house, so I can plink around in the yard. I think my single cocker air rifle was a Daisy. I am sure we all carried a Daisy back then. I don't think it had to do with brand loyalty. It was just because is was sold everywhere and have been very popular. Nowadays, with the superpower to spend money on Amazon, all the air rifle makers are available with just a click on an impulse buy. So now I have a brand new BB gun and some spinning targets in the yard. After getting this new air rifle, I am confident in blasting all remaining pigeons and ridding the neighborhood of that vermin. Once it got here, I went out to lay waste to the flying rats, and they were all gone, and we had snow. So, I set out the spinners, and I am thrilled now. By the way, another affordable option is the Daisy Adult Red Ryder, which I reviewed separately.

PUMP PERFORMANCE:

The 880 will pump up to ten times, Daisy's recommended max. I have taken it to that pump level three times to ensure it would pump up and hold the pressure. I set a spinner over the fence in the HO park and shot at it for a while, and the ten-pump pressure is impressive. I am also delighted that this gun does not make any noise as I may have gotten in troubleshooting over the fence, so don't tell anyone it was me; tell them it was the neighbor, Brian.

KIDS & SAFETY:

The thing I am most excited to do with pump-up air rifles is to show my kids how to shoot them. I can pump it three times and get the BB far enough away that it won't rebound back to us, but it's low power enough that it won't kill the fence if we miss. The kit comes with eye protection in the box, which is very nice that the manufacturer thinks about safety to that level. Before anyone goes nuts and starts calling names or showing me the NRA instructor book, I already have them, and the kids will never shoot this without supervision and all the protection gear. The kit comes with an old-school BB gun scope.

ZEROING CHALLENGES:

Many people who have bought his kit complain about this optic as if it were intended to be an insult. This is a scope made by an air rifle maker for an air rifle; what else did they expect? I set the scope on the rifle and used the included rings so it would mount without any gunsmithing. Just clamp them on the rail thing, place the scope inside the rings, and get it on target.

The air rifle will not accept any of the lasers from the bore sighter, so I just shot a Bb into a box, then moved the crosshairs to the hole to see how that worked. To be perfectly honest, it did not work very well at all, so it took a while to get the scope to shoot a two-inch group across the garage shop, and I called that good for now. I prefer to use the open iron sights, but for the kids to get a feel for shooting, I will use the most straightforward version, which is the cheap little scope.

DESIGN:

The thing I like the most about their air rifle is the way it looks. It has all the nostalgia a guy could want. The diamond on the foregrip of the stock does it for me, just like the old-school BB guns. The stock also has a Monte Carlo cheekpiece, which I love about good stocks. This could only be better by making a BB gun stock for 5XL guys, not ten-year-olds, and that will never happen. The trigger is not as impressive as many of the super pellet guns, but this is what I expected from a BB gun: rather tight to begin the pull, then lots of creep.

LONG-TERM DURABILITY:

The air rifle will also shoot pellets, and I don't plan on doing that; this is my throwback to childhood and doing stuff in the field behind the house, and it will only eat BBs until my kids inherit it. Speaking of passing this gun along, I am optimistic that it will go to the next generation of shooters. The build quality seems high, and the materials are that good.

Get it from Amazon now: $84.99 & FREE Returns