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. Here's my hands-on review.
FYI, Prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
Daisy Powerline 880 Multi-Pump Pneumatic Rifle .177 Cal (BB or pellet)
Highlight: Comes with a 4x15 scope in the kit.
Helpful review: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Stoger 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. — Gary Anderson
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