I have been continuing to break in my Weihrauch HW95 and have been loving it. For the past four days my daughter (13 years old) has been following me out to the bench and wanting to shoot with me,and pretty much stealing my gun. She has been hitting targets to 60 yards and having a good time trying to show me up. Of course the HW95 is too heavy for her, and she does not have the strength to break the barrel and load it safely.
I used to have a Daisy Powerline as a kid that I loved. I remember it being accurate with BBs and Pellets. I also like that the Daisy 880 has a rifled barrel for a bit more accuracy. I dropped my daughter off at school and swung by Walmart, 39.99 dollars later and I got a new Daisy 880 for her. I went ahead and assembled it and got it sighted in so she can go straight to shooting when she gets home. I picked up a can of Crosman hollow points (that's all they had) which seem to shoot well out of it, at least to 20 yards. I cleaned the barrel with some Simple Green, a couple patches of CLP and then dry patches until they came out clean. A bit of oil on the pivots and the compression tube sponge, and I checked all the screws.
My quick observations are exactly what other have mentioned on-line.
The Bad: Pellets are hard to load, harder than I remember but my fingers are much larger now, my dexterity diminished, and my experiences much greater with better products to compare it to. It is hard to get them into the slot without them turning around or going in sideways, I will have to see if they make a pellet pen or device to help loading the pellets into the gun at 90 degrees. Hemostats or tweezers may work for now, those .177 pellets are smaller than I remember! The trigger pull is heavy, but does break cleanly at the end of the pull. The scope is a 4x15mm and is awful. Not clear up close, and not much better at 20 yards. No clicks on the dial, friction turret adjustment only. It does seem to hold zero and is usable for the most part. This will be the first and likely only upgrade for the gun.
The good: What a fun gun, I got a bit nostalgic! It is pleasant to shoot, quiet and accurate. It was making clover leafs while sighting it in at 10 yards. It has a nice little pop and mild to no recoil. It is mainly plastic but very light weight. It pumps easily, and I hope will be manageable for her. I found pumped six times was a nice comfortable level and seemed to push the pellet well. I was hitting targets out to 20 yards with a nice ring. I would have pushed it farther but we have some 40 mph winds today, and it would not have been a great test. I will test hold over on the longer targets on a better day.
I think she will love it, I can not wait for her to get home from school. Something she can load and shoot on her own, and I will love it as I can start shooting my HW95 again! I will move a few targets up to 15-20 yard for her to shoot at to build her confidence. I think it will be a great little target and bird gun. I may grab it for shooting around the barns as it is less likely to damage the siding and metal roofs with its lower power. We will see how it holds up, but my old Daisy was about the same quality and was still going 25+ years later until loaned to a guy at my old job (he never returned it to me).
I figure we will do some pellet testing, and see how they react to different pump/power levels to find what the gun likes best. I have some BBs but am uncertain if we will use them much. I know they are not the best for rifled barrels, although it never seemed to affect my old 880. I mainly shot BBs as they were cheap and available, but loved when I could get a hold of pellets for the gun. It is like re-living my youth.
I used to have a Daisy Powerline as a kid that I loved. I remember it being accurate with BBs and Pellets. I also like that the Daisy 880 has a rifled barrel for a bit more accuracy. I dropped my daughter off at school and swung by Walmart, 39.99 dollars later and I got a new Daisy 880 for her. I went ahead and assembled it and got it sighted in so she can go straight to shooting when she gets home. I picked up a can of Crosman hollow points (that's all they had) which seem to shoot well out of it, at least to 20 yards. I cleaned the barrel with some Simple Green, a couple patches of CLP and then dry patches until they came out clean. A bit of oil on the pivots and the compression tube sponge, and I checked all the screws.
My quick observations are exactly what other have mentioned on-line.
The Bad: Pellets are hard to load, harder than I remember but my fingers are much larger now, my dexterity diminished, and my experiences much greater with better products to compare it to. It is hard to get them into the slot without them turning around or going in sideways, I will have to see if they make a pellet pen or device to help loading the pellets into the gun at 90 degrees. Hemostats or tweezers may work for now, those .177 pellets are smaller than I remember! The trigger pull is heavy, but does break cleanly at the end of the pull. The scope is a 4x15mm and is awful. Not clear up close, and not much better at 20 yards. No clicks on the dial, friction turret adjustment only. It does seem to hold zero and is usable for the most part. This will be the first and likely only upgrade for the gun.
The good: What a fun gun, I got a bit nostalgic! It is pleasant to shoot, quiet and accurate. It was making clover leafs while sighting it in at 10 yards. It has a nice little pop and mild to no recoil. It is mainly plastic but very light weight. It pumps easily, and I hope will be manageable for her. I found pumped six times was a nice comfortable level and seemed to push the pellet well. I was hitting targets out to 20 yards with a nice ring. I would have pushed it farther but we have some 40 mph winds today, and it would not have been a great test. I will test hold over on the longer targets on a better day.
I think she will love it, I can not wait for her to get home from school. Something she can load and shoot on her own, and I will love it as I can start shooting my HW95 again! I will move a few targets up to 15-20 yard for her to shoot at to build her confidence. I think it will be a great little target and bird gun. I may grab it for shooting around the barns as it is less likely to damage the siding and metal roofs with its lower power. We will see how it holds up, but my old Daisy was about the same quality and was still going 25+ years later until loaned to a guy at my old job (he never returned it to me).
I figure we will do some pellet testing, and see how they react to different pump/power levels to find what the gun likes best. I have some BBs but am uncertain if we will use them much. I know they are not the best for rifled barrels, although it never seemed to affect my old 880. I mainly shot BBs as they were cheap and available, but loved when I could get a hold of pellets for the gun. It is like re-living my youth.
