daisy powerline targetpro 953 review

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Picture courtesy of Gary Hughes.

Average Ratings

Accuracy	8.7/10
Handling	9.3/10
Value for Money	8.8/10
Reviewer Rating	8.2/10
Overall Rating	8.1/10

85% Recommended17 out of 20 Reviews

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By James Underwood on 16th Feb 2006

James Underwood's Ratings

Accuracy	10/10
Handling	9/10
Value for money	5/10
Overall value	7/10
James Underwood's recommendation

Good Points

Accurate, good looking, easy pump

Bad Points

Quality control (see review)
Clip wears out quickly

General Comments

If you are old enough you will remember buying an air gun and, upon opening the box, noticing a small tag therein that read "Inspected by #34." (Or #23 or whatever.)
You laughed a bit at the thought of some poor slob spending his life inspecting air guns, but you took it for granted that such inspection was actually done.
No longer. And it's a shame.
The Daisy Powerline 953 is a case in point, judging from the reviews here, and my own experience.
The 953 has the potential of being a really great air rifle. It looks great, is well balanced, and it is very accurate. I bought it for working on the mechanics of shooting in my basement, because it has a 2-stage trigger, is very quiet, and is extremely accurate. The 5-shot clip was a real plus, as was the pump-to-power ratio. (Although many have complained about the gun's low power, I can't see why - the 953 is advertised as having about 500 FPS, and that's what it gives. Perhaps the confusion is over Daisy's advertising the gun as a "small game" hunting weapon. It isn't that, at all. Personally I would never hunt with any gun that didn't produce at least 12-14 foot pounds of energy, and preferably in a .22 caliber, at that. Anything less is simply not humane.)
Well anyway, so far so good, thought I. I really liked the ease of cocking - a sign of good engineering. Ditto the accuracy - the rifled barrel is grooved at a 1 to 15 ratio and works very well indeed. The trigger takes some breaking in, but is very well suited to target shooting.
The joy stops there, however.
Due to faulty construction, my gun required a very high rear sight setting, indicative of misalignment of the barrel. This oddity also results in poor pellet loading, and chafing of the clip holes. My clip wore out within 50 shots and exhibited great wear in the upper part of each hole. The pellets now fall right through the holes.
Bad.
Also as a result of this misalignment, and more visably noticable, is the single-shot loading, which is very difficult. The pellet just doesn't line up correctly.
Somewhat daunted, but irrepressible, I continued shooting in single shot mode. I was very impressed with this weapon's accuracy, its feel and its trigger. I cannot find fault with the fiber-optic sights, either. They work for me, and with 55 year-old eyes, that's saying something.
So I was more than annoyed with the gun's faults. I hate packing it up and sending it to Daisy, but that's what I'm going to have to do.
It would seem to me that with all the excellent engineering that went into this gun, Daisy could have at least come up with a consistant manufacturing process and thus a consistant level of quality.
That, or . . bring back Inspector #34!

Total Respect: +2