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- Jungle Jim Jam's review
Have a picture of Daisy 44?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of bob eastwood.
| Value for Money | 9.2/10  |
|---|---|
| Reviewer Rating | 8.5/10 |
| Overall Rating | 8.6/10  |
By Jungle Jim Jam
on 21st Apr 2007
| Value for money | 10/10 |
|---|---|
| Overall value | 7/10 |
 Jungle Jim Jam's recommendation | |
Un-pretentious, excellent trigger set-up, superb value for money.
Finish flakes off, creaky plastic grip, ring at tightening screw not strong enough.
Daisy Powerline 44.
Daisy is a very long established American manufacturer of airguns most well known for their Western style lever-action BB guns, particularly the legendary Red Ryder. Alongside Crosman, they occupy a place in American culture analogous to that of Webley and Diana in Britain.
They also produce a range of CO2 powered pistols that, like those of Umarex and Crosman are modelled on particular firearms. Their semi-auto models include some with a disguised internal revolver mechanism, like that used by Umarex. But the construction of both Daisy and Crosman CO2 pistols typically uses a lot of plastic and the vast domestic American market ensures that they are produced in huge numbers. All of which means that they are typically half the price of comparable Umarex guns. Correspondingly, in Europe the products of both Umarex and Crosman are accorded less status than those of the German company. The irony is that Umarex is in fact a subsidiary of Crosman, whilst, I would contend, Daisy produce at least one product that is actually superior to the simulated semi-auto's with which Umarex are mainly associated.
This pistol is the Powerline 44. Roughly modelled on the Smith and Wesson 44 revolver made famous in Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry". Not to be confused with the Automag 44 semi-auto which Clint used in at least one of the sequels.
The Daisy version is pretty exact in size and overall shape and layout but is not primarily a replica so much as a shooting implement that uses the S&W subject as a template.
It was the first CO2 pistol that I ever bought, not long after that type of airgun at last became legal in the UK. Although I have had the C225 and now have the two Baikal pistols, the Umarex Colt 1911 and PPK, this is still my favourite CO2 pistol. What's more, it cost an incredible £39 when I bought it new from a major dealer. I have noticed that today they are hard to find for sale in the UK and when advertised are offered for nearly three times that price.
There are three versions, being identical except for barrel length: Four inch, six inch and eight inch. I have the eight inch version and many of my remarks can really only be taken in relation to that model. However, the barrels are interchangeable using a special key that is provided and so a frame that comes with a four inch barrel can be up-graded to the eight inch reviewed here.
First impression of the gun is one of size. It seems huge. Then you are struck by the massive weight. Most of the gun is constructed of a metal resembling zinc with an added dark grey enamel finish. This comes off in a flaky fashion if it gets scratched. I at one time "corrected" a few flecks with nail varnish which now I wish I hadn't. There's nothing wrong with bare metal showing on a gun, surely. However, this enameling doesn't "wear" to produce a nice patina, as does a blued finish. It just flakes, making the gun look a bit "the worse for wear". Maybe one day I shall just remove the finish entirely?
The few plastic parts on the exterior are the grips, magazine disc, magazine release catch, safety bar and rear sight.
The grips are definitely the product's one weak feature. They are made from a brown plastic that doesn't even try to look like the wood of the real grips on which they are nonetheless modelled. Moreover, the left-side one that has to be removed to load CO2 comes off very easily but is never very solid when clipped back into place. It creaks a little during use.
Whilst I have painted the grips ( first trying black with white insets before settling on a simulated grey rubber effect with black insets ) the wobbly feature is harder to address. A tight elastic strap might work. But the problem is that you would need to remove it every time you wanted to access the CO2 compartment. This is an aspect of the gun to which I shall return. For the moment, I would advise bending the clips that attach the grip to the frame slightly to tighten their purchase on the slots in the frame and tightening the screw that holds the left grip to those clips. On mine, I also shored up the tightness and reduced the wobble by embedding the fastening clip in a wadge of hot-melt glue inside the grip.
One other point in that region is that the lanyard-awivel style loop in the tightening screw for the gas holder is not very strongly attached. I have had to re-attach mine loads of times. Without it you need either extremely strong fingers or plyers to tighten the screw.
The rear sight is fully adjustable in both planes by using a screwdriver.
The front sight is a ramp moulded into the outer barrel casting.
The magazine is a plastic disc similar to the discs used on the Crosman Colt revolvers but with spaces for six pellets instead of ten. It is deeper than the Umarex type, so can accommodate domed or even pointed pellets, which the other cannot, requiring strict use of only flat-heads. Extra magazines come in packs of three. Although plastic, they are robust and large, therefore not easily lost.
The magazine sits on a swing out arm like that which supports the cylinder on the real gun, called a "crane". It rotates on a cantilevered axel that protrudes in front and locks back into a lug under the barrel. On the real gun this would also act as an ejector for spent cases. Obviously not in this instance.
The magazine discs are only about 1cm thick and the rest of the "cylinder" is a simulated moulded mass that forms part of the frame and obviously does not revolve. It is the same arrangement as on the Crosman and Umarex revolvers and some airsoft models. I don't like it at all. I would much prefer that the gun simply did not pretend to have a cylinder than this. Of course, Gamo have full size cylinders on their CO2 revolvers but they are not interchangeable, precluding anything like a rapid reload. These discs, on the other hand, switch over in a few seconds. I have ten of them and can plough through the lot in a few minutes.
So CO2 consumption works out around 60 shots. The trigger and hammer mechanism appears to be made of steel. The trigger is very broad, easing the application of pressure. The hammer is broad and cocks easily with the thumb. A safety bar blocks the hammer until it is pressed out, revealing a red marking that indicates that the gun is ready to fire. There is also an automatic safety bar inside the mechanism that rises into position as the hammer is cocked and then drops away as the trigger is released.
The trigger is of a type not usually found in CO2 pistols or air-pistols generally. It is in two parts. The main trigger blade engages the cylinder advance indexing the next shot and cocking the hammer ( in double action or "DA" mode ). It is not capable of releasing the hammer itself. That is done by a second device located behind the trigger, protruding from the frame. Once the trigger has been pulled far enough back that the gun is ready to fire, it is a distance of about 2 millimetres from that secondary release. A slight additional pressure brings the trigger back into contact with that secondary release which under the slightest application of force instantly fires the gun.
This complex arrangement produces a very smooth, consistent, predictable and above all, light pull. It is also inherently safe. You cannot fire the gun by pressing the releasing lever itself. Because when you cock the gun the broad trigger prevents access to the releasing lever. Yet pulling the trigger through the prior stages contains no danger of an accidental discharge from any slippage in the sear, as the mechanism is tied to the little releasing lever behind the trigger which can only be accessed via the deliberate retraction of the trigger itself.
Releasing the hammer in the pre-cocked single action ( "SA" ) mode is very easy with this trigger. The trigger is very, very smooth indeed and very light. In double action ( DA ) wherein the trigger is used to both cock and release the hammer, the trigger arrangement results in hardly any difference in pull. This is vastly superior to the triggers on the Umarex pseudo-semi's, which are very heavy even in SA and in DA are so incredibly difficult to pull that some of us have to use the forefingers of BOTH hands! With the Daisy, by total contrast, you really can achieve a very high rate of fire if that is your desire.
All the same, DA never permits one to be as accurate as in SA. But the ergonomics of this pistol are such that operating it two-handed in SA is almost as fast as DA. It is possible in SA to cock with the thumb of the primary hand and fire it whilst maintaining aim with the subsidiary hand. The thumb of the primary hand rests conveniently on the shoulder at the rear of the frame atop the grip, behind the hammer, giving a firm hold of the gun yet ready to cock the hammer for the next shot.
The gun is quite loud. The eight inch steel barrel allows the gas more time to expand behind the pellet to accelerate it and impart rotation. Theoretically, this results in greater velocity and accuracy than from a shorter barrel. On the traditional phone-book test a dome-head pellet punches about 200 pages. This isn't fantastic, compared to the 300 page performance of my Baikal Makarov. But it is superior to the 170 page score of my Umarex Colt 1911 and is achieved with economical gas consumption.
When it comes to the accuracy of the gun I find I am faced with a bit of an enigma. Over some years that I used this gun for paper punching I formed the impression that it was incredibly accurate. Almost as accurate as my Weihrauch 45 spring pistol. But I didn't use the gun ( or, indeed, any of my air-pistols ) for some years. Now I discover that I am unable to achieve a decent grouping with it at all at only five metres. Obviously, you would attribute this to a degradation in my ability due to ageing and loss of practice. Except that this is not apparent on other guns, with which I can still group well. I also tried the gun on a support. With no better result. I am left with three possibilities. One being that I can no longer hold such a long barrel steady ( even with a support ), another being that the gun or the sights have degraded. The third possibility is that it was never that keen to start with. However, I had previously fired it a lot, alongside the Weihrauch, a Crosman 1322 and other pistols and on such a sound basis considered it at the time to be extremely accurate. I must therefore leave this issue open to the reader to form their own judgment.
At least until I can attach a different sight to the gun.It has no provision for mounting a scope should one wish to. Although it would not be difficult to affix a rail for one to the top of the barrel, this might obstruct the open sights. To mount a rail to the top of the frame would necessitate removal of the rear sight, due to its extremely long tangent arm, which runs the full length of the bridge over the cylinder.
One thing for sure is that others have reported lacklustre performance from the four inch barrel. But that is only to be expected. On the whole, I would rely upon my earlier, more extensive experience with the gun in it's new condition and state that in it's eight inch form it is indeed a very accurate piece. This enigma is why I have rated it 7 out of 10 for overall value. If it was as accurate today as I thought it was, previously, then it would rate 9 or 10 out of 10 in my estimation.
Allow me to return to the topic of the grip. One possibility which I have tried is to leave off the left panel entirely and replace the right one with a built-up target grip. This only works if you are right handed and able to shoot single-hand style. The grip I constructed from rubber with a soft pine palm rest. It looked rather amateurish. So I removed it. But it established that such a grip would suit the gun if at some time in the future I can get round to making a proper one out of wood. In any case, for those able to make their own wood grips this gun would be vastly improved by such a customisation.
This is a fantastic gun. It is not a good replica, although giving an impression of the size and swagger of the real weapon and exploiting it's authentic ergonomics. Where it is fantastic is as an absolutely marvellous shooting tool. Also, if you can find one at close to the original price, it is unbelievably good value for money.
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