Daisy Powerline 880 Review

“When I got the Daisy 880 my first impression of the...”

Written on: 12/01/2009 by bloodgarden (4 reviews written)

Good Points
Low price, Shoots BB and pellet, shoots 1/2" groups at 25' after easy mod., easy to pump, decent power, has proven durable despite first impressions.

Bad Points
A nerf gun feels sturdier, Poor quality control, requires tinkering to get it to work properly, scope is useless

General Comments
When I got the Daisy 880 my first impression of the gun could be summed up by Chester Cheetah's famous line, "Dangerously Cheesy!" The whole gun appears to be made of plastic (think disposable tableware, not Glock). As it came out of the box, it had two main problems. First, the BB loading door would not stay closed.
The second problem was extremely poor accuracy, which I traced to two areas. The first area was the front sight which also serves as a shim between the sheet metal barrel shroud and the smaller inner barrel was loose and would rotate approximately 2 degrees.
The second area is that the rear sight elevation wedge detents are not big enough and the wedge is prone to slip if bumped even slightly. The upside to this is that the wedge can be more finely adjusted than most.
Despite the initial quality control "challenges" and outward "cheesiness" The Daisy 880 is a real gem mechanically. It has proven itself to be very reliable and easy to use. Pumping is made easy by a roller and track system on the final linkage between the piston and the linkage arm that connects the pump arm to the piston.
The 880 has a good amount of power for a BB gun. 7.6-7.9 gr. domed and pointed pellets pierce about 325 pages of a phone book with 50+ pages of broken paper after them. BBs penetrate about 260 pages with 20+ pages of broken paper behind them. The rifle is so light I can feel it recoil when firing pellets. Pellets are easier to load by grabbing the head and catching the skirt on the magnetic pin then pivoting the head down into the loading gate, or dropping them straight into the bore with the muzzle down rather than trying to roll them into the loading gate on the groove apparently provided for the purpose because pellets don't roll straight even for short distances.