Personal view and I now know why they call the Daisy 953 a 10m airgun

[45Bravo]

Hello, Well, i traded a while back for a Daisy 953, and just have not had a day to try it out.

I didn't like the open sights, (50 year old eyes) so i stuck a cheap tasco 3-7 on it. just to see what it would do,

I normally shoot at 25 yards and farther.
I set my target at 10m, and sighted in, and stopped when i got 3 touching on the .177 caliber dot, i was liking this gun.

Then i switched to my steel spinners and 9mm hulls i normally shoot at.
and after a 20 or 30 shots it got boring.
You know, hitting everything you aimed at.

Then i stepped it out to 20 yards, wow, hitting at the bottom of the paper, so i made some adjustments, and was back on target. 3 pretty close, and went back to spinners.

I could hit the inch and a half spinner all the time, so i went to 25 yards.

The pellet was dropping like a stone, at the bottom of the paper again.
I was shooting Crosman Premier Hollowpoints from the tin.
at 25 yards, it was more challenging to hit 9mm and .40 cal hulls. (i collect the steel cased russian made empties people leave at the range to use as targets)

Wind drift and flight time to the target was noticeable.
Now I was not liking my gun too much, as it was nothing like my 2289 or my 2400.

But one pump, and any temperature shooting has its advantage. (50 deg when i was shooting today)

I moved back to 10m, and they went back to touching again.
I was using copy paper and no backer, so they would make 1 hole, and it would just change shape a little, but all go through the same hole.
And being round nose, it was not a clean hole.

I started laying the 9mm hulls on their side and shooting the primer (they were already fired) or sometimes threading the pellet into the mouth of the case.

I was having fun again.
Now that i understand that the gun was meant for a certain distance, i will just have to adhere to that range, and it is a great precision show off gun.

I recovered some of my pellets from my trap (it has 3 ballistic cloths to slow the pellet down. they were in good shape, I saw why the 953 is so accurate, it has to with the tightness of the bore, I am engraving rifling on the skirts and the heads of the CPHP.  I tried some Daisy match wadcutters, but they didn't shoot as well as the Crosman pellets.

It has a place in my lineup, it is accurate, only takes 1 pump, no co2, and is FUN!

It came painted, I am normally not a painted gun kinda guy, but it doesn't look like a TARGET rifle, and the price was really good..

Here are some photos, one is the gun, the other is a dime sized target with all 5 shots touching in the forehead/face of the target, (hard to see, as i folded the paper back into place, but there), and the last is the recovered pellets showing the rifling marks.

Bottom line, the trigger isn't the greatest, but it is predictable, and it is a lot of fun, and it bears mentioning again, it is accurate.. 
I little louder than my other guns, so a TKO may be in its future..

Oh and a better scope, anyone out there got a bug buster they want to part with?

If you don't have one of these, get one...

[ac12]

45B

Check out the posting on the  x53 trigger mod
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=39648.0
This will help you to get the most accuracy out of the rifle.

[stonykill]

 thanks for the personal review. Sounds like a gotta have AG

[45Bravo]

Thanks for the link to the mods, I will smooth it up eventually, right now I am having too much fun seeing how small of an object I can hit...

I have a 1943 Mossberg US Military issue M44US.
It is a military training rifle.
And is in as issued condition.
According to the serial number it was in the first group delivered to the army in 1943.
A Friend of mine (George Fram) is head of the Mossberg museum (I didn't know they had one either until I met him) sent it to me.
The trigger on the daisy is not too much different than the mossberg other than more travel, and grittier, so a little polishing will be in order.

The mossberg is the only powder burner that I have ever had that will shoot 1 hole groups with iron sights.

So the daisy is good practice for my mossberg.

I put the Daisy and the Mossberg in the same group, an under appreciated rifle of exceptional capabilities.

People hear the name and form an opinion, until they pull the trigger..

Here is a link to a video, a .40 caliber hull at 50 yards , with my mossberg, iron sights.
As seen through the spotting scope..
View My Video

[K.O.]

I love my 953 sib the 853.  I have it shooting almost 500 fps with 7.9g  and with shimming the pump tube to get max stroke I should get just a bit more

Be wary Zombie Watermelons

[Dick Tracey]

I went to 5.5 gr lead free Preditor GTO pellets and shoot the gamo resettable spinner targets at 20 yards.  You have to hit them just right to get the spinner to go up and stay up.  It usually takes a couple of hits to reset the spinner.  This is with my Daisy 953 and 853.  I have shot water filled balloons at 20 Yards just about 1" dia.  Then shoot the busted balloon, then shoot the balloon knot on the string, and then shoot the string.

DT

[Benwaller]

The 953 really is a stellar rifle once you smooth up the trigger, the only "blemish" this low price point rifle actually has.  I find it a hoot to shoot, especially between 20 and 35 yards as you really get a feeling for drift and arc; actually you can see the pellet flyin' through the air.  Kinda' like watchin' a strike curve ball blowing in from the mound. 

And at 10-15 yards it makes 1/2" and smaller groups without fail.  What's not to love?

Yeah, it is a very nice, quiet backyard rifle that I turn to often at trigger time.

By the way, mine feeds on CPHP 7.9's, and never a burp.

Ben

[45Bravo]

Mine likes the crosman pellets too, and yes it is a verticle curve ball.

And when the slightest breeze, or if you are canting the rifle just a tad it will show at those distances..

But at 10m it is magic, the match heads just disappear as a puff in the scope, no recoil to spoil the show..
Flies just disappear, (a little syrup or honey on a paper plate, for an attractant..)
Tooth pics , tictacs, .22 rimfire brass, 6mm white airsoft bbs, all just magically disappear..

Ohh new idea!!  Steel bbs as a target!!!!
That would be a challenge!

It is a lot louder than my other rifles (they. Have TKO's on them) but that will possibly be changed in the future..

I will venture to say that at 10 meters, it will shoot better than most people are capable of..

[coyotejoe]

Love my 953 for accuracy, 5 shot clip and single pump, just one heck of a gun for the money but that is true of every Daisy product I've ever tried. Oh yeah, and Mossberg too! Mossberg made it's name with a wide variety of reasonably priced .22 rifles and it's sad that Mossberg no longer builds a .22 rifle, they import some &^^& which does no justice to the name but there are still lots o old Mossbergs around that still shoot just fine. Mossberg once even built their own rifle scopes and I believe they were the first to groove the receiver of .22's for easy scope mounting. They had a lot of "firsts".

[45Bravo]

Very true joe.
I have some friends that live in cotapaxi.
They are from Monroe la. We used to work together.

I used to live in the springs and drive down there all the time.
I wouldn't mind retiring there like they did.