Daisy 880 Accuracy with BBs ?

[SamTheMan]

Hi guys. I have a Daisy 880 that I shoot BBs out of. I use BBs because our cats often get the critters that might be shot and we don't want them to swallow lead pellets. I'm using Avanti Precision Ground Shot.

What kind of accuracy can you expect to get from an 880 shooting good quality BBs ?  Thanks

[DavidS]

Use pellets and the few that the pellet does not go clean through (it will with most) remove the pellet.

There is no gun with any level of power that is accurate enough with BB's.  And BB's do not have enough mass to hunt with.

Not to mention that the Daisy 880 is a Pellet gun, and has a rifled barrel.

[stonykill]

 if you are going to get accuracy with a BB it will be from Avanti Precision Ground Shot.

   Here is a link to a guy who mainly hunted with BB's for a summer. So they will work on small enough game. Pellets are a better choice however for clean kills.

  http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/08/pellet_rifle_hunting_by_dm.html

[SamTheMan]

Stonykill - thanks for the link.

I imagine that millions of small birds and animals have been taken by boys and their BB guns over the years. (I used to do the same as a kid decades ago, before I decided not to shoot anything that wouldnt be eaten. Those were one shot kills, usually head shots with a lever action Daisy of far less power than an 880. The advantage back then is that my cousin, brothers, and I shot our BB guns an incredible number of shots and knew them inside and out.)

Since I haven't shot a BB gun for many years, I just wondered what their practical accuracy is within reasonable ranges.

[DavidS]

Stonykill - thanks for the link.

I imagine that millions of small birds and animals have been taken by boys and their BB guns over the years. (I used to do the same as a kid decades ago, before I decided not to shoot anything that wouldnt be eaten. Those were one shot kills, usually head shots with a lever action Daisy of far less power than an 880. The advantage back then is that my cousin, brothers, and I shot our BB guns an incredible number of shots and knew them inside and out.)

Since I haven't shot a BB gun for many years, I just wondered what their practical accuracy is within reasonable ranges.

Yes the leaver action Daisy's like the Red Rider will do better for accuracy with BB's.  And yes you can take small animals at very close range with them, though I would recommend against it personally.  The 880 is more of a Pellet gun than a BB gun.

Pellets do not cost much, and they will usually pass clean through your prey if shot from a good Daisy 880.

[SamTheMan]

DavidS - thanks for your comments. I hadn't shot any pellets through my 880, which I've only had for about 6 months. I went out and shot some pellets a little while ago after reading this thread, and the rifle was far more accurate/consistent with them. My eyes aren't as good as they were when I was a kid, but I have a Hawke 4x AO scope on the 880. It would be quite easy to make head shots with pellets. I'll have to see if the lead pellets consistently pass through small birds and keep an eye on our cats till I verify that. I'm confident that BBs will take small animals at appropriate ranges, but shot groups weren't as consistent as I'd like (perhaps also wind was more of a factor).

[GearHead]

Years ago (over 30), my dad and I got out in the yard and did some shooting with our airguns.  I had a smoothbore 880, and he had one with a rifled barrel (881 model maybe).  We tried BBs and pellets.  The result was that mine (smoothbore) shot BBs WAY better than his (rifled barrel).  And the rifled barrel shot pellets way better than my smoothbore.  It seemed like the rifling was causing the BBs to bounce around the barrel.  If you want a BB pumper, get a Model 35.  I think it's the same powerplant as the 880, but in a smoothbore.

[mudduck48]

Use pellets and the few that the pellet does not go clean through (it will with most) remove the pellet.

There is no gun with any level of power that is accurate enough with BB's.  And BB's do not have enough mass to hunt with.

Not to mention that the Daisy 880 is a Pellet gun, and has a rifled barrel.

Not to mention that the Daisy 880 is a pellet gun? The Daisy 880 is a BB gun! Always was and always will be a BB gun. Look on the left side, what do you see? A loading port for what? BB's.  A true pellet gun does not have a loading port for BB's. The Daisy 880 is a BB gun that you can shoot pellets in. 

[DavidS]

Use pellets and the few that the pellet does not go clean through (it will with most) remove the pellet.

There is no gun with any level of power that is accurate enough with BB's.  And BB's do not have enough mass to hunt with.

Not to mention that the Daisy 880 is a Pellet gun, and has a rifled barrel.

Not to mention that the Daisy 880 is a pellet gun? The Daisy 880 is a BB gun! Always was and always will be a BB gun. Look on the left side, what do you see? A loading port for what? BB's.  A true pellet gun does not have a loading port for BB's. The Daisy 880 is a BB gun that you can shoot pellets in. 

We see differently on this.

There are many pellet guns that are able to take BB's this does not make them BB guns.  I would say that anything with a rifled barrel is primarily a pellet gun.

Not to mention that there are .22 cal versions of the Daisy 880.  How many BB guns have a .22 cal version??

For Daisy BB guns you have the Daisy RR, Diasy Grizzly,  and a couple of others.  Though not the 880.

[mudduck48]

The Daisy 880 is a BB gun. Look on the left side and you will see a loading port for BB's. If they had wanted to  make a pellet gun, then they would have made it like my 922 or my 953 with a pellet clip. And, I have never seen an 880 in .22 cal. I have seen a 922 in .22, but not an 880. I think they made the 880 to compete with the Crosman 760 and the Crosman 2100, both pellet shooting BB guns.

[DavidS]

The Daisy 880 is a BB gun. Look on the left side and you will see a loading port for BB's. If they had wanted to  make a pellet gun, then they would have made it like my 922 or my 953 with a pellet clip.

While I do agree that I would like to see it with a Pellet clip, I still believe that the inclusion of the BB loader is only because of the fact that Daisy made a name for them selves in BB's, and thus it is a marketing thing.

And, I have never seen an 880 in .22 cal.

So you have not seen or heard of the Daisy 22SG, 22X, 22S, 922, 882, etc?   these are all .22 cal versions of the Daisy 880.   Or what about the 177x that is just a Daisy 880 with out the BB loader?

I have seen a 922 in .22, but not an 880. I think they made the 880 to compete with the Crosman 760 and the Crosman 2100, both pellet shooting BB guns.

I agree that the smooth bore Crosman 760 is likely to be a BB gun primarily, though I believe the Crosman 2100 (also made in .22 as the 2200) is primarily a Pellet gun, that can shoot BB's.  Like the Crosman 66 that I feel is a Pellet gun that can shoot BB's.

We obviously have differing views on this.  Though a freind of mine that once worked for Daisy and now lives in Oregon backed me on this one last night.  When I asked him what the purpose of the Daisy 880 is he told me in no uncertain terms that the Daisy 880, 177x, 22S, 22SG, 922, 882, 901 and Winchester 77x are all the same gun (excepting caliber) and they are all pellet guns by design.

So it is obvious that we have differing opinions on this issue.  You feel that the Daisy 880/177x/882/922/22sg/22S/901 are primarily BB guns, I feel that they are primarily pellet guns, and would like to see the .177 cal versions with out the bb loader, and with a clip.

[mudduck48]

I own the original 880 with no diamond on the forearm. I own the original 922. I now have the new China 880. The 922 is not a BB gun. It only shoots .22cal pellets. The 880 is a BB gun that can shoot pellets. The older Crosman 760 rifles had rifled barrels. The new ones are smooth bore.

[mudduck48]

Hi guys. I have a Daisy 880 that I shoot BBs out of. I use BBs because our cats often get the critters that might be shot and we don't want them to swallow lead pellets. I'm using Avanti Precision Ground Shot.

What kind of accuracy can you expect to get from an 880 shooting good quality BBs ?  Thanks

Back to the original post. How are you doing with the Avanti BB's? If you are hitting what you are aiming at? If you are, then I would say it works. The one good thing that you did, is buy the best BB's you could find. IMO I have tried them in my CO2 guns and they really made a difference. 

[MikeSSS]

I tried BBs in my Crosman 760 smoothbore, accuracy was very bad.  Far worse than the little Daisy 105B lever action that I compared it to.

This does not answer the question directly but it is a point of reference.

[avator]

Just use lead free alloy pellets... not bad for the cat or the 880. Altho whatever bbs are going to do to your barrel is probably already done.

[CA_Blacktail]

I second the alloy pellets. The H&N greens are made well and shoot well out of many air guns.

[boomer92266]

The Daisy 880 is a BB gun. Look on the left side and you will see a loading port for BB's. If they had wanted to  make a pellet gun, then they would have made it like my 922 or my 953 with a pellet clip. And, I have never seen an 880 in .22 cal. I have seen a 922 in .22, but not an 880. I think they made the 880 to compete with the Crosman 760 and the Crosman 2100, both pellet shooting BB guns.

i must go the other way as i have 901. i believe since they are made with a rifled barrel then these are pellet gun first and bb guns second so they should be called. bb shooting pellets guns, or pellet guns that shoot bb's.