Best BB's and pellets for Daisy Powerline 880

[ricksplace]

My Daisy 880 (all plasric model about 10 years old) has at least 12,000 BBs through it, courtesy of my neighbour's grandson. All were Daisy BBs (two 6000 count bottles). It still shoots pellets with the same outstanding accuracy it had when new. Accuracy with BBs hasn't changed either. -It's still awful!  Daisy's claim that 880 rifling is not affected by shooting BBs is true. My gun is proof. I can see no visible wear on the rifling. The only mod done to the gun was the barrel tape stabilization mod. My gun could be a fluke, but I don't see how. The gun has had about 5000 pellets through it by me. It still looks and functions like a new gun. Maintenance consists of a few drops of ND 30wt oil every once in a while and an occasional bore cleaning.  Stored with two pumps in it.  FYI- 5 shot groups at 10 meters with pellets are usually one ragged hole. BB groups are about 2-3 inches! The gun is not pellet picky. Any pellets that won't shoot well in my other guns will usually shoot well in my 880. Lately, it's been getting a steady diet of cheap pellets I found in my stash. I don't shoot it as much as my favorites, but it's a keeper.

[Corneileous]

My Daisy 880 (all plasric model about 10 years old) has at least 12,000 BBs through it, courtesy of my neighbour's grandson. All were Daisy BBs (two 6000 count bottles). It still shoots pellets with the same outstanding accuracy it had when new. Accuracy with BBs hasn't changed either. -It's still awful!  Daisy's claim that 880 rifling is not affected by shooting BBs is true. My gun is proof. I can see no visible wear on the rifling. The only mod done to the gun was the barrel tape stabilization mod. My gun could be a fluke, but I don't see how. The gun has had about 5000 pellets through it by me. It still looks and functions like a new gun. Maintenance consists of a few drops of ND 30wt oil every once in a while and an occasional bore cleaning.  Stored with two pumps in it.  FYI- 5 shot groups at 10 meters with pellets are usually one ragged hole. BB groups are about 2-3 inches! The gun is not pellet picky. Any pellets that won't shoot well in my other guns will usually shoot well in my 880. Lately, it's been getting a steady diet of cheap pellets I found in my stash. I don't shoot it as much as my favorites, but it's a keeper.

Thats interesting to hear but why the storage with two pumps in the rifle? Is that supposed to benefit the seals and such or what? I’ve always just stored mine without any stored pressure. Thought that was the thing to do.

[ricksplace]

My Daisy 880 (all plasric model about 10 years old) has at least 12,000 BBs through it, courtesy of my neighbour's grandson. All were Daisy BBs (two 6000 count bottles). It still shoots pellets with the same outstanding accuracy it had when new. Accuracy with BBs hasn't changed either. -It's still awful!  Daisy's claim that 880 rifling is not affected by shooting BBs is true. My gun is proof. I can see no visible wear on the rifling. The only mod done to the gun was the barrel tape stabilization mod. My gun could be a fluke, but I don't see how. The gun has had about 5000 pellets through it by me. It still looks and functions like a new gun. Maintenance consists of a few drops of ND 30wt oil every once in a while and an occasional bore cleaning.  Stored with two pumps in it.  FYI- 5 shot groups at 10 meters with pellets are usually one ragged hole. BB groups are about 2-3 inches! The gun is not pellet picky. Any pellets that won't shoot well in my other guns will usually shoot well in my 880. Lately, it's been getting a steady diet of cheap pellets I found in my stash. I don't shoot it as much as my favorites, but it's a keeper.

Thats interesting to hear but why the storage with two pumps in the rifle? Is that supposed to benefit the seals and such or what? I’ve always just stored mine without any stored pressure. Thought that was the thing to do.

I read that a little pressure keeps the seals from drying out and shrinking. I have three Crosman pumpers (2100, 2200, 761xl) that I have resealed. They don't seem to need the pressure during storage. The Daisy has high usage and has all original internals. One time, after I stored it unpressured for several months, it wouldn't hold air. A flush cured the problem, so I have stored it with a pump or two in it with no more problems. I don't shoot my pumpers very often, so I store all of them with a pump or two in them now. Just my $0.02.

[Corneileous]

My Daisy 880 (all plasric model about 10 years old) has at least 12,000 BBs through it, courtesy of my neighbour's grandson. All were Daisy BBs (two 6000 count bottles). It still shoots pellets with the same outstanding accuracy it had when new. Accuracy with BBs hasn't changed either. -It's still awful!  Daisy's claim that 880 rifling is not affected by shooting BBs is true. My gun is proof. I can see no visible wear on the rifling. The only mod done to the gun was the barrel tape stabilization mod. My gun could be a fluke, but I don't see how. The gun has had about 5000 pellets through it by me. It still looks and functions like a new gun. Maintenance consists of a few drops of ND 30wt oil every once in a while and an occasional bore cleaning.  Stored with two pumps in it.  FYI- 5 shot groups at 10 meters with pellets are usually one ragged hole. BB groups are about 2-3 inches! The gun is not pellet picky. Any pellets that won't shoot well in my other guns will usually shoot well in my 880. Lately, it's been getting a steady diet of cheap pellets I found in my stash. I don't shoot it as much as my favorites, but it's a keeper.

Thats interesting to hear but why the storage with two pumps in the rifle? Is that supposed to benefit the seals and such or what? I’ve always just stored mine without any stored pressure. Thought that was the thing to do.

I read that a little pressure keeps the seals from drying out and shrinking. I have three Crosman pumpers (2100, 2200, 761xl) that I have resealed. They don't seem to need the pressure during storage. The Daisy has high usage and has all original internals. One time, after I stored it unpressured for several months, it wouldn't hold air. A flush cured the problem, so I have stored it with a pump or two in it with no more problems. I don't shoot my pumpers very often, so I store all of them with a pump or two in them now. Just my $0.02.

Hmm. I’ve heard anybody do that. Actually, quite the opposite.

[Methuselah]

I forget which, but 2 of the coated bb choices are identical even though priced/marketed differently.

Also, I didn't see it mentioned, but number of pumps matters too. Too many pumps destabilize a bb in some barrels.

bb's can and probably do cause rifling wear, so I err on the side of caution and never use them in my 880. Also, try as many different types of pellets as you can, likely one or more will be more accurate than the rest.

I'm lucky, crosman pointed shoot excellent in my 880. My 2nd 760 (gave the first one away) shoots bbs very well, the copper 6000's ones. The first 760 didn't like any of the bbs I tried.

you mentioned a better scope. In my experience it doesn't help. a scope with an ao does though.

[Van]

H&N makes their Field Target Trophy in .177 in several head sizes. I have always found that 4.51 mm works the best.

Yeah, I found an older thread on here where a guy tested those, the barracuda match, some other Crosman-brand pellet and some sub-zero pellets out of an 880 PL that said he had the best grouping with those 4.5mm FTT’s. Might just pick me up a tin of them.

I made the recommendation about BBs because they are traditionally meant for use in a smoothbore barrel. Daisy swears that the rifling in the 880/901 can accommodate BBs but I would rather not try it. Pellets are far more accurate, anyways.

   

I get it and I’ve learned that BB’s can be bad for the rifling but would it not make sense to hold Daisy to that claim as long as you shot their brand BB’s? I guess I’ll just have to email Daisy and see what they say regarding that but again, I know pellets are more accurate but like I said, I may fire a some BB’s only because of the quicker reloads and because unlike my other Crosman rifle that has a clip for pellets making reloads faster, the Daisy doesn’t so with that being said, do you have a recommendation between the three types of BB’s Daisy has?

Can't help with the BB question. I never use them in anything.

There is a technique for loading pellets that doesn't really make it fast but it is a little better. Pull the bolt and then push it back in just enough to cover the BB port. Push the pellet up the ramp with your index finger until it is ready to load. It probably helps that I have skinny musician's fingers.

  I never shoot BBs in my old rifled barrel 880 so I sealed the BB loading door shut and used JB Weld SteelStick Epoxy to close the BB port in the breech. Then contoured it to the shape of the breech wall.  It loads pellets better now and shoots easy to find Crosman hollow points accurately.

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

I shoved a Foam Ear Plug in the BB port on my  "880 want-to-be"  Umarex NXG APX.
That worked out really well. It was a "no muss no fuss" solution for me.


Best Wishes - Tom