Daisy 880 SSC (Silent, Scoped, Carbine)

[tweedking]

so i have been lurking around this and other forums for about 2-3 years now. gleaning what i wisdom i can, i have made some decisions as to what i want/need out of an airgun.

first and foremost of theses factors is cheep. i can't get myself to justify big $$$ on any airguns i lust after. sure, they are worth it, i am just not willing to save up $500 for something i won't feel will get to shoot, because i live in a fairly big town of 85,000 and i shoot in my garage.

the second factor is where i shoot most. mostly, i do not go out to the woods to shoot, i go to the woods to hike, or take pictures, i just also take a airgun when i can.  where i like to go best was once just a valley full of farms with a small corner store/post office, which is now a massive lake surrounded by the foundations of lost structures and over-growth. the lake has about 50 years worth of trash forming a monument to the highest water level the lake has ever seen. i meet other hikers and such about once every other time i'm out and don't need to be carrying some fancy hunting rifle or tactacool m-f'n black-gun when some aging hippy lady comes over the hill. i would rather look like a silly grown-up that can't quit playing with his pop-guns.

this gets back to what i shoot. i mostly kill cans in large quantity (because there are no limits, no cleaning, no mess) because they die where they are. i do not hunt any game, i don't have a hunting license or the desire to clean game (chicken's cheaper when yo live 20 miles inside the city limits....). i may have to put a pest out now and again, but only from a live-trap. i shoot targets too, i just like to walk the woods and pop the trash from yesteryear. if i started trying, i bet i could post hundreds of species of cans to the hunting gate, some highly endangered (like "donald duck orange juice" or root beer "fortified with dextrose").  but, sadly i do not need a big bore for that.

so what did i feel like i would need from my next project? well, i like my crosman 1377+1399 well enough, and it can break down into my back pack, but it can be tough to pump. i like my Daisy 880 (1974 w/updated inards) more, but it has feel of a .22lr in the woods. it's kind of too long for the un-blazed trail i sometimes wonder. so why not something in between.

introducing the Daisy 880 SSC: with the refined grace of daisy's first adult air rifle and an eye toward the future, the 880 SSC doesn't have to try to break any ground with airgun technology. the ground it stands on has been for solid more than 25 years (since the valve redesign). the frame it rests in is solid too. the all steel box channel design has been the backbone of the 880 since 1972 and has never wavered and never changed. you can get some things the way the used to be. the pump arm is a weight saving, molded, single unit, and the handle of the arm is a nod to the short magazines of rifles past. but when the 880 SSC want's to break with tradition, the hack-saw comes out. the comfortable thumb-hole stock was hacked right off of a winchester 77xs (ok, so i really just ordered one). but that's where the hacking really just started. with a 12.5" barrel and a 15" shroud, the 880 SSC isn't really silent, but your staple gun is louder by 2X. as a carbine coming in at 32&1/4", this is certain to be the best handling daisy 880 you or i have ever taken to the woods. all you need to top the cake with is a scope (or dot sight).

i think this might even be a realistic model for daisy. most of the parts are on the shelf at this time. think, a shorter barrel would save cost per valve/barrel unit. a shorter shroud would do the same. a redesign on the front sight and a new barrel support inside the surround for the shorter barrel. 3 parts change. 1 new part (that is just a plastic tube about 3/4" long with the right ID & OD), and 1 part from the other line. done and out the door. aimed for the neighbor friendly set and the quiet hunter.

[DavidS]

Very nice.   I may have to try ordering the stock again .

[stonykill]

  I like it Tweed! Send that sales pitch to Daisy yet?

[sk73]

Well said

[tweedking]

  I like it Tweed! Send that sales pitch to Daisy yet?

no, but i was inspired by all those ads i posted a few days ago. who could argue with johnny unitus?  or 1,000 shots though steel for 10 cents. or copy writers from the "mad men" times... copy writers do it now too. i contend that when a manufacturer says "max FPS: 850," what they are really saying is "max possable FPS: 850" or "not more than 850 FPS." just a thought....

sling points are something i want to add, or at least a good backpack-able some-thing of some sort, and a proper end-cap with a baffle or two....working on it...update to come

[DavidS]

  I like it Tweed! Send that sales pitch to Daisy yet?

no, but i was inspired by all those ads i posted a few days ago. who could argue with johnny unitus?  or 1,000 shots though steel for 10 cents. or copy writers from the "mad men" times... copy writers do it now too. i contend that when a manufacturer says "max FPS: 850," what they are really saying is "max possable FPS: 850" or "not more than 850 FPS." just a thought....

Now days it is probably true that a manufacturer claiming "850 FPS Max" probably is intended as "Ablolutely max possible 850 FPS for the best well tuned and the lightest weight ammo".     Though older guns are a different story, see:
http://airgunhome.com/agforum/viewtopic.php?t=6193
850FPS with 14.3 grain pellets possible.    Try that with a modern pumper using the stock valve, linkage, and pump tube with only simple mods.      Not including the Webley Rebel (QC Issue city).

[tweedking]

if a manufacturer says x FPS, then more than that is a fantisy, that # is a dream to obtain, less is almost (90%) the case. but, that's just my plink'n opinion....

not to have that conversation here, i'll start a thread in all airguns.

[DavidS]

Have you thought about doing the carbine with a little longer shroud left on it?   I would bet it would make a difference in the noise level.

[tweedking]

Have you thought about doing the carbine with a little longer shroud left on it?   I would bet it would make a difference in the noise level.

i though about it after the hack-saw.... but to leave something with a .5" outer-diameter (easy to find some kind of end cap), i would only loose 3/4" of shroud. i chose maneuverability over air space and am now searching for an end-cap in the .620" ID range, what a hoot huh?

[tweedking]

i though about it after the hack-saw....

how many of us are aware of the mod you needed to make, only while you stare at the mod you made with a critical eye....

[DavidS]

Have you thought about doing the carbine with a little longer shroud left on it?   I would bet it would make a difference in the noise level.

i though about it after the hack-saw.... but to leave something with a .5" diameter (easy to find some kind of end cap), i would only loose 3/4" of shroud. i chose maneuverability over air space and am now searching for an end-cap in the .620" ID range, what a hoot huh?

For the end cap I would take some steel stock and turn it down to the 0.62 range required, then center drill it and cut it to around .2 inches long.    About 10 minutes on the lathe.    I would use the same 0.65 OD steel stock I use for making Crosman Hammers, and Pistons (not the 0.76 OD that I use for other AirRifle projects).

[tweedking]

  I like it Tweed! Send that sales pitch to Daisy yet?

no, but i was inspired by all those ads i posted a few days ago. who could argue with johnny unitus?  or 1,000 shots though steel for 10 cents. or copy writers from the "mad men" times... copy writers do it now too. i contend that when a manufacturer says "max FPS: 850," what they are really saying is "max possable FPS: 850" or "not more than 850 FPS." just a thought....

Now days it is probably true that a manufacturer claiming "850 FPS Max" probably is intended as "Ablolutely max possible 850 FPS for the best well tuned and the lightest weight ammo".     Though older guns are a different story, see:
http://airgunhome.com/agforum/viewtopic.php?t=6193
850FPS with 14.3 grain pellets possible.    Try that with a modern pumper using the stock valve, linkage, and pump tube with only simple mods.      Not including the Webley Rebel (QC Issue city).

law suites are the culprit....some detective decided that since you  can't visually see that a gun is not loaded, dummies like that guy, think it's unloaded and fire it at their friend's heads, lawsuit ensues....