Had been a little busy lately due to work and stuff and could not actively post much on IFG. Regardless, I've managed to rekindle my long-lost love for Airguns with a little BB gun I purchased recently. It's the Daisy Powerline 5501, a simplistic BB pistol.
Here's my review of the gun. These are just my opinions and not a professional product evaluation. Just wanted to share my thoughts with the other like-mined people who like things that go 'bang, bang!'
Daisy Powerline 5501:
In my opinion, the Daisy 5501 is a fun BB pistol for someone who's just got bit by the bug and wants to fiddle with the newfound interest. It's a beater BB gun you could put to much abuse and don't have to cry over it if it were to break. That said, it is still a considerably well made toy that would last quite long if maintained properly.
Obligatory specs:
- 0.177" calibre
- Two tone finish
- All Metal, Plastic Grips
- 6.8" Length
- Weighs 0.7 kg
- 15 BBs/magazine
- Manual Safety
- Single Action Semi-Auto
- CO2 powered
Accuracy is alright for a BB gun. I have tested it out at 10 yards with copperhead BBs and got acceptable results i.e. 4 inch groups. The shots were taken off hand, standing position. Hence, do note that the gun could probably shoot better.
Range:
The maximum distance of target I shot at is 15 yards. I did not notice any significant drop in the trajectory. One could safely assume that the gun would be moderately accurate till 20 yards out.
Ergonomics:
It would a perfect fit for someone with small to medium sized hands. If you have really big hands, you might feel a tad bit of discomfort while holding the gun. The slide release, magazine release and the decocker are perfectly placed and are fairly easy to access with one hand. Unfortunately, the gun is NOT ambidextrous and lefties will find the configuration of the controls a little irritating. The blowback is crisp and puts a subtle kick in the shot. The fixed open sights are alright. The front post has a white dot on it but the rear sight doesn't any dots on it. There's no provision to mount an optic but the picatiny rail built into the frame does enable a laser or a flash light attachment if you wanted to go tacticool.
CO2, Magazine:
The shot count per CO2 cartridge is decent considering the blowback. On a warm day, I usually get about 30 good powered shots per cartridge. The dropdown 'stick' magazine holds 15 shots but I found that filling it up fully increases the chances of a jam/load failure. I always load 10 shots and it shoots like a breeze. Extra magazines are cheap and a must have to keep the fun going.
Trigger, Action:
The trigger is smooth enough and breaks crisply with an acceptable amount of travel. The trigger creep could've been better, but hey, it's a darn BB gun! The gun is single action, to cock the gun you'll have to rack the slide before you take the first shot. The blowback takes care of cocking the gun for the subsequent rounds. If you don't have enough CO2 left, you might have a few rare occasions where the gun fails to cock and you just have to make sure you clear the BB and rack the slide manually to keep going.
Now, the stuff that you guys are actually interested in, pictures!
Pulled the magazine out as I've got a non-empty CO2 cartridge still in the gun. Safety is paramount.
The left side view, with all the button configuration.
The safety's off, red means ready to fire!
That's right, it's not ambidextrous.
The CO2 powerlet goes into the magazine. The grip comes off to expose the cartridge well.
The slide locks back when the last shot is fired and the magazine's empty.
The slide needs to racked to take the first shot.
The internal hammer indicator. Red means the guns cocked. Pushing the decocker would release the hammer
The front sight post is dotted, but the rear sight is not.
The 15-shot stick magazine. Filling it with 10 BBs works best for me.
Hope you enjoyed the review. Be safe and happy shooting.
AK
