The Daisy Powerline 901 Air Rifle Review.
The Daisy Powerline 901
Many people would be familiar with the name Daisy within the airgun world. Daisy is a renowned air rifle brand that many would have had as a child. When I got given the chance to review the Daisy Powerline 901 I jumped at it. Being a bit of an airgun snob I lowered my expectations of this air gun as it was not going to be the Beeman, FX and Anschutz’s that I had become accustomed to but it cost a fraction of the price of those brands and whilst you always get what you pay for, I thought the little Daisy was a heap of fun for a $200 multi-pump pneumatic.
Who do I recommend buy this airgun? Well that question is easy to answer. If you are trying to get your kids into shooting and don’t want to spend a huge amount on something that they might not be interested in the Daisy Powerline is the way to go. It will give them the experience of handling and owning a firearm whilst providing them with hours of cheap fun but this air rifle is not high end its entry level and it is meant for young shooters to learn the ropes before they move forward to higher quality airguns and rimfires. Many American shooters will tell you they got their start when given a Daisy Powerline.
The Fore end is extended for pumping.
The Daisy Powerline 901 is a multi-pump pneumatic. Which means each time you pump the gun up the more power it will deliver. It is recommended that you do not go above 10 pumps. It is mainly of plastic construction with the pump handle/forend, trigger, action and cocking mechanism all being plastic. That said I found it to be durable and whilst it would be nice to have it all made out of beautiful timber and blued steel it would cost a lot more and probably not deliver better results and it is still very functional as it is.
It has the ability to shoot ball bearings in multi-shot and lead pellets in single shot. So for cheap plinking fun you can use the not so accurate ball bearings for mucking around. Ball bearings are cheap I paid $15 for 1500 copperhead BB’s at the gun shop and I have barely dented the pack. For hunting I’d suggest using a light round nose or hollow point .177 pellet. I wouldn’t hunt rabbits with it, it is a plinking gun but I would happily shoot pest birds with it out to about 20-25m.
| # of Pumps | BB’s (FPS) | Pellets (FPS) |
| 1 | 266 | 187 |
| 2 | 397 | 361 |
| 3 | 482 | 447 |
| 4 | 531 | 512 |
| 5 | 568 | 556 |
| 6 | 617 | 588 |
| 7 | 643 | 615 |
| 8 | 662 | 642 |
| 9 | 687 | 666 |
| 10 | 696 | 671 |
From the test you can see that even for plinking one or two pumps are only necessary when plinking a short distance.
Pumping the gun up is easy for the first five shots and whilst it is by no means difficult the rest of the way younger shooters may find it hard to get to full power. That said it is probably a good thing when introducing someone to shooting as it will keep it a bit safer.
The method for loading the bb’s is simple, you slide the door down and poor up to 50 BB’s into the holder:
The cocking mechanism closed and opened
Loading Pellets and BB's
Whilst theoretically you could add a scope to this air gun I wouldn’t suggest it as the rail is only plastic and I don’t imagine it would hold zero for long, the open sights are more than adequate though I think the rear sight is made for easy target acquisition and not real accuracy as the notch in it is quite wide.
Overall for $200 you can’t go past the Daisy Powerline 901 for a fun plinking/beginners gun.
I’d buy this gun if I was interested in getting a new young shooter an airgun but was not sure that he or she would like it to or if you wanted an extremely cheap and easy to shoot plinking gun for those long days at the camp site before you go on your hunt. The adjustable power is good as you can do less pumps and lower the velocity to make it safer and quieter. That said, those BB’s ricochet very easily if you hit a hard surface so I recommend wearing safety glasses at all times when using BB’s. Remember this is a beginners gun and I reviewed it as such this is not really for someone who want’s to get into serious airgunning but someone who wants a cheap plinking or beginners gun I think Daisy recognises this as well which is why they can keep the price down low
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Category: featured, Hunting Rifles, Reviews
Not the kind of air rifle I would want too many around that can reach out to 40 meters
True max but this rifle is really aimed at the low end of the market, it’s really designed for 12yo kids to play with it’s not what I’d call a precision airgun but it’s not designed or priced as one either it’s a beginners air gun to get the feel of shooting.
Bring back my Daisy Red Rider, what a great little BB gun, pour about 500 BB’s into the barrel, then just hold vertically and work the lever. Fire off shot after shot quickly and easily, popping off tin cans, whatever, it was a great little toy gun.The best part was, when you aimed it up at the sky you could actually see the BB’s fly through the air, great for lobbing them onto targets at long range!!
Is the 901 available in Australia (VIC)? I’ve been looking for a very low powered air rifle for knocking rats off my roof at close range, and the 901 would be ideal. Most of the gun stores laugh when I ask about Daisys, and say they haven’t sold them for 20 years.
Hi JK
they are definitely in Australia, just ring winchester Australia http://www.olin.com.au and they will tell you where they are available.
I mite get one of these in couple years. The gun itself tho can be a pretty good hunter gun with 10 full pumps. u can hunt small animals from a total of 50 yards away!. i saw a guy shoot a chicken from 50 yards away on youtube. any way you can shoot birds. squarrils from a close distance rats mice. rabits from a close distance but with a couple more pumps than ten like 15 or 20. but only 10 pumps usally for the gun to stay sturdy usaly for smaller rodents and birds from 50 yards away max with a head shot any more further it will cause the animal to have a slow painful death
lies i dropped a rabbit at 35 yards wit my 901 and a 4 by 32 scope its hold zero well never got out of sight i even killed a dove at 45 yards all the kils on the bigger game have to be head shot or hard lung shot on doves shot them in the wing disable the and get to them and shoot them in the head
thay are the best kids air rifle i know of