TargetTalk

Asking as a newbie here-----there seems to be very little mention of the Daisy Avanti 888 Target rifle.
Wondering if it just does not measure up to the German and Swedish
rifles? I have an opportunity to purchase a new 888 for less than $300.
Am I just throwing my money away on a Chinese built Daisy?
Any of you currently own a Daisy 888? Would like to hear some feedback
please.
Thanks,
Steve Z.

bigbore4me wrote:Asking as a newbie here-----there seems to be very little mention of the Daisy Avanti 888 Target rifle.
Wondering if it just does not measure up to the German and Swedish
rifles? I have an opportunity to purchase a new 888 for less than $300.
Am I just throwing my money away on a Chinese built Daisy?
Any of you currently own a Daisy 888? Would like to hear some feedback
please.
Thanks,
Steve Z.

Do you mean German and Swiss?

As far as I know, there are no precision Swedish airguns. There is a line of sporter/hunting airguns that come from Sweden, but not any 10-meter style.

And no, the Daisy rifles are not in the same class as FWB, Anschutz, Steyr, etc. Daisy makes some very inexpensive airguns that are commonly used for beginners and/or the sporter class, but not for the precision level. As far as I'm concerned, the biggest knock on the Daisy line is the trigger design as well as the overall "roughness" of the rifle itself. They're not even in the same ballpark as the above-mentioned brands.

On the other hand, the Daisy rifles are, as mentioned, rather low-cost and make for good starter rifles that get a lot of kids (mostly) introduced to the sport without busting their parents' pocketbooks.

I bought one for my kids; they "outgrew" it in less than a season and moved on to better rifles. I have since given it away to another family that was just starting out.

Oh, yea,

In my opinion you would be throwing your money away in buying a Daisy for an adult.

Instead, buy a used FWB 300 from Jim E. in the For Sale section of this forum for $450-$500 instead. Though these are 20-year-old guns, their triggers are light-years ahead of any of the Daisy's I've ever shot.

I bought an FWB 300S from Jim after my purchase of the Daisy and was very satisfied. As mentioned, I gave away the Daisy but still own the FWB and shoot it from time to time.

And another "Oh, yea",

I did a quick writeup about a year ago with some background info for the beginning precision airgun shooter on my blog here: http://eurastus.blogspot.com/2009/03/airguns.html.

It's chock-full of my opinions, for what they're worth.

Thanks for all the comments and details of your knowledge of the 888.
I appreciate it. It's how I learn little by little!!
Steve Z

Sure enough. There are lots of folks here on this forum that know so much more than I; I'm sure they will chime in before long.

Also, I just went back and re-read that post on my blog. I should mention that the hit to the economy has effected airgun prices since I originally wrote the entry a year ago.

In the article, I quoted FWB 300S rifles as running $650-$700, which they did then. I've seen them going for a lot less lately, like in the $550-$600 range with a few well-used examples dipping under the $500 mark. Even the newer and better SSP rifles seem to be going for less than $1000 recently.

Your mileage, of course, may vary, but if I were in your shoes, I'd contact Jim E. and see what he has coming in his next shipment from Europe. It seems like he's always got good-quality used rifles he's imported from Germany (and sometimes a pistol or two) for sale. He'll treat you right on the transaction as well. If you could scrape together enough for an FWB 600, 601, or 602, that would really be the ticket, in my opinion.

I presently shoot an FWB 603 and love it.

The Daisy class of competition rifles are primarily suited for CMP "Sporter" class competitions. Next class up is the "Precision" class which are the Olympic style rifles.

These include the hand pumped Daisy 753, 853, and 953 rifles ... rifles such as the 888 and 887 are the same action & trigger, but are CO2 powered.

I view the sporters as beginner to intermediate rifles and they do have their value. It is so much easier to start a sporter shooter (with no special clothing) than to start a precision shooter (with all pants/coats/etc). My opinion there. A coach can correct and adjust any bad habits or position errors much easier because they can see so much more.

As mentioned the sporter trigger is a minimum of 1.5lbs and is very non-forgiving in technique errors such as (lack of) follow thru and "slapping" the trigger.

When you transition a sporter shooter that is advanced (525-550+ in 3x20 3-P) to a precision gun, they have generally worked out many or most of the bad habits in technique.

Also sporters are much more affordable generally they are below $500 (US) ... a $300 price for a new 888 is about the going price with stock sights. A new precision gun these days starts above $2000