Daisy 880 old model question?

BillGabby1 · Feb 17, 2016

I have the opportunity to obtain at a reasonable price from my brother's widow
his old Daisy 880 with the metal receiver and since he took good care of his firearms I expect it to be in good working order. I haven't had the opportunity to try it out as yet and thought I'd check and see if it would be a worthwhile improvement over my POS Daisy Powerline 880 with plastic receiver and flimsy stock and fall apart sights. The front sight has a mind of it's own and never stays in the same place. I presume it should only be given 10 pumps too but it doesn't have any power unless I give it 20. It's mostly a piece of junk.
Should I save my money or go for it? I mainly use mine to scare off dogs and wild turkeys that tear up our garden. BB's from my Red Ryder don't even faze them unless they are within 10 feet and then just barely!
If it was accurate enough I'd use it against those nasty little ground squirrels that make such a mess.
Thanks for your input,
Gabby

etrain16 · Feb 17, 2016

I guess it depends on the price she's asking. If it weren't too expensive, I'd be tempted to buy it and get a rebuild kit - seals, rings, etc. (available on Ebay, etc.) so I could be sure it's putting out what it's supposed to. I'm a fan of metal receivers anyway, so that would be a bonus.

BillGabby1 · Feb 20, 2016

Thanks for your response.
I was going to offer her $20 because of the values I've seen on the net. The ones I'm seeing sell are bringing around $10 to 15, and I didn't want to take advantage of her. If she doesn't want to sell it that's OK too.
So how do the 2 guns relate to each other? Is the older gun better made?
Gabby

BillGabby1 · Feb 23, 2016

Well my sister in law has been having some problems around her place and has called upon me for help and of course I've gone and didn't expecet any payment for it.
The other night her smoke alarm went off and didn't quit all night, and she tried to disable it by removing the battery, no difference still screaming. Guess what, it's hard wired and the battery is only for backup. I unplugged the darn thing so now she has peace and quiet. She still has 2 more that work so she's ok, and protected. So after that she GAVE me the 881!
You could have knocked me over with a feather, I tried to pay her and she wouldn't have it!
So I brought it home and took it all apart and cleaned many years of gunk out of it, I discovered the spacer on the piston was rotted out so I made a new one from a piece of leather and it pumps up pretty good. The bore look just fine almost new after I ran a few patches thru it. However 10 strokes isn't very good and it takes 20 for it to actually hit where I'm aiming at around about 15 yards as paced off. I've retired the plastic 880 because the sights are so much better on the 881 and I like the real gun feel of it as well, to me even pot metal beats plastic. LOL.
Eventually I'll break down and order the seals kit and replace the old "O" rings as I suspect that's why I'm not getting good preasure after the 10 strokes.
So there you have it. Being nice pays off now and then.
Gabby