MedWheeler
Member
Way back in 1984, at 18 years old, I bought a cheap Marksman 1010 BB pistol, thinking I could get sort of a "head start" on gun handling, as I was intending on becoming a LEO (and eventually did.) It was horribly inaccurate, but I had had no prior experience with any other air gun or firearm to speak of.
Later, after acquiring my first couple of firearms, I ended up buying two different rifled-bore pellet pistols and a carbine, and quickly dismissed smoothbores as anything worth practicing with. I've more recently (2014 and 2015) also gotten the PT80 and PT85 Gamo pistols.
Last year, as The Sports Authority was closing its stores near me, I picked up a SwissArms Blackwater CO2 BB pistol, a metal-framed repeater based in style on the Beretta 84/85. Over the holidays, I also picked up a Daisy 5501. Last weekend, I got both of them outdoors for the first time.
These two guns truly impressed me. Though I was not shooting for accuracy, and I was only using a styrofoam drink cup I had as a target, these guns shot remarkably true, allowing me to drill that cup over and over from up to 25 feet. It was actually enjoyable, with each pistol having its own qualities I liked. The SwissArms, now sold by Crosman under a name I do not recall, has a trigger every bit as brutal as any Polish Radom P64 you'd come across, but years of training with double-action revolvers and DA/SA handguns proved beneficial, and I was quickly working it as easily as any of them.
The Daisy has a much-lighter trigger, and a look that kind of reminds me of a Jimenez 9mm pistol, with a two-tone black and chrome finish. It has the "blowback" slide action and, impressively, a last-shot slide-lock! That's a neat feature, as it keeps the shooter from expending CO2 trying to see if he's out of ammo (did a BB come out that time? How about now?)
Both guns feed from removable magazines, but the SwissArms one is much more solid-feeling, with its metal construction, than the cheap-feeling plastic one in the Daisy. I just know I'm going to break that one; I should order a couple of spares.
So, my bias against BB guns, as opposed to pellet guns, has been holding me back from quite a bit of enjoyable backyard shooting potential! I'm glad to have finally seen the light now. While they're certainly not tack-driving competition guns, they're more than adequate for anywhere-plinking, teaching, and fun.
Later, after acquiring my first couple of firearms, I ended up buying two different rifled-bore pellet pistols and a carbine, and quickly dismissed smoothbores as anything worth practicing with. I've more recently (2014 and 2015) also gotten the PT80 and PT85 Gamo pistols.
Last year, as The Sports Authority was closing its stores near me, I picked up a SwissArms Blackwater CO2 BB pistol, a metal-framed repeater based in style on the Beretta 84/85. Over the holidays, I also picked up a Daisy 5501. Last weekend, I got both of them outdoors for the first time.
These two guns truly impressed me. Though I was not shooting for accuracy, and I was only using a styrofoam drink cup I had as a target, these guns shot remarkably true, allowing me to drill that cup over and over from up to 25 feet. It was actually enjoyable, with each pistol having its own qualities I liked. The SwissArms, now sold by Crosman under a name I do not recall, has a trigger every bit as brutal as any Polish Radom P64 you'd come across, but years of training with double-action revolvers and DA/SA handguns proved beneficial, and I was quickly working it as easily as any of them.
The Daisy has a much-lighter trigger, and a look that kind of reminds me of a Jimenez 9mm pistol, with a two-tone black and chrome finish. It has the "blowback" slide action and, impressively, a last-shot slide-lock! That's a neat feature, as it keeps the shooter from expending CO2 trying to see if he's out of ammo (did a BB come out that time? How about now?)
Both guns feed from removable magazines, but the SwissArms one is much more solid-feeling, with its metal construction, than the cheap-feeling plastic one in the Daisy. I just know I'm going to break that one; I should order a couple of spares.
So, my bias against BB guns, as opposed to pellet guns, has been holding me back from quite a bit of enjoyable backyard shooting potential! I'm glad to have finally seen the light now. While they're certainly not tack-driving competition guns, they're more than adequate for anywhere-plinking, teaching, and fun.
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