Gun test: Daisy Powerline 415

Tim Finley loves a plinking kit – and here’s one of the best out there

Daisy Outdoor Products is the world's oldest and largest manufacturer of airguns and each year they produce millions. The company is massive in the USA, and now Gamo UK has brought Daisy to the UK. One bit of kit that caught my eye was the Powerline 415 CO2 pistol kit because if there is one thing Daisy know how to make, it's a decent plinker.

I love kits; they provide everything a new shooter needs in one convenient package and you don't need to buy anything else, other than sourcing a safe backstop and something to shoot at, of course, and that has to be a winner. I love the fact that someone new to shooting can buy the 415 kit and get out there and have some fun.

Great! Lets go!

The Daisy 415 Powerline is a CO2-powered pistol that shoots steel 4.5mm (Or .177 calibre) BBs; small steel balls that are surprisingly accurate at short ranges, perfect for plinking.

To start with, the Daisy blister pack has the pistol and three 12 gramme CO2 bulbs. You also get a cardboard tube of Daisy Precision Max zinc-plated BBs, and it holds 350, enough for a lot of shooting. The cardboard tube is well recognised in the USA - they are also sold by the truck load over there. I haven't shot Daisy BB before, and on my electronic weighing scales they were massively consistent coming in at 5.2 grains. The most important item supplied is the pair of wrap-around safety glasses, which are tinted yellow so that actually enhances the shooter's vision in low light. They are really good.

When it comes to sights, the 415 further assists the shooter with a green fibre-optic front sight. The rear sight is fixed, but this is not a 10m match pistol. The 415 feels surprisingly light in the hand, it has an ambidextrous grip and I have to say, the ergonomics are top notch.

Safety

The manual safety catch is sort of ambidextrous. It's on the left-hand side, right above the trigger, so a left-handed shooter can swing the lever backwards and forwards with a trigger finger. With a two-handed grip and a right-handed shooter, the safety falls right on top of the thumb of the supporting hand, if you are holding it right. When you point the lever forward, it covers up a red dot to show an 'S', and it disengages the trigger at this point. Swinging it to the rear in a downward arc uncovers the red dot and an 'F', and in front of the trigger guard is a 32mm Picatinny rail for a laser or light.

To charge the gun, the bottom of the pistol grip has to be pulled off to reveal a massive, alloy wing nut and threaded clamp system. Drop in a 12 gramme CO2 bulb and tighten up until you hear a small hiss, and when it stops, snap back on the base of the grip.

Now there are just the BBs to load up. The 415 has an internal, top centreline magazine that holds 21 balls of fun. The spring-loaded plunger at the front can be locked forward to facilitate the BBs being dropped in the magazine, then disengage the latch to put tension on the stack of 21 rounds. When you cannot see the BBs in the top open slot you still have three shots left to fire. The 415 is not a blow-back CO2 pistol, so is potentially more accurate and will give more shots per 12 gramme bulb.

Fast action

Over the chronograph, it moved the Daisy BBs along at 480 feet per second, that's just under the 495 fps given as a maximum velocity on the blister pack, and I got just over two magazines' worth per capsule out of the gun. Straight away when firing it, I could tell this was a fast action. Some CO2 pistols have a quicker firing sequence than others and the Daisy is a good one.

I set up some plastic toy soldiers, had a blast at six yards, and yes, it was everything a plinking pistol should be. As an experiment I set up my phone's shot timer and recorded just how fast I could shoot ten shots with the 415. It consistently shot under three seconds for ten shots - my best was 2.739 seconds. Even more amazing is the price of the whole kit, just £40.

I cannot recommend the Daisy 415 kit enough. In fact, it's nothing short of plinking perfection in a blister pack!

First impressions...This must be one of the best-value plinking kits out there. Grab one now!

Thanks to Jon at GAMO UK for help in the production of this article.

Specification

Manufacturer: Daisy

Country of origin: USA

Distributor: Gamo UK

Model: 415 Powerline

Type: Pistol

Power source: 12 gramme CO2 bulb

Calibre: .177 (4.5mm)

Sights: Open sights, non adjustable

Sight base: 170mm

Safety: Manual

Overall length: 219mm

Weight: 0.42kg

Trigger weight: 2.5kg

RRP: £40.00

Find out more at daisy.com.