Daisy Powerline 201
The Daisy Powerline 201 BB/Pellet Repeater
If you are looking for an easy-to-operate, economical training gun for a young lad or lassie, then the Daisy Powerline 201 pistol may be the gun you are looking for. Weighing in at just about 1 lb., the gun is light, easy to point, and has features that translate over to real firearms.
As you can see, the Powerline 201 is modeled in such a way that it resembles several firearms on the market today. The safety and slide release are in much the same position that you would find them on any number of semi-auto pistols from a great many different manufacturers. This helps is familiarizing a new shooter with the features on a gun while practicing with an airgun.
The Powerline 201 shoots both BB's and lead pellets in .177 caliber. It has an extremely short, smoothbore barrel, so accuracy is sacrificed in favor of ease of use for this model. The pellets load one at a time, while the BB's can be placed in a reservoir, up to 35 at a time. Being gravity fed, you will need to raise the muzzle slightly during the cocking process in order to have a BB fed into the barrel.
To cock the gun, you first depress the slide release, located on the left side of the receiver.
Doing this allows the receiver to be pulled to the rear, much like a real firearm. This action cocks the spring and allows the tip-up barrel to be moved to facilitate loading.
After you've pulled the receiver back all the way, push it back in to return the gun to a firing position. Now you have to pull up on the front of the gun, about 2" back from the muzzle, in order to expose the barrel/loading port. The round hole you see is the actual barrel. You can load a pellet directly into the barrel at this spot. The square hole above it is the entrance to the magazine where you deposit your BB's if you choose to use them as your ammo.
Remember, this is an extremely short, smoothbore barrel with a light spring behind it for power. It isn't designed for extreme accuracy, and at 5 yards I managed a 6" circle with BB's, and a 4" patter with the lead pellets.
On sale at the time of this writing for $24.90, this little spring-air pistol will let a person teach another about gun safety, fire off rounds in relative safety from a low-velocity gun, and learn the different parts of a gun as they relate to operation and safety. At 9.25 inches in length, the user will feel like they are holding a real gun, a good step in the direction of safe gun-handling and use.
