by B.B. Pelletier
Daisy’s new No. 25 pump-action BB gun.
Well, there’s a lot of interest in the new Daisy No. 25 BB gun. And there should be! This new gun is made in the fashion of a 1936 variant with engraved receiver sides, and that gun is considered to be the most beautiful of all the No. 25s. So, today we shall see if beauty does as beauty looks!
I know of no easy way to measure the cocking effort of a pump-action gun, but a guesstimate would be 30 lbs. in the beginning. However, I noticed the linkage becoming smoother with every shot. No doubt, it’ll lighten up somewhat as the shot count rises.
Quality shows
I offer this observation. The black paint was not scratched by the traditional wear pattern as the gun was cocked. This paint is tougher than bluing on steel for sure. Also, the firing cycle is extremely quiet and smooth. I sure hope this gun can shoot accurately, because I’m enjoying the way it feels. Those of you who were raised on plastic stocks will find this new No. 25 a step up in quality. And even collectors like me will have to admit the firing cycle is smoother than all but a tuned gun. Yes, there are tuned BB gun actions. I own one.
The trigger that I said I disliked is actually nicer than any older Daisy No. 25 trigger. Its reasonably smooth and the let-off is in the same place on every shot. I wish this gun had been available when I was a kid!
This is the trigger I complained about. It works pretty good.
However, the question before us today is not the build quality but the power. Daisy advertises 350 f.p.s. Do they make it?
Crosman Copperhead BBs
With Crosman Copperhead BBs, which we know are lighter and therefore faster than Daisy zinc-plated BBs, the gun averages 302 f.p.s. The spread, however, is a tight 14 f.p.s., from 296 to 310 f.p.s. I oiled the piston seal like I counseled you; and after the oil coated the seal, the velocity seemed to increase but the overall effect was very small.
No doubt where the oil goes. This is on top of the barrel.
Feeding from the magazine was positive. Those forced-feed mags never miss a beat unless they’ve been abused, and this one fed BBs like mercury flowing down a drain.
Daisy zinc-plated BBs
Well, shut my mouth! Daisy zinc-plated BBs averaged 319 f.p.s., considerably faster than the Copperheads. The spread went from 303 to 332, so all over the map, but the power definitely goes to the Daisy BBs. I think they might fit the bore better. They’re close enough to the advertised 350 f.p.s that I think we can accept it as the maximum a really hot No. 25 might do. For liability reasons, all airgun manufacturers have to advertise the maximum velocity their guns are capable of.
When the pump handle is pulled all the way back, the gun is cocked.
Cocking
A couple readers had some difficulty picturing how this action works, so I thought I’d show you what it looks like when the pump handle is pulled all the way back.
Anti-beartrap
The No. 25 has always had an anti-beartrap mechanism. Once the gun is cocked, it must be shot. Don’t do as one airgunner did at my table in Roanoke a few years back. He pumped the action, then discovered he couldn’t uncock it, so he stuck the muzzle on the toe of his shoe and pulled the trigger. I think he was thinking the shoe would block the air, thereby relieving a dry-fire situation, but he needn’t have worried. Because the gun was loaded. So he shot himself in the foot!
I shouldn’t have left a loaded BB gun on my table, but I’d been demonstrating it to someone else and it was still loaded. Plus, I was not at the table when this happened. Mr. Brilliant did all this on his own. And the point is, never fire a gun you haven’t checked first. And don’t leave loaded guns around where anyone can get to them.
Thank You for the last picture of the cocked gun, now I understand this guns. The cocking effort should be fairly simple to measure. Put the butt on your bathroom scale and pump straigt down.
Markus,
I would have to subtract the weight of the gun, but I believe you have solved my problem! Thank you!
B.B.
This was sent directly to me, so I’m reprinting it here for everyone to read:
Hi, I was wondering how you get the air tanks filled for my pistol. i have the model 116. i took it to two different places and they told me that the tanks cant be filled if theyre over 4-5 years old. i cant find a tank that fits my fitting. thank you very much. -Brian-
-Brian Stefanski (14-26)-
Brian,
What you do is have someone make an adaptor for a paintball tank to a 116 fill hole. Check with these people:
Mac-1 http://www.mac1airgun.com/
310-327-3581
Ron Sauls
http://www.bryanandac.com/
864-261-6810
B.B.
BB:
After just looking at the Umarex Steel Storm and this Daisy No.25,can I put my adolescent head on and say,
“Whaaa it’s not fair,I want one” lol
Off topic:
My buddy has got his Shotgun/firearms licence,so I been doing more powder burning than air gunning recently.
At his small 22lr target club I did us air gunners proud though.
Using a CZ scoped bolt action,I got a 5 shot, half inch group round the bull at 50 yards first time.
Didn’t try a second.’Quit while you’re ahead’ is my motto.
The CZ also had a suppressor fitted and boy is it quiet.Not much more than a ‘Phut’.
Tried a bit of ‘game’ shooting using shotguns without much success.
Three middle age men(us) tramping across muddy fields coughing and farting and cell phones going off every two minutes didn’t help I suppose.
DaveUK
“Three middle age men(us) tramping across muddy fields coughing and farting and cell phones going off every two minutes didn’t help I suppose.”
Dave, Given the above comment… I assume that HRH Charles has scratched you from the list at Balmoral for this hunting season?
What will the Royals do without you!?
Brian in Idaho:
What will the royals do without me?
Thankfully our aristocracy have found Pheasants to be a more challenging target than Peasants,so I shouldn’t be be missed. lol
DaveUK
I guess what I’ve heard is true; “There will always be an England.”
Thanks for the morning chuckle.
Then… Racoons instead of buffoons? Hogs instead of WOGs?
DaveUK;
Come on over and hunt Pheasants in South Dakota USA. No Royals, just good old boys and lots of birds! The season opens this Saturday.
Mike
BB
And the accuracy of this great little rifle is…???
Well if it’s anything like mine quite poor… it’s a pretty nice looking gun, well made and high quality BUT it shoots bb’s all over the place, it’s about half as good as my Red Ryder.
I can easily hit around 70 to 80% of my shots at 40 feet with my Red Ryder but only about 40% with my 25 at the same distance. Maybe I got a lemon or I’m doing something wrong. We’ll see it with the accuracy report.
Off topic.
I just got back from my week of vacation in the beautiful U.S.A. (in Scarborough Maine) and brought back a few legal guns with me (Umarex SAA 177, H&K USP, Colt Defender and a new pink Red Ryder for my daughter that I didn’t have time to try yet) and since I bought a few action pistol I went looking for some pellgun oil and after 2 wal-marts, Cabela’s and Dick’s I wasn’t able to find any so I had to try them out without any oil for the first powerlet but put new one with some oil as soon as I got home.
I came this close to buying the Umarex Steel Storm but the lack of shoulder stock and not neighbor friendly noise kept me from it so I bought the action pistols instead and I must say they are quite fun I didn’t have many, my only action pistol was the very nice Walther PPK and I was afraid the other ones wouldn’t measure up but after watching the Paul Capello clips a few times and reading the blogs about them (btw my H&K mag drops free everytime) I decided to give the SAA 177 a try and I was very pleasantly surprised, so I went ahead and bought the H&K and liked that one too so before leaving yesterday I stopped again and bought the Colt Defender. They’re all such a pain to load but so much fun to shoot 😉 The only thing missing is spare mags, MANY of them. In fact I think they should all come with spare mags because you really need them.
I’m not sure about the Steel Storm yet I might just change my mind and if they come up with a shoulder stock to fit it I’ll jump in for sure.
J-F
ps. personally I think the EBOS is kind of ugly, maybe the angle of the pics gave me a weird impression but shooting at 540 fps it would be considered a restricted if not illegal firearm here anyways so I probably couldn’t buy one anyways. I’ll still follow the review with great attention.
I know why my 25 shoots poorly. The magazine will not screw into the gun properly. I can see it does not fit level when screwed in. I can loosen it a little and it will shoot off in a different direction. It was in a garbage can at a garage sale and the front sight has been bent to compensate for the error. A new magazine is needed I guess. I hope. I hope its a problem with the magazine and not the gun.
Off topic, BB, thank you. I was so proud of my 2 nephews this last 2 days. They saw my pellet rifles and HAD to shoot them. We started with a multi pump Daisy 822. I showed them what was what, and in what order to put it on safe, load, pump, etc. We talked about what a “cold range” and a “hot range” was, which was new to me, but you taught me in your blog about teaching kids. They did great. I was thinking we would have to put the rifles down because they would not listen, but I was very wrong. We shot 3-4 rifles and the 1377. When they handed the rifle to the other, they would say..” it is on safe, it has not been loaded and it has not been pumped”, for example. Just like a pro. Zero problems. Thanks again, we got 2 more “hooked”.
Gene
Gene,
Thank you for that feedback! I love it when somebody applies these lessons.
And thanks for creating two new shooters.
B.B.
Action pistols are great fun. I enjoy snap shooting as much as anything.
Matt61
J-F; You might try different brands of BB’s in your 25 if you haven’t already. My old Benjamin 3100 is all over the map with Crosman BB’s but shoots well with Daisy and Avanti BB’s. The Crosmans must be too small for the bore of the 3100 since you can see them move like a curve ball.
Mike
Thanks for the suggestion, I just bought some other brands of bb’s specially for that last week.
I now have crosman copper heads, daisy and beeman bb’s. I’ll measuring a few of them first and try them out to see if there’s any improvement.
JF
B.B.,
Need advice about Roanoke.
The decision was made for me last night. My schedule won’t permit me to drive to Roanoke. I can’t leave until late Thursday and must be back in Colorado Sunday morning, October 24th. Just checked flights to Roanoke. Nothing direct but one option only has one connection each way. Not too bad.
This eliminates my ability to bring multiple guns to sell/trade which is disappointing. If I bought several guns at Roanoke how do I get them back to Colorado? Are most sellers at Roanoke willing to ship? I’m concerned that I won’t have time to find a shipping store in Roanoke on Saturday afternoon that would be willing to box and ship airguns. Do you know what other Roanoke attendees have done in the past in my situation?
kevin
Kevin,
You prevail upon me and I help you out.
B.B.
B.B.,
I’m a little uncomfortable accepting your enormous generosity for a potentially great inconvenience but need to Thank You in advance for your kindness that may be unnecessary. We’ll see.
kevin
Kevin,
UPS Blue to your hotel, “hold for guest – Kevin”.
AlanL
AlanL,
Understood. Problem is that I’ve thinned my collection to the point that I’m unwilling to “just let go” of the guns I was hoping to take to Roanoke. Having them in Roanoke without an acceptable trade or sale is potentially an unnecessary expense (shipping both ways). Timing with my business stinks. If Roanoke was a month ago or a month from now I have little doubt that I could drive which solves all of these issues.
Are you going?
kevin
BB can you enlighten us on the take-down feature and to what degree the rifle comes apart?
Also, any suggestions or tips on what parts of the gun should be inspected, polished, lubed etc before shooting first time?
Brian,
The take-down bolt is removed (I showed it in Part 1) and the gun comes apart in two pieces.
As far as working on the No. 25, it is completely different than any pellet rifle. You need a take-down jig or a lot of experience and I do not recommend it, even though I have done it a couple of times. This gun is already as smooth as you can expect, so they isn’t required. I don’t know anything about this new trigger, so I cannot advise.
B.B.
BB or any other Blogger,
I am teaching my 10-year old grandson to shoot with the IZH 61 with diopter sights installed.
Question: After sighting in (benched) for 10 meters, I can put five shots into a quarter inch dot. But when I try to shoot “offhand” the POI is off by 2 inches (at 11:00 o’clock). Do I have to re-sight
the rifle? Or maybe the fault lies with the shooter? I use the artillery hold and Crosman competition Wad cutters.
Any comment or suggestion is most welcome.
Thank you and good day.
Stingray
Stingray, by off-hand do you mean standing, prone, sitting? Are you still using the Diopter in off-hand mode?
Diopter sights are very precise (typically) and it would not take much change in the angle of your eye’s reference or position relative to the sight cup or aperture to also change the POI at the target. Is it just the POI or also the spread or CTC on the shots?
Regardless of the POI change, is the POI consistent when shooting off-hand? (same place on target each time?)
“Offhand” – standing with no support. Yes, I am using the diopter sights offhand. The CTC (grouping is still good (3/4 inch) but not as good as the 1/4 inch (benched). The POI is consistent same place 2 inches above the POA at 11:00 o’clock.
It’s the shooter.
I have trouble getting my rifles to shoot the same place from a bench as I do from other positions.
You hold the rifle differently. It does not like that.
twotalon
Two different points of impact using the same rifle bench rest vs. off hand is common for me. I agree with a lot of what twotalon says. I think the difference in cheek weld/head placements plays as big a role in the blame/reason for this as the differences in how the springer is held. This also happens with my pcp’s so in my experience the hold is less to blame than my ability to re-create the same cheek weld shooting off a bench and shooting offhand.
kevin
It stands to reason that your hold will change from bench to offhand. The position of your body certainly changes!!!
Should I then re-sight the rifle while shooting offhand?
Thanks for all your comments.
Stingray
Your POI seems a little large for 10m. But I know it’s common for competition shooters to re-sight their rifles between positions. As long as your groupings are good, which they seem to be, I would just rezero and not worry about it. I’m sure the causes are what people have said.
Matt61
The “large POI for 10 meters” is entirely due to the shooter.
I shall then re-sight for offhand shooting.
I am more of a pistol shooter. The same is true for pistols – final re-zero is done offhand.
Thank you Guys.. your comments helped.
Have someone else of knowen skill shoot it as is. If the same thing happens, I would re-zero for the off hand hold. If they hit center, well, it’s probably you.
Mike
Stingray,
When 10 meter shooters shoot three position matches (standing, kneeling and prone) they have to adjust the sights for each position. Yes, how a gun is held affects where it shoots.
B.B.
BB
Does this hold true for powder burners as well? I have a co-worker who was complaining about this very thing just the other day – I believe an AR-15 at 50 yards from the bench, and shooting with the front on tripod vs. on the bench but handheld yielded a 2″ vertical shift in POI. He is a very accurate shooter (many competitions) that has been at it for years.
He was asking me for my opinion based on discussions we had about spring guns, in which I explained how hold sensitive they were. I figured that even with the faster dwell time of his AR-15, the difference in the gun’s reaction to the harder tripod could have an affect. Would it be that, or the cheek weld difference?
Alan in MI
Alan,
Yes, the same thing holds for firearms for the same reasons. And yes, again, that the deployed tripod will change the POI.
B.B.
So, the mysterious pumping motion is revealed. I see it is a combination of a slide and lever-action. No wonder I was confused. Would you say that the model for the Umarex Storm is the Mac10 series of machine pistols or a mini-Uzi? I believe the Mac10 fired at almost 1200 rounds per minutes, so the Storm would be an accurate imitation in that respect. I don’t know why the Mac10s were discontinued. They seemed like devastating weapons.
Matt61
Matt,
I don’t think the Steel Storm is a copy of a Mac 10 or 11. CSD says it’s a copy of an HK MP7 and I would guess that is correct.
B.B.
Matt, from what I’ve heard the Storm is based on the HK MP7.
How do you load this gun?
My Father just received the original one from his uncle and we can’t figure out how to load the bb’s into the barrel. We don’t want to start prying with a pair of pliers.
Canace,
Start by removing the shot tube from the gun. Just grab the muzzle and start unscrewing. The shot tube is the real barrel of the gun. At the bottom of the tube there is a spring-loaded follower (it’s a metal tab sticking out at the base of the shot tube, near the screw threads) that is pulled forward and held in place while BBs are dropped one at a time into the loading hole on the side of the shot tube. The tube holds a total of 50 BBs.
It should be obvious to you once the shot tube is out of the gun.
When replacing the shot tube on an old gun, you have to feel the air tube inside the gun enter the base of the shot tube as it is nearing the end of its travel. Sometimes the air tube is tilted slightly to one side and you have to feel around with the shot tube while about a half inch of shot tube is still sticking out of the muzzle of the “barrel,” (or what looks like the barrel, if yo don ‘t know about the shot tube. It’s fiddley, but remember that small boys did this hundreds of times, so it can be done.
Please let me know if this helps, or if I need to show you how some other way. No pliers, please!
B.B.
my model 25 does not have the oil port pictured above.. actually their is none to be found thus the question.. how do i oil this model 25 ?
Jerry,
Oil your gun by removing the shot tube and dropping oil directly down the open barrel jacket.
B.B.