Author Topic: Daisy Powerline 1000 - Turkish Delight, or just plain Turkey?  (Read 6989 times)

Offline vinceb

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I tend to be rather fickle in my relationships. The grass is always greener on the other side - but then the honeymoon ends and I'm left with few fond memories and lots of regrets. A brief period of grieving over what might have been is invariable followed by the distraction of a new infatuation, and the aggravating cycle starts all over again. Lastly, the rememberance of stormy relationships in the distant past mellow over time, and I am suddenly interested in rekindling and old flame - although perhaps a little wiser this time around, with more realistic expectations.

Fortunately, this applies only to my relationships with inanimate objects, and thus it is that I find myself owning - for the THIRD time - a Daisy Powerline 1000X, courtesy of Leftcoast1 who found a clearance deal at Walmart ($40 + shipping). Since it came with the basic (but usable) Powerline 3-9x32 non-AO scope worth about $29, I figure I've got $11 wrapped up in this rifle.

To recap what is commonly known about this gun, it is made by Hatsan of Turkey and has been imported by Daisy for a few years now. It is also known to be one of the few rifles capable of exceeding its advertised velocity and that Hatsan seems to make a very decent barrel for it. The rest of the construction is rather crude, and there is almost no parts support. It is hard to cock and has a nasty firing cycle.

The basic mechanical specs betray nothing unusual... 6lbs 9oz weight, 44" overall, a pull length of 13.5", and a butt plate - to - GC of about 22.5". Cocking is a little stout at 41lbs, and the trigger on this one is on the lighter side for a Hatsan Powerline, requiring 5 lbs to pop off a shot. It has an automatic safety situated where a hammer might be on an 1894 Winchester, not as nice as the in-the-guard safety of the AR1000 and Norica Beemans, but a little more convenient than the sliding button on a B20/B26 (especially since you can reset the safety once it's taken off).

Shooting this gun, however, bears a resemblence to no other gun I'm familiar with - save (to some extent) the MP513. And anyone familiar with that rifle knows that this is not a compliment! It shoots harshly - not really with a lot of buzz and twang, or perhaps it just makes so much other noise that it's hard to hear. There is a loud clonking (or donking?) noise when cutting it loose, possibly exacerbated by the rather flimsy plastic stock. I'd be curious to compare it back-to-back with a wood-stocked version, but I've not tried one of those. Overall the rifle does feel and sound cheap, and it gives the impression that it might start banging itself apart after some use.

The impression of cheapness is furthered by the plastic trigger - not precision moulded like an RWS plastic trigger, and it does feel a little loose and wobbly. But like I said, the 5lb effort on this example is probably unusually light so it doesn't detract from the shooting experience as much as other examples might. There is what looks to be an adustment screw in the blade, but it appears to be too short to do any actual adjusting.

The open sights on the rifle are acceptable, with reasonably bright fiberoptics (MUCH better than the rear sight on a Quest!) and fairly stout construction. The rear adjuster stud on this example is too short, limiting the shooting range of the rear sight. It should be an easy matter to replace it with a longer one, though. More unfortunate is the side-to-side play found in the rear sight that could lead to windage accuracy problems.

The standard 11mm dovetails are punctuated by a bolt-down scope stop at the rear, which is a good thing considering how hard this rifle kicks. But then, there's a good reason for the kick: a 10-shot average of over 1020fps with Crosman Premiers. That's pretty hot, putting it over my other strong .177's (and about 50fps faster than my Walther Force 1000).

Well, power means little without accuracy. Now... last time I reviewed one of these I called it "the worst good gun I've ever tested", or something to that effect. My first group reminded me why - 10 yards, 5 shots, .18" c-t-c. This was with the aforementioned non-AO Powerline scope, and frankly I don't think that I can consistently group any better than .2-.25". So this group was a fluke on my part - but I think it did show what the rifle is capable of. Like the MP513, it demonstrated that hard-kicking lightweight rifles aren't always hard to shoot, although for the life of me I can't figure out why.

Another nice thing about this rifle is the front stock screw design... on many guns, they are prone to loosening with a detrimental effect on accuracy. They don't seem to do that on the Powerline - probably because the Powerline uses a large (6mm) flathead countersunk screw with an aggressively serrated and bevelled lockwasher. When the screw is tightened, the bevelled undercut really wedges itself into that washer, and this seems to hold it quite reliably. I wish all my springers had an arrangement like this.

So we have here a rifle with power and accuracy, light weight, easy to handle, and of reasonable cost. Some things are less than the sum of their parts, and somehow the Powerline does come off as less than the sum of its good attributes. In my mind, it can't quite shake that "toy gun" feeling, and while the unpleasant shooting characteristics are reminiscent of the MP513 the Russian gun still comes off feeling far more solid, and has one major advantage - parts support.

Still, it seems that the Powerline could be made into an absolute blast with some minor design changes. The cocking leverage geometry could be changed to give a longer cocking stroke with less effort, the rear sight tolerances could be made a little tighter, and something could be done to smooth out the firing cycle.

But most air guns in this price range (well, all, actually) could use some improvement, and the factory has to strike a balance between cost and what the gun delivers. It's pretty clear how Hatsan went, and whether or not it's a worthwhile purchase depends on the tastes of the shooter. It's an interesting gun to have in a collection, though, especially at the clearance prices that seem to be popping up.

As many people know, other Hatsan models are now being imported by Umarex (Walther Talon and Falcon Hunter), albeit at prices much higher than anything we've seen from the Daisy Hatsans. What does the Powerline tell us about the potential of these models? Well, obviously Hatsan can make a gun with power and accuracy.... but what we have no way of knowing is if the Umarex Hatsans are going to deliver any of the improvements one would hope for at over twice the price of the Daisy's. From the photos I've seen these models are obviously not a rehash of the Powerline, and we may surmise from the advertised velocities and the fact that there are four front forearm screws that this powerplant is a fair bit stouter. In any event they should prove to be interesting pieces, even if they do have the same faults as the Powerline. After all, if the .22 Falcon really does do 1000fps with real pellets - well, that virtually puts in in a springer performance class all by itself, at least anywhere in its price range. This promises better performance than an RWS350 - and if the Powerline is any indication, you can take Hatsan's velocity numbers to the bank.

Offline longislandhunter

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RE: Daisy Powerline 1000 - Turkish Delight, or just plain Turkey?
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2008, 09:20:21 AM »


Excellent review Vince. BTW,,,, I have the wooden stocked "Winchester" version and the wooden stock (which is actually pretty decent) makes a big difference in the vibration and harmonics. :) I've said it before and I'll say it again,,,,, those 2 rifles are my hardest hitting .177 rifles and they are both accurate as can be.



Jeff

\"If it was easy it wouldn\'t be hunting, it would be shopping.\"

Offline HNT5

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RE: Daisy Powerline 1000 - Turkish Delight, or just plain Turkey?
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2008, 01:15:36 PM »
Great review. I have been eyeballing the Daisy 1000X @ the local Wal-Mart here in Evans. They have several (last tiime I checked) marked on clearence down to $74 from $99. Not as great a  deal as you got. I was hoping they'd go down more.
Regards

Offline dank

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Re: Daisy Powerline 1000 - Turkish Delight, or just plain Turkey?
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2008, 11:50:34 PM »


Nice Accurate review.  



I picked up one of the Turkish Wood Winchester 1000x w/4x32 for a good price At Outdoor World's Bass Pro Shop last fall.



Identical to the pic below with the long stock but a 4x32 and no checkering. Hmmm?





  Void of any checkering, which I preferred since the straight line checkering usually found, is ugly in my opinion. Nice wood used for the stock BTW.  



Well it sat in the gun rack all winter. I shot it maybe 2 0r 3 tines and wrote it off as harsh and as mentioned horrible to cock.



But I thought whats a gin collection without a Winchester?



  Yesterday I was in the mood to tear into it because as of late I've been reading good things about Hatsan guns and re-read Russ Sauers Guides.



http://webpages.charter.net/guru1/documents/Daisy_Winchester%20tear-down%20guide%202.0.pdf  



I've never seen so many fulcrums in a trigger before. I polished each contact and mollied then during re assembly using Russ Sauers PDF as a guide.  



http://webpages.charter.net/guru1/documents/Daisy_1000_trigger_guide.pdf



It's not the short stock shown below exposing the cocking mechanics. eikk!



I'm Not Sure what deal Bass Pro had with Daisy? It is the 1000x with a 4x32 scope & a completely plain long stock with a nice rubber butt.??? Never saw one before, never seen one since.



Applied to the box was a taped sticker stating NO CHECKERING.
 



I'm impressed after polishing how predictable the trigger has become. Unfortunately in my collection  I couldn't find a proper lighter spring for between the middle sears. As a result the pull is only slightly lighter but enough to improve accuracy. I think when I find the right trigger this will have a great pull.  



Also as mentioned it kicks hard but strangely its not hard to shoot.  



I've yet to find a gun this harsh thats this reasonably accurate.  



I was getting single holers at 10 yards , 1" groups at 20, and 1.5 -2" at 30 yards. Not bad for an admitted, only OK, shooter like myself.



On the chrony it ranged anywhere from 1000+ with 7-8g pellets to a consistent  700+fps in the 8-11G pellets. The gun regardless of pellet never ran below 700fps and because of it's power, out of respect for its spring, I never ran lighter than 7.5g and they constantly exceeded 1000fps. Overall I too am impressed with the potential of this gun. If I could only make it shoot less like a shotgun!! I'll keep working on it...



N.E.Dan

N.E.Dan
My favorite gun of all time is the last one I bought!!