Daisy 747 for slow fire practice

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jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Daisy 747 for slow fire practice

Post by jr_roosa »

I'm glad that the host put up a bullseye section!

Anyway, I've got a question for bullseye shooters out there. How many have tried using an air pistol for training? Did it help?

I shoot a High Standard Trophy with a 7.5" barrel, and despite shooting my best ever tonight at pistol league (266-5x), it's clear to me that my slow fire stinks.

The Daisy 747 looks like it has similar geometry to my High Standard, and it sounds like the trigger is adjustable enough to get in the ballpark.

Half of me wants to get the 747 for practice, the other half just wants to be able to shoot in the basement. Higher end air pistols aren't an option right now.

Thanks for your help!

-J.
Mike M.
Posts: 661
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:59 am

Post by Mike M. »

A couple of points....

To a large degree, all shooting is fungible. Triggers is triggers, sights is sights, parts is parts. And there are a lot of us who shoot air pistol not as a primary competitive event, but as training for other events.

That being said, I would strongly recommend shooting AP competition as well as AP for practice. Doing so will help with match nerves, and get you accustomed to shooting well at places other than your home range. Besides, it's hard to find bullseye matches in the winter...that's AP season.

So get the 747, sight the thing in, and start shooting.
Avanti
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:01 am
Location: North Centeral Minnesota

Post by Avanti »

I purchsed a 747 in August 2007 to practice Bullseye in my basement and it's taught me a few things:
1) an Olympic class gun would not help my scores at this point.
2) I've shot 2000 rounds (AP) since August and because of the volume of shooting, I've gotten a good idea of where my weak points are and I'm starting to work on them.
3) Poor weather is no longer an excuse for not shooting

It's a great tool!
Trent
bummer7
Posts: 119
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:47 am
Location: Northern Califonria

Post by bummer7 »

I too am glad our host put up the site. I hope to see both IP and BE shooters share their views on this board.

Practicing with a Daisy at home helped my trigger control but shooting Free Pistol helped my slow fire scores more than anything else.

-Steve
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Post by jr_roosa »

Well, looks like Santa will be bringing me a 747 in his sleigh/UPS truck. I shot a 50/100 on my first target Monday night, just to reinforce how much I need practice on slow-fire.

I even ordered the pistol from the site host (pilkguns.com) since they've been so kind in adding a bullseye section here. It's nice to not have to weed through the "What caliber for duckbilled platypus?" posts on some of the other shooting sites.

I guess I'll have to post a picture and my first target when it shows up. Gotta break out the saw to make a silent pellet trap too. Fun fun fun.

Thanks for the advice!

-J.
Avanti
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:01 am
Location: North Centeral Minnesota

Post by Avanti »

Hope to see you posting some AP Postal scores on AGI or Target Shooting Canada! Also....I've found that the 747 likes Vogel Yellow pellets purchased from our host.
Have fun
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Post by jr_roosa »

Postal match sounds fun. I need to find one that will allow me to shoot a scaled target, though. My "range" is just short of 5m.

I'll be bringing up the rear, I suspect.

"If you can't do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."

-J.
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Post by jr_roosa »

Why is it that every time I order something fun it gets delivered on a Monday? UPS tracking says it's sitting on the other side of town in their warehouse waiting for delivery in three days.

Worse yet, I leave on a 3 week business trip on Tuesday!!!

My wife will have the thing in giftwrap and under the tree when I get back though. Can't wait for Christmas morning.

-J.
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Fred Mannis
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Location: Delaware

Post by Fred Mannis »

Don't forget to lay in a good supply of pellets :-)
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Brown truck came.

Post by jr_roosa »

Took a quick look to...ahem...make sure that it wasn't damaged in shipping.

Preliminary impression:

Did not shoot since I haven't built my backstop yet, the barrel is full of oil, and I don't have time to give it a proper cleaning today (I had PilkGuns send along some TSI301 to get the job done right).

With dry fire, the trigger is a little mushy, but overtravel is reasonable. Working the bolt is a little rough, but other reviews suggest that this improves as the plastic bolt wears in. Sights are plastic, but look like they'll do fine.

Grips are plastic but servicable. They are larger than I imagined, definitely wider than my High Standard. The grip feels a bit odd in my hand, probably because my hands are medium/small and I'm used to the thinner grips on my High Standard. The angle feels about right, but I didn't compare side-by-side. I think that I might pay RB Grips a visit regarding my birthday next month. Apparently his shop is right down the road from here.

I'll be sure to pick up a sleeve of pellets in my travels.

Have happy holidays and I'll post again after doing some shooting.

-J.
Guest

Post by Guest »

get new grips - the stock grips are an abomination and will ruin your enjoyment of the pistol
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Post by jr_roosa »

Well, guess what I found under the tree.

I cleaned out the barrel, and picked up some Gamo pellets (not great, but they're what they had on the shelf at the store). Made an expedient pellet trap out of a cardboard box and the Sunday newspaper.

So, the pistol is quiet...it makes a PFFT noise, but the pellets slapping the cardboard box make a fairly loud snap. I'll need to pick up some material for a silent trap tomorrow.

The two words that sum up the pistol are "good enough." The fit and finish are good enough, the trigger is good enough (after a few milimeters of very light take-up, it's crisp enough), the sights are good enough, and the grips are good enough.

There's nothing on this pistol that makes me think "wow, that's nice."

The only things that I don't like are:

-The rear sight is shiny plastic. Plastic is OK, but with a little back-light it has a really annoying reflection.

-The frame is a little too sharp where my middle finger comes around under the trigger guard. I don't know if new grips would help, but they wouldn't hurt.

-The pistol doesn't fit in my box or in my spare pistol case. It's a bit too wide and long. Not a big deal, but I'll have to pick up at least a soft case for it at some point.

After about 30 pellets, I was able to keep almost every shot in the black, which is pretty good for me.

I guess for $140 I'll take good enough. It's the most economical choice that will do what I need, which is let me practice more.

-J.
solomon grundy

Post by solomon grundy »

The 747 is very much a 'no frills' target air pistol - hence the price. It's actually very accurate if you can get past the trigger and grips.

Here are instructions, by Don Nygord, for improving the trigger - http://www.novatech-group.com/bullseye/daisy717.pdf .

These don't resell for much, so I wouldn't worry about modifying the pistol if you need to - i.e. blacken the sight, modify the grips etc..
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Post by jr_roosa »

It's been a month or two and I'm glad I got the 747. If anything it's fun to just shoot when I have a few free minutes here and there. The ammo is virtually free, and I shoot it 3 times as much as my high standard.

I can shoot into the 80s with it, which I can't yet do at the range, but my league scores have been slowly improving.

One thing that might be useful for anybody cosidering this pistol is that I don't really like the thumbrest. It has felt odd to me since I got it...I think that it's a bit high for my hand. I notice this weird wobble that I don't have with my .22, it's not up/down/left/right, but it's a twisting motion. When I popped the left grip panel off to see if I'd prefer ambidextrous grips (basically without the thumb rest on the left) my thumb dropped down 1/2 inch, the wobble went away, and the grip felt much more natural.

I'm going to order some walnut grips from rbgrips.net, and I think that I'll be getting them without the thumb rest (ambidextrous). A cheaper way to go is to get the Daisy left-hand replacement grips and just swap out the left side grip so both sides are flat.

We'll see how I like new grips. At the very least it will make the thing look pretty.

-J.
darticus
Posts: 318
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:01 am
Location: SPARTA NEW JERSEY

High Standard

Post by darticus »

What ammo do You use. Is one brand better than others? Fore the High Standard? Thanks Ron
Last edited by darticus on Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jr_roosa
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:15 am
Location: Colorado

Post by jr_roosa »

(I moved this post to another thread. -J.)
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