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NOTE: I bought the gun alone, not the kit...
Excellent quality. This is an outstanding value for a 10 meter target rifle. Not very powerful, but it's a target gun, not a hunter. Very smooth pumping stroke, good lock-up of pump arm. Synthetic stock is heftier and beefier than I had expected, but could use more weight in the hollow buttstock. The 5-shot clips are great (I bought 10 extra).
The 953 is very quiet, especially outdoors.
Trigger pull is passable, but long and gritty. The "TruGlo" style open sights are worthless for target shooting - but fine for plinking - they are easily removed with just a screwdriver.
The barrels on the 953 are good, but not match quality (for that, look to the 753). Daisy offers an economical diopter that matches this style of gun better, but it is not a precision set. This rifle really shines with a scope mounted, provided you find a scope with an appropriately short parallax.
The 753/853/953 family rifles are all quite short, since they are designed primarily for teens participating in 10M competition. As such, the length of pull is correspondingly short - a tad over 12 inches. Unlike my 753 or 853C, the 953 did not come with spacers to increase the stock length (I have shaped a 2-inch spacer out of poplar to increase my length of pull).
My 953 is very consistent with inexpensive Gamo Match pellets.
The Daisy 953 is exactly what it was designed to be, and advertised to be: a perfectly competent, inexpensive, reliable introductory 10M target rifle for youths or small adults. It is EASILY worth $150 for the rifle alone, and can be improved by an owner with minimal mechanical skills to rival target guns worth $500 or more.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars] |
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