The pellet pistol you see in the above photo is a Daisy 717, one I’ve owned for nearly 40 years. After learning that my Crosman C02 pellet pistols wouldn’t hold pressure a few days ago, I thought I’d try the Daisy, and whaddaya know, it worked like a champ (just like it did when I bought in the early 1980s). The Daisy is a single-stroke pneumatic air pistol. You pump it once with this long lever that swings out to the left, open the bolt (just like on a bolt-action rifle), put a single pellet in it, close the bolt, and then shoot. No CO2 cartridges required.
Daisy first introduced these guns in 1981, and at the time, they sold for something well below $60. I want to say I paid around $40 for mine at a department store called Gemco. In those halcyon days, I thought I’d give competitive air pistol shooting a shake and I didn’t want to spend a thousand bucks or so on a serious handgun. The range was short (I think it was 10 meters, or 33 feet), and wow, were those targets ever tiny. I only tried that game once…the club where the matches were held was a long drive for me, the competitors had uber-expensive guns, and I just wasn’t that into it. But I didn’t embarrass myself, and I did better than some of the folks out there with their big bucks pellet pistols. Then I put the Daisy away and more or less forgot about it for the last 40 years.
Well, sort of. A friend in the bomb factory (where I was working at the time) told me about another use for air guns, and on occasion, I would put the Daisy to work when the need arose. That story goes like this: No matter how militant a feminist your better half might be, when there’s a spider on the ceiling or in the bathtub she’s going to get all sguiggly and require manly intervention. That’s where yours truly and the mighty Daisy answer the call to arms.
Truth be told, there’s no way I went to get up close and personal with a big old hairy, funky spider. I was always just as scared as Sue was, but I couldn’t let her see that. I know, I used to be an Army officer, I’ve jumped out of airplanes, I’m pretty good with a 1911, and I rode a motorcycle across China. But I’ll admit it, and only to you: Spiders scare the hell out of me. But we’re men, you see. Real men. And when it’s time to step up, that’s what we gotta do.
The good news? The Daisy 717 makes it easy. All you need to do when you hear that dreaded directive (There’s a spider in the bathroom…get it!) is dig out the Daisy. Cock it without putting a pellet in the gun (that part is real important…make sure you don’t put a pellet in). Stalk your prey carefully and slowly approach the offending arachnid. Place the muzzle (the end the pellet comes out of) approximately two inches from the spider, taking care not to alarm it. Take a deep breath, let it halfway out, and then slowly squeeze the trigger (without jerking it) while maintaining proper sight alignment. When the pistol discharges, a high speed jet of compressed air will strike the spider, breaking it up into its major body parts, legs, and assorted arachnid appendages, which will then fall gently and harmlessly to the floor. It’s likely said appendages will continue to twitch for several minutes after your demonstration of manly marksmanship. More good news: At this point, your job is done (you’ve done what your significant other requested). You were asked to “get it” and you did. If you are of a mind to, you can tell her to clean it up, but I wouldn’t advise doing so (don’t ask how I know this).
All that aside, after nearly four decades of faithful spider stalking and, most recently, trying to amuse myself during our self-imposed shelter-in-place house arrest, I thought I would try my Daisy in my cobbled-up indoor, garage-based pistol range. I made a target stand out of a cardboard box and a phone book, and hey, the Daisy and I can still drive tacks!
