Among the thousands of new products debuted at the 2003 SHOT Show held in Orlando, Florida, where every booth is pitching something slick and indispensable for shooters and outdoorsmen, one very basic idea, from a classic company, stands out. Daisy Manufacturing has developed, new for 2003, a nearly indestructible drill rifle – perfect for any club that features an honor guard, color guard or drill team.

The idea for a Daisy drill rifle came from the need of many drill teams for a rifle that would stand up to use an abuse, but still look like an operating rifle. At first glance, the Daisy drill rifle seems to be your basic 1903-A3 Springfield rifle, with the addition of a black synthetic stock. But on closer inspection, the attention to the rugged design of this drill rifle becomes apparent. Over the course of two years of planning, Daisy settled on a design and components capable of taking the abuse that is par for the course in drill team use. The repeated drops, falls and throws a drill rifle goes through demand that the rifle be rugged, solid and sturdy. The Daisy Rifle is all of the above. Before release, test models were put through a rigorous testing program that consisted of being dropped from heights as high as 12 feet as many as 25 times from every possible angle – on a reinforced concrete floor! The total drops the test models suffered amounted to 70. Daisy representative Kevin Franklin reports that the design was not approved until test models could stand up to all 70 drops without a single part of the rifle breaking. With all parts but the synthetic stock made from steel, this is one drill rifle that can take any abuse an inexperienced or veteran drill team can dish out.

The rifle features an opening bolt, however this is a drill rifle made for drill team use, not a functioning firearm that has been rendered incapable of firing. The opening bolt is the only feature that the rifle shares with a functioning firearm, besides appearance. There is no chamber, nor any way for a cartridge to be loaded into the drill rifle.