Putting a little more power in a $15.00 Daisy
Grayrock
Member
Another inquiry while I am waiting on parts. Is the little cover that closes the BB loading port soldered on the shot tube or does it just snap on /friction fit? Also, is it available anywhere? Mine is missing
Thanks, For their age they are in pretty good shape and still shoot pretty well! I did take care of them as a youngster. Just wish the finish on the 102 was more intact, there is some light rust I may try and remove and clean the bores as soon as I get. 177 swab! When young I used to treasure them, wiping with oil and oiling the internals. They did take plenty of starlings in their day!
Cvans
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2019
- Messages
- 463
It shows! Your lucky to have them.
Thanks for the support, WN, much appreciated!
There were 102-36s marketed as Cubs, I think. Not positive but I'll check my notes. The model 111 is a cool gun, too. Longer than the Cub, as you know.
I'd add some oil or ATF (your choice) through the OIL HERE hole, but you don't need too much since it has rubber seals. The seals may still be okay, but you'll know more after oiling. I stand mine with the muzzle down so the lube runs to the seals, then you can work the lever w/o cocking. No worries if it cocks- just dry fire it in a safe direction in case a BBs is still in there, or just remove the shot tube fo be sure. Watch out for oil spray from the barrel, that it doesn't stain anything.
If they check out and are shooting normally, you can add a 5/8" preload spacer to boost the MV. Drilling the air tube to 3/32" will also help the power. Together these mods could put you around 300 fps MV. Unfortunately, Daisy doesn't have the 7/8" barrel seals any longer. They do sell a plunger assembly for the 1938B RedRyder and 105B Buck that has a good spring that's a little stronger than the stock springs from the '60s, plus a new 7/8" piston. The plunger tube won't work right in the older guns with a steel trigger.
There were 102-36s marketed as Cubs, I think. Not positive but I'll check my notes. The model 111 is a cool gun, too. Longer than the Cub, as you know.
I'd add some oil or ATF (your choice) through the OIL HERE hole, but you don't need too much since it has rubber seals. The seals may still be okay, but you'll know more after oiling. I stand mine with the muzzle down so the lube runs to the seals, then you can work the lever w/o cocking. No worries if it cocks- just dry fire it in a safe direction in case a BBs is still in there, or just remove the shot tube fo be sure. Watch out for oil spray from the barrel, that it doesn't stain anything.
If they check out and are shooting normally, you can add a 5/8" preload spacer to boost the MV. Drilling the air tube to 3/32" will also help the power. Together these mods could put you around 300 fps MV. Unfortunately, Daisy doesn't have the 7/8" barrel seals any longer. They do sell a plunger assembly for the 1938B RedRyder and 105B Buck that has a good spring that's a little stronger than the stock springs from the '60s, plus a new 7/8" piston. The plunger tube won't work right in the older guns with a steel trigger.
The second gun you showed above has leather seals- I didn't see any of the posts that came after the first 2 you posted on the rss feed I was using, sorry.
That looks a lot like a 11-29, but that's just a guess- I don't know the early guns too well. A couple articles on them are https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2015/11/daisy-number-12-model-29-bb-gun/ and https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2015/11/daisy-number-12-model-29-bb-gun-part-2/
That looks a lot like a 11-29, but that's just a guess- I don't know the early guns too well. A couple articles on them are https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2015/11/daisy-number-12-model-29-bb-gun/ and https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2015/11/daisy-number-12-model-29-bb-gun-part-2/
It clips to the shot tube, most shot tubes have a small hole under it for some reason. I don't know of anyone who has them separately, unfortunately.
Cvans
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2019
- Messages
- 463
I was hoping you'd show up. Those older guns all look like Red Riders to me.
Thanks for your response Cobalt! Your thread got this whole ball rolling for me! I have severe ADD and this is just another rabbit hole I’m down! I think clean them, shoot ‘em and maybe mod the lll and keep the cub stock and original. I still may end up with a current RR just to play with like you pioneers! Do you still sell the springs you mentioned in this post a while back?
Be well
This has been a very, very enjoyable endeavor. I never thought there'd be so many folks who would contribute their time and energy to this project, but I thank every one of them!
That sounds like a good plan. The oldest one is a real looker, I'd leave it as close to stock as you can, but it wouldn't surprise me if it needed the seals oiled. I wrote a little on this HERE. I do have springs, you can send me a message through this forum if you'd like to discuss it. On the old one, see if you can make out the word "DAISY" with a bullseye at each end. They would be stamped very lightly into the metal, but may still be visible. It may be a Model H, or an 11-29 I mentioned already.
That sounds like a good plan. The oldest one is a real looker, I'd leave it as close to stock as you can, but it wouldn't surprise me if it needed the seals oiled. I wrote a little on this HERE. I do have springs, you can send me a message through this forum if you'd like to discuss it. On the old one, see if you can make out the word "DAISY" with a bullseye at each end. They would be stamped very lightly into the metal, but may still be visible. It may be a Model H, or an 11-29 I mentioned already.
@Wingnuts, I looked through the early guns in Gary Garber's Daisy Encyclopedia, and it looks like your oldest gun may be a relatively early production Model H. There were quite a few variations of the model - they could be nickel plated or blued (none were painted), some had a soldered under-barrel patch, later guns didn't, etc. It took me a while to notice it, but he giveaway for yours is that there are no lever retainer clips under the receiver like other lever guns use. It could be a single shot or a repeater but the best way to tell from the outside is to look at the type of front sight it has. If there's a slot that the sight locates in and the shot tube is spring loaded to hold it in the gun, it's a single shot. If the shot tube is threaded, it's a repeater.
So going by what I can see from a single photo, my guess is it may be a repeater made between 1914 and 1921 or a single shot made between 1913 and 1919. These guns were made to shoot lead shot, so the shot tube will be too large for steel BBs made today to be very accurate. And you may find steel BBs want to roll out of the shot tube by gravity. But you still should be able to shoot it, just not with the accuracy you'd like to have.
So going by what I can see from a single photo, my guess is it may be a repeater made between 1914 and 1921 or a single shot made between 1913 and 1919. These guns were made to shoot lead shot, so the shot tube will be too large for steel BBs made today to be very accurate. And you may find steel BBs want to roll out of the shot tube by gravity. But you still should be able to shoot it, just not with the accuracy you'd like to have.
Unfortunately I painted that old one yrs ago for my son when he was 5? That was 25 yrs ago! There is a daisy flanked by bullseyes stamped on each side! and the lever doesn’t stay up!
The old one is a repeater in as much as there is a loading port behind the front sight.
That it was totally rusty leads me to think it was likely blued originally. Usually if it was nickel plated, some plating will be visible somewhere on it. Either way, it looks cool now so it's all good. Sometimes painting is the best option, and it sounds like your gun was beyond hope for restoring the original finish- whatever it was!.
Grayrock
Member
I have a rusty patina on my RR. At some point I started to sand it down. Now I'm thinking I want to leave the original patina on it. Anyway to recreate the rusty spots so it all matches?
Folks, I have a treat for y'all today- this will be about the "111-40/27", which is the designation for a gun designed and made by Shane, who also makes some beautiful stocks for Daisy BB guns. This gun is serial number 0001, and it's patterned after a Daisy model 27. For those who might not be familiar with them, the Daisy No. 3 and No. 30 Model 27's were the first "reverse cocking" Daisy guns. By reverse cocking, I mean the guns cock on the closing stroke. Shane was kind enough to drop this off to me last week so I could look it over up close and personal, as well shoot it.
This gun uses a fire-blued No. 111 Model 40 Red Ryder receiver, a spring-loaded No. 25 shot tube, an internal spring block similar to the model 27 (necessary for the reverse cocking action), except this one was hand made from steel, a unique and innovative hand made steel and leather "flex lever", and the trade-mark striped maple stock Shane is known for.
This gun was made to be a speed shooter, so the spring is not a strong one. That means cocking is uber easy, but the MV is down a bit. This is by design.
Shane also has a cool youtube channel. I'm sure he'd appreciate any comments and feel free to subscribe to give him some support in his endeavors.
I'll have some more photos later showing the internal workings (I touched on this in an earlier post), but for now, here she is:
This gun uses a fire-blued No. 111 Model 40 Red Ryder receiver, a spring-loaded No. 25 shot tube, an internal spring block similar to the model 27 (necessary for the reverse cocking action), except this one was hand made from steel, a unique and innovative hand made steel and leather "flex lever", and the trade-mark striped maple stock Shane is known for.
This gun was made to be a speed shooter, so the spring is not a strong one. That means cocking is uber easy, but the MV is down a bit. This is by design.
Shane also has a cool youtube channel. I'm sure he'd appreciate any comments and feel free to subscribe to give him some support in his endeavors.
I'll have some more photos later showing the internal workings (I touched on this in an earlier post), but for now, here she is:
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