High hopes
Today I received a Daisy Model 95 that I found on GunBroker for $24.00. Going by the Reg. No. I believe it to be from 1967 or thereabouts. I got it in the hopes the “weak link” plunger tube would be beefier than what was in my little Model 104- which has the strongest plunger tube of any of the Daisy BB guns I have seen so far (and so would be better to modify).
A bonus would be a stronger spring like the one I recently saw advertised on Gun Broker as being from an unknown model 1940s Daisy (and I would give anything to know which model it was from!!!!!) It spec’d out at about 20 lb/in which is a bit more than the Cowboy spring, but the $25.00 price was a deal killer. Even a large ID air tube like I’ve heard tell of would be a plus.
So after a quick inspection and with high hopes I loaded the old gal up with some zinc Daisy Precision Max BBs and headed outside to see what it would do... there's just no way to say it other than it sucked.
Badly. Drop was so bad at 15 yards that the sights were useless. The chrono spelled it out: 148 fps. Dismal to say the least and high time to dig into it to see what’s up.
ETA I gave it a few drops of oil as soon as I unboxed it so it wasn't dry.
Disassembly
The Model 95 comes apart similar to the other lever Daisy guns. Judging by the unmarred slotted screw heads and how danged tight everything was, I'd wager this gun had never been apart. One small difference is that the spring anchor rests against a portion of the sheet metal receiver instead of a cross-pin, but otherwise no real difference. The outer receiver is made of a sheet metal cover over the rear part of the “barrel” that contains the compression chamber and BB reservoir. Sort of like a Model 25, except the cover of the 25 is removable whereas the 95 cover is spot welded to the tube. It’s this cover that gives the distinctive look to these so-called ‘wide frame’ Daisys.
What I found
The good news was nothing was broken or missing. The walls of the compression chamber were smooth, without any signs of rust, pitting, scratches, et cetera. No rust inside the BB reservoir like can often be found from kids loading BBs by blowing them in from their mouth. The shot tube is actually pretty nice. It has the BB retaining wire in place and no rust at all, although the usual paint wear can be seen where the BBs enter the shot tube funnel. The abutment is secure, no looseness at all, threads clean and sharp. The plastic forearm isn't cracked, chipped or warped, the wooden buttstock likewise, although the wood finish is now mostly patina with a few scratches. The paint is scratched up pretty good but no rust pitting. The steel trigger and spring anchor retains almost all of their original bluing.
But did it have a stronger plunger tube? No dice. Dimensionally it’s a copy of the 1970s Model 104. A little stiffer than a new Red Ryder but it sure isn’t the holy grail I was hoping for.
Stronger spring? Nope. It was almost a given the rubber parts and/or the spring was shot due to the weak effort needed to cock it along with the poor performance, and sure enough- the spring is junk. It was so distorted that it dragged heavily on the plunger tube, killing any hope of decent velocity. It was kinked so badly that it took quite a bit of effort to pull the spring off the tube. I’m thinking the gun may have been stored cocked. Anyway after measuring it, I found it to be virtually identical to the Model 104 spring. Bummer. But a new Red Ryder spring should put things right in that regard, and I have a couple on hand.
Larger ID air tube? No way. The Model 95 air tube is almost the same as used on the Model 25, Red Ryder, 105 Buck, Model 10 and Model 104 (same OD, ID and length), BUT an ‘oval’ pin has to be used when replacing the original 95 air tube with a new production air tube unless the new tube is drilled to accept the old round pin. And even if the Model 95 air tube had a bigger ID, on my gun the end of the air tube was peened over so badly that even if the spring and everything else had been 100%, the restricted airflow through the air tube would have killed any hopes of good velocity.
Reseal
The seals were worn but really not that bad overall. Not totally shot like the broken piston I found in my Model 104. But since it's coming apart anyway, it'll get new seals. After all, I already had a new Model 25 barrel seal, piston, and drilled out air tube ready to be installed.
A note here about the piston and barrel seal: The piston and barrel seal on the Model 95 are the same as the current production Model 25 (just as I was told over at Daisy Talk- thanks
39hunter!) Remember that the Model 25 barrel seal and piston is a smidgen smaller than what’s used on a new Red Ryder, Model 105 Buck, Model 10 or the earlier Model 104.
One detail of the Model 95 that makes no sense to me is the screw elevation adjuster for the rear sight. Why they didn’t just use a sliding elevation adjuster on them all (newer guns than mine, did) is beyond me. Besides the rear sight requiring a screwdriver to adjust windage, the elevation adjustment screw is captive in the tube and cannot be removed. This means the piston has to be ‘shoe horned’ past the exposed end of this captured screw to keep from damaging the piston. I made a simple assembly tool from some fairly stiff, thin flexible plastic to go between the screw and piston so the piston wasn’t damaged when it was inserted into the compression chamber. But such an unnecessary hassle.
Nothing else about the reseal/reassembly was noteworthy and all went smoothly.
Modifications
Basically I did the same mods as was done to several of the other guns: I used a new Red Ryder spring on the Model 95 plunger tube. I shimmed the spring 1/2”. I used a drilled out (3/32”) new production air tube with a Model 25 piston and barrel seal and an oval retainer pin. After baselining it for velocity and getting a feel for the accuracy using the stock gravity feed shot tube, I switched to a new production Model 25 spring-follower shot tube like I did with the Model 104 I modified earlier. And again the Model 25 shot tube will be used because of it’s obviously superior performance.
Results
When all was said and done, the resealed Model 95 velocity using the shimmed RR spring, drilled air tube and stock shot tube was respectable at 285 fps average. Using the Model 25 shot tube the Model 95 is almost on par with the other modified guns as far as velocity goes, having an average MV of 315 fps.
The 95 trigger needs work to be as nice as the steel trigger on my 104, and it still needs tweaking to get the windage correct. (Nothing new there- almost every Daisy I’ve had so far has been off, windage-wise. That includes the Sheridan Cowboy.)
Overall I think I could grow to like this BB gun, even though it fell short of my hopes for having stronger components. The LOP is a bit short, about the same as a Red Ryder (~35" OAL) but it's far better than the
uber short Model 104 or 105. The upside is the gun feels pretty good when shooting it. The thicker stock gives it a solid “real gun” feel compared to the others that feel like you’re holding a 1 x 4 to your shoulder. And unless I’m mistaken the wood looks like walnut- but I’m no expert. I am going to refinish it (there’s no collectors value to this BB gun anyway), then maybe someone will be able to tell me what it is.
Now if I could just learn what model(s) had that strong spring, I'd have something else to look for... and I'd be very appreciative of anyone who can point me in the right direction!