Refurbishing Red Ryder - tuning options?

[tiamat]

Going to be refurbishing Dad's old Red Ryder carbine, circa 1956, and the one I grew up shooting. It's in sad shape - the stock and forend are cracked/warped/melted, finish is mostly rubbed and chipped off in most places, and didn't shoot worth a crap anymore, the BB would only trickle out of the barrel. Unless I can find replacement furniture for cheap I think I'm going to try my hand at making my own wood pieces. Haven't decided whether I'm going to try to strip and re-blue the rest, or just stick with a paintjob.

Disassembly was completed last night. Turned out the stationary seal at the front of the compression chamber was no longer stationary - it was stuck to the piston seal and riding back and forth along with it during the cocking/firing motions, so no air pressure was being built up. This is the same symptom that was described in the treenut.net blog. Wondering if I should also flip the front seal around as he did, or just put it back in the same position. They seem to have formed the same shape, but I don't know if that's how they're supposed to be, or if they just got that way from being compressed together for the last half century.

The air tube attached to the piston looks like it's taken a beating for the past 58 years too - the front of it is sorta smashed and definitely not concentric anymore. Does this tube strike the BB at full stroke? or I wonder if it is just off-center slightly and hitting the back of the shot tube... I've not seen any place that advertises parts for these old guns - someone have a line on any?

Was wondering if anyone has done any tuning on the Red Ryder? I've got no experience with any air gun tuning, but have been reading about it. Is there anything worthwhile to do, such as shimming the spring? polishing surfaces? spring tar?

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Google air rifle repair .

 

[craftsman]

I understand the sentimental attachment you have to this BB Rifle.

I found an authorized repair site ... http://integritygunsmithing.com/daisyGunWorks/daisyIndex.php They are located in Arizona, so unless you can drive there, you need to ship it to them. The Daisy website itself has no links to authorized or recommended repair vendors, or for service by the factory.

Winchester air rifles (a division of Daisy) ... Customer Service Department at (800) 713-2479. But doesn't list "repair" or "servicing" on their website. http://winchesterairrifles.com/Default.aspx

Keep in mind, a replacement (new) Red Ryder sells for $40. I know you can't put a price on the sentimental value of your Dad's Red Ryder, but be ready to justify the expenditure to yourself if it runs into hundreds of dollars.

 

[g.willikers]

The new ones with the plastic stocks are real low priced at Walmart and such.
Maybe using the power plant parts from one of those would be the way to go.
They usually also have a slightly higher priced version with wood.
If memory serves they are under $20 and $30 dollars, respectively.

 

[rcmodel]

The new ones are no where near as powerful or accurate as the old ones.
(Somebody might shoot their eye out!)

Send it to someone that specializes in restoring them to the old standards and Bee Happy you did.

rc

 

[tiamat]

Google air rifle repair .

Then what's the purpose of this forum?

Anyhow, I understand that putting almost any money into this is not going to be 'worth' it - this does have sentimental value, but I will not be throwing $200 at it. Even the time it takes me to crudely make some replacement wood furniture is not going to be 'worth' it, but the existing ones are really bad and I would like to use this at some point.

Still, I'm surprised that I haven't found any place that specifically lists parts for these old guns, as popular as they were, nor any sites that detail any other modifications to them besides the basic disassembly/reassembly.

The new ones with the plastic stocks are real low priced at Walmart and such.
Maybe using the power plant parts from one of those would be the way to go.
They usually also have a slightly higher priced version with wood.
If memory serves they are under $20 and $30 dollars, respectively.

This may be a good way to go just to source some parts. I wonder if the seals and other internal parts will even remotely be close to the same size though.

 

[craftsman]

For $40 for a WalMart one, it's worth it to take that apart and see if it fits. At those prices, it is really considered a "disposable", so if you can re-use the parts for restoring your Dad's old gun, money well spent.

 

[tiamat]

agreed.

 

[ZVP]

Go to NW 54 and type in Kitchings Yellow Forum. Someine will help you there they have sources.
HTH

 

[tiamat]

Thanks. I actually stumbled across that site in my previous searches on the subject, and did see a few people talking about it - one guy who has some theories about how it can be tuned, and another who says he has parts for old daisy air rifles, but those posts are from 2008 or earlier, so...
The seals on mine appear to be in good shape now that I've separated them, but I've been struggling to get the spring compressed enough to reassemble the thing - so its just been sitting in a pile of parts for the past few weeks, and I get frustrated every time I go to work on it that I can't get a simple thing put back together.

 

[tiamat]

Daisy Outdoor Products Buck Gun, $15.88

fyi.

mine still sits in pieces.