A Daisy Model 25's rebirth

Not much to look at is it? I got this Daisy model 25 as a basketcase years ago. No stocks, an odd Hodge podge of parts , mismatched receiver and barrel assembly and no shot tube. Lots of Daisy's end up in this condition because the owner/operators (young boys) have a penchant for taking things apart and not putting them back together. Then it's off to the closet/barn/shed where it sits dormant and forgotten growing a nice patina of rust.

The stocks on this one are curly maple and look OK but they didn't come with the gun. I just wasn't happy with the thinness as I built these as straight factory style replacements. I also wasn't too keen on the rusty receiver and painted barrel and decided to finish modding it.

Step 2, if you count the first set of stocks, was to remove the rust and paint from the receiver and fireblue them. After a couple of tries it got to an acceptable level and I started looking at the wood again.

I settled on doing a glue up curly maple stock with a finger groove wrist. Probably won't do that again. I do like the transition from the wrist to the butt stock proper and I'm gonna try that again in the future.

I also broke out the gold stick and drove myself nuts trying to fill in the  oh so faint roll engraving on the receiver. It finally stayed put and is quite a nice accent to the new stock set.

A slightly better picture with reduced glare.

 The total package. Quite a long way from photo number one and hopefully good enough to keep it over the mantle, not in the shed.

The next gun on the list is a Model 94 Red Ryder with no internals or stocks and my youngest son says I need to redo it as a Fallout Las Vegas tribute. What ever that is.

Some new Pix

Works in progress.

I've pictured this Model 25 before and was not happy with the stock I made to the factory pattern. It now has a glue up curly maple stock that is being roughed out for finger grooves. I think it'll finish up nice.

Same gun, different angle.

This is a salvaged Model 1938B Daisy Red Rider not more than 10 years old. I picked it up a at local yard sale for a buck because of it having a flattened muzzle due to a unspecified garage mishap. It's morphed over the years from a rude and  crude hacksaw Mare's Leg to it's current state. It's fireblued, in possession  of a classic cast aluminum lever and super jazzy curly maple grip and finger grooved forearm. Shoot's well too.

The shop rack. These are mostly done. I do cap guns too.

That's all for today.

Custom Daisy's

As far as I can tell, these custom Daisy model 99's, 98, 96 and 95's are unique on planet earth.

It's amazing the kind of transformation you can achieve with a propane torch and some wittlin' time on salvaged Fiddleback Maple. These old daisy wide frames are an absolute pleasure to shoot now that they fit like custom guns ought to and have enough weight to make the firing cycle pretty effortless. There's nothing like dumping 500+ bb's down the loading hatch and shooting these guns dry. Takes a while.

They're all yard sale survivors and I wish I'd taken more before and after shots but here's the few I have.

And here's one before fire bluing the receiver on a Model 25 parts gun that came with a shoe box but no stocks.

I started my first Red Ryder this week and should have some photo's after the week end.

Later!