Red Ryder No. 111 Model 40 restoration |
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cobalt327
Red Ryder Member Joined: November-15-2013 Points: 3140 |
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Nice gun!
My gun that needs the forearm is a decent gun, but not a showstopper like that. I'm repairing it to be given to a grandson and I hope some day after I'm gone it will be thought of fondly as having come from me.
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Kansan
Groupie Joined: May-19-2019 Location: Kansas Points: 15 |
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Cobalt, email sent.
Wizzer, that's a beauty! It also gives me an idea of what a pristine rifle would cost. A BB gun with a family history is definitely worth more than that in sentimental value. |
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BSAGuy
Red Ryder Member Joined: January-30-2019 Location: Central NC Points: 521 |
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That is indeed a gorgeous gun and box, Whizzer. When I see stuff like that, I always wonder how it survived together and unplayed-with for 60+ years.
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Be Prepared
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Kansan
Groupie Joined: May-19-2019 Location: Kansas Points: 15 |
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I got my parts today so here are a few pictures. First, the gun before the parts... missing barrel band and wrong screw on stock.
I found out that the trigger spring was broken in two pieces and someone (one of my brothers no doubt) had simply intertwined the two halves to make a very weak wobbly too short spring. Additionally, I realized that the stock had been broken at some point in the past and had been glued and a screw attached. Seems solid now and is part of its history so I'll leave it. But I am going to ask my family how that came about. I've never really looked too close at this gun I guess although I've shot thousands of BBs through it. |
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Kansan
Groupie Joined: May-19-2019 Location: Kansas Points: 15 |
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The barrel band from eBay appeared to be the right one. It came in a pretty rusted condition but some WD-40 and 0000 steel wool took it off. Were these things originally blued? If mine was, the blue is long gone and it is now a silvery color. But it kind of looks cool.
Lastly, I put some oil down the gun tube per Cobalt's suggestion and I'm letting it sit. But functionally it seems to work fine. My BB's are in storage so I need to go out and buy some to truly test it out. That's all for now. Thanks again for the information and giving me confidence to take it apart to make it work again. This makes me quite happy. Edited to add: I also replaced the trigger spring with one from JGairguns which fixed the trigger and the cocking problem. |
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cobalt327
Red Ryder Member Joined: November-15-2013 Points: 3140 |
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That's a nice gun there! FWIW, that crack is VERY common. Yours is a nice, clean one so it isn't even noticeable unless looking closely. Those cracks may happen spontaneously. That area isn't stressed during cocking, so there's really no good reason for the cracks, other than the direction of the wood grain combined with the way the cut is made on the front end of the stock and possibly the wood drying out over time. But that's just my theory.
The 111-40 band was blued originally on your gun. It looks fine as-is, but if you wanted you could give the band a cold blue treatment. Given time and some use, it will blend back in just fine.
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jackdog
Red Ryder Member Joined: June-01-2016 Location: Cape may, NJ Points: 428 |
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here is the documentation that came with that gun in the form of a Daisy tag..... |
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Aim Straight
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BSAGuy
Red Ryder Member Joined: January-30-2019 Location: Central NC Points: 521 |
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That looks really nice, Seth. Doesn't it feel good to revive a trusted old friend like that?
Like Cobalt said, cold blue works great for small parts like the forearm band. I use Birchwood Casey Perma-Blue. You can get it on line or some stores like Walmart carry it in some locations. Just clean the band really well with acetone to degrease it and apply the Perma-Blue as per the directions on the bottle. I also use the Perma-Blue to blend in small areas where original factory bluing may be scratched or worn. As a finishing touch, you can get a set of leather boot laces to use for the saddle ring thong. The thongs were 8" long. Just take the lace, double it up and loop through the ring. Tie a simple overhand knot in the two ends at 8", leave a little bit past the knot, and trim.
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Be Prepared
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oldwizzer
Red Ryder Member Joined: February-15-2006 Location: United States Points: 1095 |
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Nice save.
Ejwills.
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Ejwills
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LukeZ
Newbie Joined: May-25-2019 Points: 1 |
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Hi, I'm Luke, Seth's older brother (only by one year). Nice to see you fixing up the old rifle and I'll look forward to seeing it in person in a few weeks.
You wondered about the damaged bits. Strangely I never remembered the stock being cracked, but as Cobalt says the fix was a clean one so you don't hardly notice. I can't be certain but that looks an awful lot like a Grandpa fix, possibly undertaken at some point during Dad's childhood. For sure I know we never cracked it. The odd-bolt I do think was added after we left for college, we'll have to ask the other brothers. At the same time Seth got this rifle Dad bought me a Daisy Model 188 pistol, which was not an heirloom but still plenty fun. Seth and I shot countless millions of BBs in our backyard with that rifle and pistol as kids. Our parents didn't believe in TV and back then there was no internet or smartphones, so goofing off in the backyard was about the only thing to do. We shot everything we could think of including ourselves and other things that should not have been like the shed windows and the lamp-post by the alley. We did anger our father on some of these occasions but I don't remember that he ever confiscated our "firearms." I guess he knew what boys could live without (TV) and what they couldn't (shootin in the backyard). I dare say we got to be pretty good shots and we could cock another round faster than you could blink. As we got older though the rifle in particular seemed to have less and less power until you could kind of see the BB drop to the ground in a rather short distance after you fired it. Hopefully Seth you re-oiling it will help.
I dis-assembled, cleaned and re-oiled the 188 about a year ago and it still shoots pretty good all things considered. It was never that powerful to begin with. Even though we're in our 40s now we still shoot these old BB guns. It is a family tradition to bring them out on Thanksgiving afternoon at our parent's house (our parents who now go by the names of Grandma and Grandpa themselves). The old BB guns are not very accurate anymore but are good for the new generation of little kids now coming up - being so old and worn out the old guns have become much easier for a small child to cock. As for us "old" kids, with a newer Daisy we are still sharp enough to hit a miniature marshmallow at 25 feet, which impresses the in-laws. (The picture below is of our two younger brothers and said in-law.) I sure wish we had a picture of me and Seth as little kids shooting our guns! But I definitely still have the memories. I know this isn't really useful information to anyone but just thought I'd share some of our history. |
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