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Wingnuts
Newbie Joined: June-20-2020 Location: NJ Points: 4 |
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Posted: June-20-2020 at 12:29pm |
Hey everyone, new to the site, fell down a rabbit hole and ended here! I ha e a few daisys I want to clean up and refurb. My main question though is about an 880. I thought I grabbed a bargain (better than what I did) the gun has a plastic lever and receiver! Knew it felt different than I recalled! Would it be worth it to hunt down a metal lever and receiver? AND could they be used on my plastic piece of junk? Any and all help/responses are greatly appreciated.
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Airitis
Red Ryder Member Joined: October-06-2016 Location: PA Points: 1252 |
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Hello wing...
I have a few 880s and even plastic ones I can't consider as junk. Not sure if parts are interchangeable but don't be so quick to make that assumption. Unless the plastic pieces are not holding up to use and abuse. I like them all. |
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Air-It-Is
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Wingnuts
Newbie Joined: June-20-2020 Location: NJ Points: 4 |
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Thanks for your reply Airitis! Not junk by any means (3 pumps did severe damage to a squirrel I only wanted to sting! Regretted having to dispatch something I only intended to deter! The feel I remember from the late 70’s early 80’s just isn’t there! I can’t gripe, I picked it up for 4 bucks and all it needed was a shroud and front sight. Shoots well, just feels toyish?
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Wingnuts
Newbie Joined: June-20-2020 Location: NJ Points: 4 |
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oops seals as well!
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Airitis
Red Ryder Member Joined: October-06-2016 Location: PA Points: 1252 |
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Not quite sure what this means. Next time you want to chase a squirrel, try a sling shot. Lol 😆 |
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Air-It-Is
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Bavaria55n
Red Ryder Member Joined: October-12-2015 Location: CentralIllinois Points: 747 |
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Check out some of the other posts here.
These guys have several tips to really improve an 880, metal or plastic. From stabilizing the barrel to improving the trigger. Lots of great information here. Gary
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cobalt327
Red Ryder Member Joined: November-15-2013 Points: 3139 |
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I'm not wild about plastic receivers, either. But overall, the current Chinese guns are arguably better shooters than the metal guns. Others will vehemently disagree with this assertion, and that is fine- I get it. But that is my opinion, and I stand by it.
You can add lead or other weighty items inside the forearms to add some weight. The metal levers will fit and they do add weight, but not all metal levers have the same method of retaining them in the closed position. The plastic lever guns use a captured spring that acts as a clip to hold the lever closed. Truth be told, nothing is actually needed to hold the lever closed on a gun that has a good buffer, aka "elastomer spring". It is there more for when the buffer starts to deteriorate from ozone and oil degrading it. I actually remove the spring from my 880s to make the pumping smoother and quieter, I also use a few strips of moles skin in the lever channel to keep the *CLACK*CLACK*CLACK* racket down when I pump the gun. If you get a metal lever, you want the type "3" lever shown at the bottom of this photo:
But levers all get sloppy after much use, and considering the metal lever hasn't been used in production guns for around 30 years, any metal levers you may find are likely going to have quite a bit of use on them. Personally, I remove sloppy metal levers as well as flexi plastic levers and replace them with the current production "ribbed" plastic lever. One thing is they have tight joints, and if lubed properly, they will stay tight for a long time. But the most important thing is that the new levers are stiffer than the plastic levers that came before them. You can tell a good plastic lever from a flexi lever by looking for the reinforcement ribs. Ribs = good, no ribs = not so much. Many of the metal receiver/metal lever 880s have smoothbore barrels, and use a very expensive intake seal that is no longer made, so those who do have them get $30-plus each for them. smh And the seal is often bad, so the gun may shoot but it will lose pressure as soon as you quit pumping it. This makes consistent shots very difficult unless you bring the gun to shoulder and shoot immediately after pumping it up- obviously this is not always convenient. There are a couple workarounds for a tired seal that works to at least some degree depending on the seal condition. But if "heft" is what you're after, the metal/metal guns do have that going for them. |
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