TargetTalk

I have Daisy 753, which I use for offhand practice. I did the trigger modification described on this site. It works very well and holds the adjustment. I am happy with the way the rifle shoots.
Recently I tried shooting the rifle from a bag, just to practice benchrest at home and check out my new rest. I discovered something that never showed up while I was shooting offhand.
When the rifle is on the bags and there is no support under the pump lever, the lever will unlatch open upon firing. When I shoot offhand my hand is always under the lever, so I never noticed this.
Is this normal for this rifle?
Is this normal for this rifle with trigger modification?
Is there a worn out part I need to replace or should I just leave it alone?

This is not normal. You need a new latch spring, and perhaps a new latch as well. They are ordered as a set and only cost $1.00 so you might as well throw in a seal kit and maybe some extra spacers if you need them because the shipping will be the same.

Part # 853-29

You need to call Daisy direct to order, the parts will probably be shipped the same day that you call.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will order 3-4 sets. I am not abusing the rifle, but that latch gets battered and I seen shreds of it coming off, even though I keep it greased.

That does not sound right.
Take a good look at the area around the latch, to see if there is a sharp/rough edge that is causing the flaking/damage to the latch. Then fix the problem and it won't happen again.

I took a closer look and the latch looks deformed. Consistent with plastic being struck by pot metal 15,000 times. I shot at least 15,000 pellets through that rifle, maybe more. I don't see anything else that could have caused this wear. The shreds that I seen before, could have been a black paint stripped from the lever lug.
How many cycles does this part supposed to last?
Should the engagement surface be greased or left dry?

I would say keep it dry ... greasing the latch will make it harder to contain the pump lever.

As stated earlier ... make sure there are no sharp or rough areas that will wear on the part.

At least these guns are very easy to work on. Let us know how it works out.

There is a casting seam line going through the center of the lever lug, which probably contributed to wear. I will file it smooth when I will disassemble the rifle. Thanks to all for your help.

Unfortunately Daisy does not do a good job with finishing the gun. So we are tasked with removing the casting leaks and flashing, smoothening the sear, etc.

I'm happy to do that for the price of the gun. It allows many folks to get into the game that otherwise would never touch the sport.

We all know how few "young" shooters are out there now.

DLS wrote:I'm happy to do that for the price of the gun. It allows many folks to get into the game that otherwise would never touch the sport.

We all know how few "young" shooters are out there now.

The problem is some of the new shooters and their parents don't know how or can't do it. Then they are stuck with a LOUSEY trigger. Unfortunately the number of guys that are handy with their hands is not the majority. I cannot imagine my non-handy nephew trying to smoothen the trigger for his son. That will not happen. His son will shoot with the LOUSEY stock trigger or have to pay someone to do the trigger mod for him.

The entry rifle that I would get kids into target shooting is the 953. And the stock trigger is LOUSEY. I could not shoot with that trigger. The trigger pull got stuck, behind a burr, so you had to pull HARD to get past the burr. And it has most of the same trigger parts as on the 853,753. The sear is stamped, and the stamping burrs are left on the sear. It is unfortunate that they could not even do a basic deburr and add a few dollars to the cost.

I'm not arguing with you at all here ... I agree that the triggers are a very weak spot on these guns. I have never used the 953, but have a played with the 7's and 8's. They do use many of the same parts, but I've not seen a problem as bad as you describe.

But what do I know ... there are folks here who have handled hundreds of these rifles ... the 4H coaches and the like. Perhaps they will chime in.

I will say that it would cost more than a few dollars for the factory to do enough to the triggers that folks wouldn't want to do more ... so why even start down that path. Even a simple "clean up of the flashing" would add more cost than you would imagine.

Adding 40 or 50 dollars to the price of the gun, and still need to either work it yourself or take it to someone to give you the pull you want doesn't make sense to me.

Pilk used to do Daisy triggers for around $60 if memory serves me. That seems like a reasonable bottom price for any "hired hand" to do this type of work. And it seems to me that it would be the bottom cost, regardless of how clean the factory parts were ... so I think Daisy is on the right path.

Does that make sense? You don't have to agree with me ... many don't! LOL

The latch is on order. Meanwhile I wiped off the grease and filed off cast flashing behind the lug, which allowed a deeper engagement. It worked, the lever stays put after firing, but feels like it is barely held in place. I will still need to replace the latch and clean up the lug. Daisy has great customer service.

DLS
I won't disagree.
BUT, when you compare the Daisy trigger to the similar price IZH-60, the Daisy trigger is downright 2nd rate. I was shocked at how nice the trigger was on the IZH-60. I still don't understand how the Russians were able to put such a nice trigger in a rifle at that price point. A near perfect rifle would be a Daisy x53 or 88x with the IZH trigger. Ah but that is just a dream.

But the recoil/vibration of the spring powerd IZH-60 makes it harder to shoot accurately than the Daisys. So even with the handicap of the trigger I will shoot the Daisy x53 rifles over the IZH-60.

GaryN wrote:DLS
I won't disagree.
BUT, when you compare the Daisy trigger to the similar price IZH-60, the Daisy trigger is downright 2nd rate. I was shocked at how nice the trigger was on the IZH-60. I still don't understand how the Russians were able to put such a nice trigger in a rifle at that price point. A near perfect rifle would be a Daisy x53 or 88x with the IZH trigger. Ah but that is just a dream.

But the recoil/vibration of the spring powerd IZH-60 makes it harder to shoot accurately than the Daisys. So even with the handicap of the trigger I will shoot the Daisy x53 rifles over the IZH-60.

I think the main reason the Russian guns were so cheap was that they were actually the USSR and deperate for hard currency. I think that there was quite a bit of politics, in look how good/cheap are the products of the socialist state in play as well. The Russians have always had good engineers, just imagine where they would be if they had had an economy that had worked for the better part of the last century.

Alan

Just got the latch from Daisy. The rifle is disassembled. What type of grease is best to use on the small parts: hammer, trigger group, etc? I don't remember if I previously used automotive grease or light grease. All of the pictures show these parts greased. I plan to wipe off the old grease, it's mostly black now.

I always use moly bearing grease as I have it on hand. White lithium would work well too I would think.

I used white lithium grease on my 953 and 853.

I read somewhere that moly really works between steel parts, and does not work as well between non steel parts. But I did not follow up to see if there was any truth to that or not.

UPDATE: Two issues came up during reassembly.
First. The pivoting holes for the lever in the black sleeve (frame) became elongated, which causes misalignment of the locking lug with the new latch. This part is inexpensive and replacing it should take care of the problem.

Second issue is with the stock and it's tougher. Small, thin wooden shoulder that supports rear mounting screw and plastic spacer is splitting away from the stock. The screw was either over tightened or wood started to split from use. It will still hold the action in stock, but at some point that wooden shoulder will break off. I hate to replace the whole stock. I invested some time refinishing it and really like how it looks. I would rather fix it or reinforce it, but I don't see a simple way to do it.

I used a J-B Wood-Weld to repair and reinforce thin wooden shoulder to take care of the issue mentioned above. It worked out very well. This material is stronger than wood. You only have a few minutes to work with before it starts to harden, so the repair had to be done in small steps. First filled in the cracks, then put a thick layer above the shoulder and finally a thinner layer underneath.
The rifle is reassembled with a new frame and now it latches and unlatches perfectly.
The only thing that bothers me is the following:
When I open the pump lever at about a midpoint the piston bumps into the new frame as it exits the aluminum tube. I am sure I didn't feel that bump with the old frame. Is this normal for the new frame?