TargetTalk

I know this isn't exactly an olympic rifle but figured there would be someone here that could help me out. I bought a used late model Daisy 753, with a nice adjustable stock to see how I like 10m rifles. When I got the rifle it wouldn't push a pellet out of the barrel. I tore it down and found it was loaded with a oil/moly mix. I cleaned it all up and reassembled it, I got it shooting but it was extremely slow, in the 350-380fps range with 6.8gr Geco pellets, plus it would have 4 or 5 consistent shots then a couple of slow ones. I emailed Daisy and got a parts list and ordered a new compression tube, valve assembly, new o-rings, hardware, hammer and hammer spring, bolt assembly, cocking lever latch and spring, basically everything minus the valve body and barrel. While I waited for the parts to get here I decided to refinish the stock. My parts came in Friday. I put my last coat of Tru-oil on the gun and this morning and rebuilt the Daisy. I got it all together and the valve is leaking, when I pump the gun I can hear the air escaping out the barrel. This is a new valve assembly/spring, and for some reason it won't seat. I cleaned everything a few times and tried it again and still won't pump up. I'm at a loss to what to do next, I don't really want to spend anymore money on this thing, I have a couple hundred invested in the rifle let alone the time I spent working on it, and I still can't get it shooting. I would appreciate any tips or ideas to get this thing shooting again.

TIA
DaveR

Dave,
welcome to the world of Daisys. Try putting the old valve back in. or take a good look at the new valve and make sure the surface is consistent. Its something simple.

I know there's not a whole lot to these Daisy's, they are no master piece in engineering. It's either a O ring or the seal. I may have too order a couple spare valve seals.

Thanks
Dave

I recently purchased a Daisy 953. Same barrel and receiver without the wood stock or match sights. I planned to put a scope on it anyway so I didn't miss the sights. Nice little rifle.

I tore mine down to work on the trigger, so I am familiar with the mechanism. One thing that I thought of is the pump latch. This spring-loaded catch retains the pump handle, but it also has a hook that holds back the hammer and keeps it from pressing on the valve stem. If this isn't working properly the hammer will be pushing on the valve stem and the valve won't close completely.

This won't matter if you are cocking the hammer before pumping the handle since the hammer should be retracted at this point and held away from the valve stem by the sear.

If you don't mind taking it apart again I would recommend removing the hammer/trigger parts and then pushing the piston into the compression chamber by hand, to see if you have good compression and seal. At this point this should strictly be a test of the whether the valve is closing competely or not and if the piston is sealing properly. If the air is escaping through the barrel is sound like the O-ring on the piston is OK. If the new valve is leaking I would say that Daisy owes you another one free of charge.

It is possible that the receiver body that the valve is mounted in is damaged and this is preventing a good seal. This would require a new receiver body or the skillful application of some JB Weld.

I just put in a bunch of new parts, compression tube, 2 pump o-rings, pump sweeper o-ring, complete valve assembly, hammer and hammer spring, lever latch and spring, bolt assembly, new reciever and all new hardware. The gun is still leaking through the barrel. I even called Daisy about the problem and they sent me another new valve seal, thinking the new one that came with the valve assembly was defective, and again it is still leaking. I'll double check the compression to make sure it is the valve seal, but I'm pretty sure that the seat is the problem. Someone was in this gun prior to me buying it and trimmed all the springs in the trigger group and over lubed everything. This is the reason I bought all new springs and parts. Unfortunately the gun is still performing as I recieved it...not. I'm ok about getting a new valve body, but unfortunately Daisy only sells the valve body with a new barrel which is $50.00 plus shipping. I originally bought this rifle because the price was right, and it would be an inexpensive means of trying a 10m rifle. Now with all the parts I've put into it, plus what I paid for the rifle I'm closing in on the price of a new 753, which is what I wanted to avoid by buying second hand. The only advantage is the the rifle has the older adjustable stock which is no longer available. So I guess I'm at a cross roads on whether to suck it up and buy the barrel/valve body assembly or selling it as is and cutting my losses.

Dave

Had the same problem after stripping and degreasing an old Daisy single pump, air leaking out the barrel after pumping. Took the action apart again, popped a pin in front of the valve spring, removed the valve spring-stem assembly. lubed it with 5W30 motor oil. After replacing the valve stem and replacing its retaining pin, take the trigger piston and place it in it's cylinder. Press it against the valve stem repeatedly to make sure the stem moves freely. The air leakage is caused by the stem sticking. I used light machine oil for lube the first assembly, but it wasn't viscous enough. The motor oil solved the problem, no air leak. The motor oil is the recomended lube for 853's of the Canadian Army cadets. Hope this helps.