I bought my son a Red Rider. Planned to cut the stock down - he's got about an 11.5" LOP. When I got it out of the box, I realized that it's going to need more work. The lever action to work the pump takes more effort than my cheap Daisy and the trigger feels like it's 15lb. Is this just a matter of wearing it in, or is there something I can do out of the box? Seems like we'd almost be better off tossing this and getting a .22.
Lightening up Red Rider action
- Thread starter Armymutt
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jmorris
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Seems like sound judgement to me.
I have one I got years ago and it may be better but to me still as awful as it was new.
There are other options between the RR and a .22lr but lots of people start with a rimfire and do fine.
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Stasher1
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The Red Ryder has the whole nostalgia thing going for it, but just about every other air rifle in Daisy's lineup (besides the Buck) is a better shooter.
The Powerline 880 is easy to pump, more powerful, and more accurate (in my hands anyway), and isn't much more expensive.
The Powerline 880 is easy to pump, more powerful, and more accurate (in my hands anyway), and isn't much more expensive.
troy fairweather
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I'd get a 22, but bb/pellet guns are nice for shooting in the yard with out much worry.
ReigningBrass
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There are options to address both complaints. You can remove the stiff spring from the ratchet mechanism to make cocking smoother. If you’ve ever modified a 22 trigger by stoning and polishing the sear and hammer interaction points, the same can be done on the RR. Is it a pain to do as the trigger housing is plastic and captive by a rivet? Yes. You can also replace the hammer spring with the trigger return spring and replace the trigger spring with A) nothing, or B) a spring from a ballpoint pen.
I measured the pull prior to any work being done at just over 7lbs. After changing out the hammer spring, trigger return spring, and polishing the sear/hammer mating surfaces the trigger pull is a consistent 3lbs. I left the spring for the ratchet mechanism as it doesn’t bother me.
The following video is what I used as a rough, and I do mean rough, guide to get started. I went a step beyond and actually disassembled the entire trigger assembly to get better access to surfaces to polish.
I measured the pull prior to any work being done at just over 7lbs. After changing out the hammer spring, trigger return spring, and polishing the sear/hammer mating surfaces the trigger pull is a consistent 3lbs. I left the spring for the ratchet mechanism as it doesn’t bother me.
The following video is what I used as a rough, and I do mean rough, guide to get started. I went a step beyond and actually disassembled the entire trigger assembly to get better access to surfaces to polish.
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I think I'm going to take the easy route and just get him a Rascal. He wouldn't be using the BB gun unsupervised anyway, so the consideration of safety with a .22 isn't different. Luckily, our back yard is 1300 feet of woods, so we can shoot there is we don't want to walk over to the range.
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