My Diasy Red Ryder BB Gun Project

[HollowPoint]

Just recently I re-discovered that I owned two Daisy Red Ryder BB guns. I bought the first of those two a few years back to use as a feral cat and feral pigeon deterrent.

Those feral animals are fairly smart and it just took a couple of hits for them to figure out that if they stayed out of range of these BB guns they'd be OK because beyond that range the accuracy and the sting of those BBs was no longer as much of a concern. It was at that point that I decided to step up to more powerful break barrel Umarex Octane pellet rifles.

The same thing happened with the more powerful and longer range pellet guns. Those feral animals soon figured out that if they stayed beyond fifty or sixty yards their survival rate and pain threshold would not be as apt to be tested. Then came the Umarex Gauntlet PCP air rifle. There is now a 100 yard no fly zone around my place but, the odd thing is, now that I mainly shoot the PCP air gun it seems that more often than not any feral pigeons or cats that I see now are being seen at close range. The scope setup on my PCP is generally set up for from 50 to 100 yards so by the time I find them in the cross hairs, they're gone.

So back to the Daisy Red Ryder BB guns. I was cleaning out my work shop and I found one sitting in the corner behind a bunch of other stuff that I had set in that same corner of the shop. It was covered with dust from a year or so of just sitting idle. The other Daisy I found in parts still in the box I had put it in when I decided way back when to convert or retrofit it with a gas spring. That project had been on the back burner for about the same time that the first Daisy had been sitting in the corner of my shop.

I decided to rekindle those project and that's what this long winded thread is about. Since part of my problem with accuracy with that first Daisy BB gun was due to the fact that my eye sight isn't what it used to be. The iron sights were just a blur to me now. I modeled and 3D printed a dedicated Daisy Red Ryder scope mount that I could utilize the same screw holes on the reciever of the little Daisy. I did have to run down and pick up some slightly longer screws but that was the easy part. Also, it took me the usual two or three tries till I got the final results I wanted.

My first successful and fully functional Daisy Red Ryder print was done on my recently acquired resin printer. I did try printing them with my FDM filament printer but those were the ones that didn't quite work out. Those were also the ones that I used to tweak my CAD models until I got the fit just right. My first successful print had a 3/8" rail to accommodate the old school BB gun scope I planed on using. The second print has a standard picatinny rail on it.

After I got the 3D printed Scope mount to print out the way I wanted I painted it black. Both of my functional sample were printed with the only resin I had on hand. (Siraya Tech Blu Resin) It's a semi-transparent resin. That's why I painted them black. I then went about modeling and printing a replacement front cap/front sight with integral outside threads. Those threads would be securing a dedicated resin printed 4" long moderator. It worked. Now I have a scope mounted and suppressed Daisy Red Ryder BB gun that's the envy of every little kid who owns a Red Ryder BB gun. (I'm just a 64 year old kid at heart)

The range and the accuracy has now been extended by another ten or fifteen yards and I can actually watch the BBs as they impact the target. I'm writing this thread on my desktop computer so I don't have access to the picture files to upload at this moment but I'll come back on and upload the photos I've taken of these Daisy Red Ryder BB gun mods either later today or in the very near future. In the mean time here's a link to the CAD rendering I uploaded to my Instagram pages. I still have to edit the photos of the BB gun suppressor renderings. I'll be back with those later.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAbv2noBcEa/

In regard to my second Daisy Red Ryder BB gun -the one I'm retrofitting with a gas spring- I'll have to create a whole different thread for that one.

I'll be back.

HollowPoint

[Scrounge]

Just recently I re-discovered that I owned two Daisy Red Ryder BB guns. I bought the first of those two a few years back to use as a feral cat and feral pigeon deterrent.

Those feral animals are fairly smart and it just took a couple of hits for them to figure out that if they stayed out of range of these BB guns they'd be OK because beyond that range the accuracy and the sting of those BBs was no longer as much of a concern. It was at that point that I decided to step up to more powerful break barrel Umarex Octane pellet rifles.

The same thing happened with the more powerful and longer range pellet guns. Those feral animals soon figured out that if they stayed beyond fifty or sixty yards their survival rate and pain threshold would not be as apt to be tested. Then came the Umarex Gauntlet PCP air rifle. There is now a 100 yard no fly zone around my place but, the odd thing is, now that I mainly shoot the PCP air gun it seems that more often than not any feral pigeons or cats that I see now are being seen at close range. The scope setup on my PCP is generally set up for from 50 to 100 yards so by the time I find them in the cross hairs, they're gone.

So back to the Daisy Red Ryder BB guns. I was cleaning out my work shop and I found one sitting in the corner behind a bunch of other stuff that I had set in that same corner of the shop. It was covered with dust from a year or so of just sitting idle. The other Daisy I found in parts still in the box I had put it in when I decided way back when to convert or retrofit it with a gas spring. That project had been on the back burner for about the same time that the first Daisy had been sitting in the corner of my shop.

I decided to rekindle those project and that's what this long winded thread is about. Since part of my problem with accuracy with that first Daisy BB gun was due to the fact that my eye sight isn't what it used to be. The iron sights were just a blur to me now. I modeled and 3D printed a dedicated Daisy Red Ryder scope mount that I could utilize the same screw holes on the reciever of the little Daisy. I did have to run down and pick up some slightly longer screws but that was the easy part. Also, it took me the usual two or three tries till I got the final results I wanted.

My first successful and fully functional Daisy Red Ryder print was done on my recently acquired resin printer. I did try printing them with my FDM filament printer but those were the ones that didn't quite work out. Those were also the ones that I used to tweak my CAD models until I got the fit just right. My first successful print had a 3/8" rail to accommodate the old school BB gun scope I planed on using. The second print has a standard picatinny rail on it.

After I got the 3D printed Scope mount to print out the way I wanted I painted it black. Both of my functional sample were printed with the only resin I had on hand. (Siraya Tech Blu Resin) It's a semi-transparent resin. That's why I painted them black. I then went about modeling and printing a replacement front cap/front sight with integral outside threads. Those threads would be securing a dedicated resin printed 4" long moderator. It worked. Now I have a scope mounted and suppressed Daisy Red Ryder BB gun that's the envy of every little kid who owns a Red Ryder BB gun. (I'm just a 64 year old kid at heart)

The range and the accuracy has now been extended by another ten or fifteen yards and I can actually watch the BBs as they impact the target. I'm writing this thread on my desktop computer so I don't have access to the picture files to upload at this moment but I'll come back on and upload the photos I've taken of these Daisy Red Ryder BB gun mods either later today or in the very near future. In the mean time here's a link to the CAD rendering I uploaded to my Instagram pages. I still have to edit the photos of the BB gun suppressor renderings. I'll be back with those later.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAbv2noBcEa/

In regard to my second Daisy Red Ryder BB gun -the one I'm retrofitting with a gas spring- I'll have to create a whole different thread for that one.

I'll be back.

HollowPoint

I'll be watching!

[HollowPoint]

Here are all the Cad Rendering Images of the 3D printed parts I came up with for my Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. I've rendered them in a possibly stupid looking yellowish color just to show a bit more detail. I tried rendering them in Black but on both of my computers it just looked so dark that it made it nearly impossible to see any detail.

As I mentioned initially, they were 3D printed using a resin or SLA printer with a transparent resin. I didn't want to mount a transparent shroud or moderator on my little Daisy so I painted them Flat-Black.

I haven't had a chance to photograph these 3D printed components on my Daisy BB gun but I'll get to that either tomorrow or the next day and upload it for you to see how it looks. I'm happy with how it turned out and I'm really happy that I can now see and hit what I'm aiming at.

HollowPoint

[clodhopper]

Nice work, Red Ryders everywhere are due for upgrade.

[HollowPoint]

Thanks clodhopper. That was my sentiment as well.

I'm having trouble tracking down the correct Gas-Spring for my other Daisy Red Ryder BB gun project. I do think I might have found a suitable candidate on the McMaster-Carr website but most Gas-Springs are made to open up slowly so I won't know until I get it if it is the kind I need. The Gas-Springs found in many modern break barrel air guns are made to expand to full length immediately upon release via the trigger pull.

I'm looking for a Gas-Spring of a smaller diameter due to space constraints inside the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. It also has to have a 15 to 20 pound rating. I did try using one of the lowest powered Gas-Springs found in modern break barrel air guns but even that was far to powerful for the little plastic trigger group to hold back. It was also a bit to large in diameter so getting it to fit inside that little Daisy was a real chore. In the end that failed attempt ended up with that plastic trigger sear snapping under the pressure and that over-powered Gas-Spring lodged inside my Red Ryder.

I call this present Daisy BB gun project complete and successful. The next one will take a bit more effort to get it to work but, If I can get it to work I may become the only Daisy Red Ryder BB gun owner on planet Earth with a Daisy Red Ryder that utilizes a more modern Gas-Spring rather than a steel coil spring. On the other hand, I've read that, "There is no new thing on this Earth" so someone some where may have already beaten me to the punch.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I got some time today to photograph the 3D printed scope mount and shroud/moderator that this thread revolves around. I hope they come through clear enough to see some details.

If you look closely you can see a sort of faceted surface finish on all the prints. This is because I had my print settings set at the coarsest settings I could get and still get a useable print for my efforts. This is in turn because the finer settings take longer to print and as it was, both print sessions took a bit over 13 hours apiece.

Finer settings give you a nicer surface finish and coarser settings give you a faster print. I was shooting for a fast functional print when all was said and done.

I've had that little old-school BB gun scope in my storage closet for who knows how long. I found out after mounting it that it wouldn't hold zero if my life depended on it. I thought I was going to have to break down and by another but I didn't think to look close enough to see that the inner workings of this BB gun scope are only held together with two phillips head screws so I took it apart and cleaned up the insides and now I have a working scope again. Now I have a scope sighted and suppressed Daisy Red Ryder BB gun.

HollowPoint

[georgerkahn]

You should, indeed, be proud of both your ingenuity and the superb looking results of your efforts! Congratulations and kudos! "My" bb-gun scope mount, maybe fifty years back, was some epoxy modeling clay hand rolled into a couple of golf-ball sized balls which were set atop the alcohol-washed barrel, with my scope set atop it. One large nut was temporarily placed near front and back of 'scope tube (spacers), and I squished the 'scope down, using a stretched/tied bicycle tire inner tube to clamp/hold it down until epoxy set. (Bion, this worked great until a 'friend' tried -- and succeeded -- in removal from the bb gun. I tried a couple of times re-gluing it, with mixed success; I reckoned if I used a file or similar to roughen surface would enable adhesion -- but did not wish to go that route.)
YOUR efforts -- wowsers! What a difference from mine
geo
geo

[HollowPoint]

You should, indeed, be proud of both your ingenuity and the superb looking results of your efforts! Congratulations and kudos! "My" bb-gun scope mount, maybe fifty years back, was some epoxy modeling clay hand rolled into a couple of golf-ball sized balls which were set atop the alcohol-washed barrel, with my scope set atop it. One large nut was temporarily placed near front and back of 'scope tube (spacers), and I squished the 'scope down, using a stretched/tied bicycle tire inner tube to clamp/hold it down until epoxy set. (Bion, this worked great until a 'friend' tried -- and succeeded -- in removal from the bb gun. I tried a couple of times re-gluing it, with mixed success; I reckoned if I used a file or similar to roughen surface would enable adhesion -- but did not wish to go that route.)
YOUR efforts -- wowsers! What a difference from mine
geo
geo

Thank you sir. I appreciate the compliment. I've been a chronic tinkerer ever since I was a kid. I couldn't begin to count all of the perfectly good toys and appliances I've ruined thinking I could improve on them somehow.

Eventually if you ruin enough things you start to figure out what has a better chance of working and what doesn't. I still muck up some projects but now days I try to work my projects so that they can be easily reverted back to their original configuration if my mods don't pan out.

I'll be ordering the Gas-Spring for the retro-fit project on my other Daisy BB gun this weekend. I'm hoping to be able to give that particular Daisy a bit more power without stressing it to it's limits. If I do manage to achieve success with that spring swap I'll have to re-name that little Daisy Red Ryder BB gun to a, Daisy-Duke Red Ryder BB gun. It will take some fabricating but that's not at complicated as the word makes it sound. It just takes a bit of time.

I'll be back when I get that next Daisy project up and running.

HollowPoint