It turns out that an air rifle needs more lubrication than once every forty years. I purchased some a few weeks ago to attempt to ressurect my Daisy 840. Looking at the problem more carefully, I definitely have a seal problem. I noticed while I was messing around that the cylinder was not holding air. Within two minutes, the air chamber was empty.

My initial impression was that things were fine. When I got the rifle from my parents about ten years ago, it was still charged to my surprise (big firearms violation on me?). It was probably set at my parents house for 20 years unused so it is hard to say who left it loaded but it wouldn’t surprise me if I did.

Of course, I haven’t messed with it much at all since I decided to upgrade to the Crossman Legacy 1000. Only when I was doing my velocity testing and I got extremely erratic behavior did I start to wonder if I had a problem.

It is pretty simple to figure out where to put the oil. Where it say “Oil Here” seems like the right place. As to how much, I really don’t know but a good rule of thumb in firearms is that you can always add more, don’t get carried away. Not only are you wasting lubricant with too much but it often causes more dirt and grime to collect on the surfaces that the oil touches.

Those of of you that are not familiar, not all oil is the same. The tube on the left is the general purpose lubrication that I used on my Daisy. The oil on the right is a special type of oil for spring and pneumatic guns. It turns out that you are supposed to add 1 or two drops every 500 rounds into air chamber. Supposedly, I need a third oil that is for my Crossman Legacy.

To date, I have not been able to save the Daisy. The truth is, I don’t know that it will come back. My brief looking is that these Daisy parts are obsolete. So, it very well may be that the seals are damaged beyond repair. I am hoping that if the oil sits a little bit of time on the seals that they will re-swell to work again. So far, it has only been a week but no dice.

End Your Programming Routine: It might be too little, to late for the old Daisy. I kind of hope not but it really has become obsolete in my fleet. To be sure, I am going to pay more attention to my newer air rifles, hence why I bought the different lubrication products. This represents about $10 of care, I think that it is money well spent.