Craigslist 853

[454ho]

Bought a Powerline 853 off Craigslist today for $30 (yeah, I know it is against their policy). Rifle was advertised as needing to be resealed. The rear diopter sight is missing and no buttplate spacers included. Otherwise it looked like it was in good shape. Guy could not tell me the history of it, was purchased as part of a auction lot.

Got it home and noticed that when I pumped it, the air leaked around the pump tube/valve o-ring. Decided to put a few drops of oil there, plus on the piston o-ring and the wiper. After working it several times and dry firing, the immediate leak-down was gone and it would hold air for several minutes. Problem is when I fired it, no air came out the muzzle. It just sort of PFFffffftttt out the chamber area. Figured it had a pellet stuck in the barrel, so I got out my .17 cal cleaning rod. Yep, about an 1.5" down in the muzzle was a blockage. Did not want to try and push it all the way to the breach, so I tore the whole rifle down. Pushed the rod in through the chamber end and blockage about 5" from the muzzle. Hmmm, not just one pellet stuck. I tried gentle persuasion, but the blockage would not budge.

Decided the best course of action would be to drill it out. Found a sharp .125" drill bit and a T-handle, started carefully drilling from the muzzle by hand. Pretty soon I had big pile of lead shavings and the drill bit was buried all the way into the barrel... and it was STILL blocked. I inserted the cleaning rod from the chamber again, and tried a little more persuasion. Was able to tap the blockage forward about and inch, so went back to drilling. Finally made it all the way through... probably 4" of lead.

Then it was on to the Kroil and pulling a few patches. Got several more chunks of lead out, but I could still feel the patches getting hung up about an inch or so from the muzzle. So I get out my bore light and start looking, and there is a pretty big gouge with a raised burr right about the 7:00 position about an inch from the end. Great.

So, I'm in need of a barrel. Anyone know if they are available from Daisy? Can the barrel be separated from the cast valve housing, or is that considered a single part? Anybody got a spare laying around you want to sell? I suppose another option might be to shorten or counterbore my barrel a couple inches and re-crown, but I do not have a lathe or the skill required to do that.

Seems my luck with used airguns is not so great. So much for finding bargains. 

[K.O.]

I think  barrels are about 60$ and the 953 barrels are about 30$ plus shipping.  You have nothing to lose by trying to fix it by knocking down

the burr it just might surprise you by still shooting well.  The barrel on the 853 and 753 are choked.

[ac12]

Call Daisy customer support.
I do not think the barrel is sold separate (it is not shown as a separate item on the parts diagram), but I have heard of people buying the 853 barrel, so you have nothing to loose by asking.  Just explain what damage you have, maybe the barrel is available as a repair part.

[mafatone]

The barrel comes with the valve assembly from Daisy. Put the old barrel on a 1377 or a p17.

[45Bravo]

I would see if I can lap the bur out, then shoot it.
Then go from there.

I will take it off your hands for what you have in it and shipping, if you decide not to go with the replacement option.

Since it is already screwed, I would whack it down, sand it square, recess the crown, and then re crown it, you may lose some of the choke, but you are out anything to try it.

All of that can be done without a lathe. (I don't have one either..)

A short barreled 853,  hmm throw a TKO and a scope on it and call it unique...

[big_o_lar]

A short barreled 853,  hmm throw a TKO and a scope on it and call it unique...

not a bad idea trying to make a sbr [short barreled rifle] out of it first

[454ho]

Thanks for the suggestions. I decided to use a 1/8" rat tail file and smooth down the burr. Then I used some Flitz polish on a Q-Tip to polish it out. Result - it shoots. 

Not sure how well, but I hope to find out this weekend.

Here is the rifle as it site right now, wearing a Baby Redfield 4x scope -



And here is the pile of lead I drilled out of the barrel -



Crosman Destroyer up top for reference. The cylindrical chuncks at the bottom are the hollow bits left in the rifling after I drilled through. I wish I had a scale to weigh it, but I am guessing at least 8, maybe 10 pellets worth of lead.   

How on Earth someone could continue to fire round after round and not notice something amis is beyond me.   

[oldnamvet]

I would wonder if someone wanted to make it unusable and poured molten lead down there.

[45Bravo]

Cool I hope it shoots as good as it looks.

While not under the same circumstances, after the battles of the civil war, it was common to find rifles with several balls in the barrel loaded one on top of the other.

One misfired, they didn't notice, loaded another, thought they fired, loaded another, and so on...

My guess is someone thought they were missing...

[K.O.]

My old 1985 953 is basically an 853 and once I got it shooting ~525 fps it is very accurate out to about 25-30 (have not tried further yet)

yards and that is with just a $7 4x15. I love those old Redfield scopes bet you paid more than you did for the 853...

Mine loves the Crosman 7.4g points  even when it was only getting 425 fps I was able to hit a quarter at 20 yards.

I think I would fire a pellet into a milk jug full of water and take a look to see if the burr is all the way fixed.


  I have a feeling that you still have an accurate rifle...   Let us know.

[454ho]

I love those old Redfield scopes bet you paid more than you did for the 853...

I think I would fire a pellet into a milk jug full of water and take a look to see if the burr is all the way fixed.

I have a feeling that you still have an accurate rifle...   Let us know.

Yeah, that Redfield cost me about 7x what I paid for the rifle. I have a few of them on .22 rimfires, they are nice scopes that do not detract from the lines of smaller rifles.

Got to shoot it some today. Did not do well at all. Terrible vertical stringing, like 5". Pretty sure the problem is due to it missing the valve body/receiver side screws, they were missing when I tore it down. I could see the barrel to receiver joint flexing when I pumped it.

I really do like the rifle though. I priced the parts needed to get it all fixed up, should be around $75 plus shipping. That would put it about the same overall cost as the CMP refurbs, but I would have essentially a brand new rifle with several 'spare' parts.

[45Bravo]

, but I would have essentially a brand new rifle with several 'spare' parts.

And the knowledge gained from repairing it yourself...