Odd Daisy 880

[Ronno6]

I purchased an apparently first gen 880.
It has no diamond on the forearm and an all metal pump arm/handle.
Only #'s I find are "Reg no. C301233 pat. pending."
Odd thing is, there is NO spring loaded pin in the rear of the handle to hold the pump closed.
There does not appear to be ample space in the appropriate area of the receiver to allow such a pin to latch.
And, tho I have not fully disassembled the receiver halves, it appears that the trigger guard is cast
 into the left receiver half
Does this strike a chord with anyone??

[cobalt327]

Your 880 is a 1st. generation as you suspected. March 1973 is when it was made, or thereabouts. The lever was retained by a fragile plastic clip that gripped the sides of the cocking handle. If you're lucky it'll have the V2 intake seal, it's expensive ($30) but at least it's still available. The V1 intake valve assembly including the seal is made of unobtainium. I'm not sure but there's at least a chance the V1 intake valve assembly can be replaced with the V2 parts. Some early compression tubes were made of steel. You can look through the seam with the pump lever open to see if the tube looks brass or steel. Much later they used aluminum. The grip cap and buttplate are not removable, the cap is marked "DAISY", the buttplate is blank. There were originally yellow stickers at the front and rear of the lever, sometimes they are still visible. Smoothbore shot tube. Many had a dark blue finish with a hint of metallic.

[Ronno6]

Thank yoiu, sir!