My wife's Targa (full size) has started to leak quite badly into the barrel. The pen is my wife's favourite fp & warnings of slow & painful death have been given if
1) I can't fix it.
2) I damage it.
3) I touch it. (She's a little possessive!)

My problem is I don't know about Sheaffers or Targas at all, and I need to start from the basics.

It was second hand when my wife was given it 25 years ago. It has a squeeze bar in a chrome plated, parallel sided ink chamber. The top of the chamber is slightly smaller diameter than the main body and tapers towards the end slightly. It seems that the ink is leaking from the very tight fitting gap where the ink chamber fits into the threaded part of the section - and there is a fair bit of corrosion here. Ink also seems to have got into the area between the sac & the press bar - I'm not sure if this is the primary leak path or whether ink just collects here.

I have a few questions that I'd be greatful if someone could help me with.
1) Is the pen an aerometric pen or a c/c pen? If it's a c/c, then corrosion has frozen the c/c into the section, as I can't move it with moderate force - but if it is, I'll try to find another c/c from somewhere.
2) Is it a known fault for older Targas to have leaks like this?
3) What is the average life of a Sheaffer's sac? The P51's I'm more used to is 40+ years..
4) Are there any restorer's repairer's in the UK that someone can recommend? I'm happy to take a P51 of mine apart, but I daren't work on my wife's pen.

Thanks in advance,

Regards

Richard.

Seems like your converter needs replacement
Can you take it out, replace it with cartridges and check whether it still leaks?
If the leak is gone then the converter was the problem
If it is still there, then another iteration is needed

The Targa is a C/C pen. Early converters had a rubber sac which can break down and fail, so that's a good place to start. Later squeeaze converters have a sac of a synthetic material that will hold up for a long time. (they have a red nipple end) Any Sheaffer converter, including the piston filler should fit in the Targa.

On occasion the hole in the converter opens up and leaks. Replacement of the converter is the fix here too.

You can buy the replacement converter on-line from Pen Hero. You will be surprised at how inexpensive it is.

Thank you all. Neither my wife nor I had realised it was a c/c pen. We'll try the suggested remedy of cartridges. The convertor has no red on it, so it may be one of the vulnerable type.

Regards

Richard.

Thank you all. We've fitted a new convertor. The old one was perished rubber and had a black connection. The new one works well & I can live to tell the tale! It's still, apparently, my fault that the rubber perished though. Sometimes you never win.

Regards

Richard.

If a man speaks in the desert where no-one can hear him, he is still wrong.