Parker Slender Challenger, Sac Replacement, Cap?

[Wild Rover]

Hi all!

 

Some time ago I came across a slender Parker Challenger in my grandparents' basement. It is missing the cap, but I figure I can hopefully pick up another somewhere for a halfway decent price? The pen is a marbled red but honestly, I would not mind the cap being a different colour. I'm pretty much going for functionality without breaking the bank, ha

 

It's got what I'm pretty sure is a semi-flex nib, which is awesome because this would be my first flex nib!

 

Today I finally disassembled it. The section was already half out of the barrel, and was fairly easy to take out with a bit of heat from a hair dryer. I haven't touched the button or pressure bar, because the old sac came right out in one piece. Should I remove the button/pressure bar as well? It seems to be in fine working condition, and I tried pulling it out just to see and it wouldn't really budge even a bit, and since I'm very new to pen repair, I didn't want to force it.

 

But I can't find much information at all online about the slender Challenger/what size sac it takes. I measured the 'peg' and it is 6mm, but I don't know if this is an accurate way of determining the sac size as I have seen this on a few websites saying that this size peg should take a size 16 sac. The one that came out of it is straight, too, not necked! Does anyone have any idea what size sac it might take?

 

On that same note, I haven't been able to find many other slender Challengers on eBay or elsewhere for parts, or any stray caps. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be much appreciated, too!

 

Thanks!

 

Belle

Edited December 1, 2015 by Wild Rover

[Wild Rover]

Just want to add that it could have been a necked sac, because when the section came out, the sac was stuck in the barrel and the necked part could very well have decayed away. From a few places I've read that the 'small' challengers use necked sacs, which is why I'm kind of stuck as to what it could be. So stumped with this!

[Ron Z]

Sacs are measured in 64ths of an inch. A #16 sac is for a sac nipple that is 16/64 = 1/4" = 0.250" 6mm = 0.236" Go for a #15 sac which is 0.234"

 

I rarely see a necked sack when I restore a pen, especially on these pens let alone on a Duofold which was supposed to use one. I think I've can count the necked sacs that I've encountered on the fingers of one hand, which tells me that pen mechanics back in the day didn't use them either. A straight sac will work