Noble gas ion beam sputtering techniques have been used to prepare thin films of several transition metals. Thin films of Mo, Ti, W, and Zr metals have been found to be superconducting with transition temperatures substantially higher than those observed for the respective bulk metals. Cr thin films have been found to be superconducting for the first time. Ion beam sputtered thin films of Nb, Ru, Ta, and V metals were similarly deposited, resulting in decreases in Tc compared with bulk values. In each case the transition temperatures were seen to depend on the noble gas used for deposition. The highest transition temperatures were obtained for those films deposited with xenon gas. Superconducting transition temperatures are correlated with the kind of gas used for deposition, the apparent particle size, and with changes in the size of the metal lattice.