A funny thing happened on the way to the closet

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unionrdr

unionrdr

Homebrewer, author & air gun collector
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I was looking for an old Crossman 760 pump I'd bought for plinking & hunting small game down by The Black River when I was a teen. Searched our MB's closet to no avail. But to what should my trifocaled eyes appear? A nearly complete old 1st variant Crosman model 160! In VGC too. Just needs a seal kit, but plate & safety slide switch. I'm doing some video's on refinishing, rebluing, etc I thought y'all might like to see.

The Window A/C was on, & some on airgun sites complained, so for episode 2, I shut it off.

Also, someone on GTA site for airguns posted a complete listing of every Crosman gun's diagrams that even Crosman doesn't have anymore. I loaded it into my desktop Kindle app! http://stevespages.com/pdf/crosman_factory_service_manual_all.pdf
 
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I also learned something important yesterday from Dennis Baker of Bakerairguns.com. Those E-Bay seal kits are worthless. They're missing a proprietary part needed to seal up Crosman air guns. It's part of the pump/piston assembly with a seal press fitted inside it you have to buy. Dennis includes it in his proper & complete seal kits. He's sending me one, & it'll be here today or tomorrow. A little heads-up for any of you old Crosman owners.
** After a lot of continued searches, I finally found the safety switch that goes behind the bolt. Must be the only one left anywhere, or darn close to it?! Even found a butt plate on E-Bay that sure looks like what's left of mine? and the greatest prize of all!- A list of all Crosman diagrams since the beginning some old guy had saved up & made into a PDF. Another GTA member found it, & I saved it to my Kindle app. Here it is for anyone that may need it! http://stevespages.com/pdf/crosman_factory_service_manual_all.pdf
*!*- I seriously advise everyone that has or knows someone who has a Crossman of any vintage to save this PDF to your personal files! This old fella might pull it at any time & has been known to do just that!
 
And episode 3 of restoring the Crosman model 160-.22 caliber...
 
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The 760 is fine pump for the money. Last I had one, even though it was a lot of plastic, it was still durable and dependable.

I've a Crosman Phantom now. It's not the BB gun one wants to be shot in the butt with.
 
I thought water closet... That wouldn't have been funny though ;-)
Cheers
 
My model 760 Powermaster was the 1966-1970 model with wood stocks. Just can't find it? I remember it needing a seal kit at any rate. But this variant 1 model 160 is coming along darn good for a 60 year old gun. Check out episode IV, the stock's startin' to look really good...

Wanna get the barrel/receiver/Co2 cylinder taken apart today. Idk if I'll get to it, seeing as how it'll be time for barbecue as well? Workin' on it yesterday, & doing a 2nd video in the same weekend is grounds for a little break. But I want to get this bluing & rebuilding part done too?...:mug:
 
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Here's part 5, A & B, for anyone interested;


Started reassembling the gun today. Have to start stripping old bluing & rust from the metal parts today. Then polish metal & re-blue it all.
 
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Just finished Episode VI a little while ago. Getting close to finishing it up...
 
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the metal parts & reassembled the gun. Darn camera screwed up & I had trouble with the receiver, gas tube & bolt assemblies all needing to be assembled at once causing problems. So here's the final episodes of the restoration...

 
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And for those into instant gratification;
Before;

After;

An old 70's Weaver V22-A 3-6 power scope I took off another rifle to mount on the model 160;

Here I am eyeballin' it for size;

I need some adaptor mounts to mount it to the receiver, though?...:confused:
 
About two weeks ago I was given the e-mail to multi national airgun shooting champion Ron Robinson. He made scope mounts for various Crosman airguns back to 1955. 160 to 187. He sold me his last set from his personal stash & they just got here a lil bit ago. So here's the 70's Weaver V22-A mounted to my Crosman 160, variant one;


 
I just found this one on amazon. Hatsan Striker 1000x in .22 caliber. Got it for $119.47 out the door & will be here by Thursday to next Tuesday. Comes with Turkish walnut stock. Deliveries have been a day early with other things, so maybe this Wednesday?
 
Well, things have changed a little. I got the Hatsan Striker 1000x .22 bundle, but not from amazon seller. He baited & switched me to the plastic stocked model (1000s)...& in .177 cal instead. Returned it for refund with amazon services help, & got the right one from midwayusa.com for $95.99 plus S&H of $12.74, giving $108.73 out the door, vs $119.47 from amazon seller. Got here in 2-3 days, vs 10 days of meandering all over the map from amazon seller.
I got a Hammers 3-9x32AO mildot scope on amazon & put that on the Hatsan. It has a 4-bolt mounting rail that locks up solid on the break barrel...AKA " springer". I put the Optima scope from the Hatsan on the Crossman 160, also 3-9x32. No AO though.
IMG_0209.jpg

 
Well, it turns out I have to go to http://www.archerairguns.com/QB78-Valve-Kit-p/aaqb78valkit.htm for there QB78 gas valve assembly for my Crosman 160 they're copied from. They also say I'll need to use their seal kit to install it. Cool with me, since some of their seals are upgraded further than even the aftermarket Crosman seal kits. The QB78 & 79 are a Chinese copies of the Crosman 160-167 Co2 rifles. Model 160 Pellgun restored, .22 caliber
IMG_0218.jpg

The model 167 denotes the .177 caliber version. The 160 has a muzzle velocity of 500-600FPS. Very dependent on weight (in grains) of pellet used.
I also had a bit of a problem with the Hatsan Striker 1000x .22 caliber. It seems they used too much assembly lubes in the spring/piston part of the action. I cleaned the bore with patches soaked in Remington Rem-Oil to get the black rust preventative out, then dry patches to clean excess oil out. Now, usually, if too much oil is present in the bore or piston/gas valve area, it'll diesel, or blow smoke when fired. Not so here! No smoke, but kicked like a mule & barked like a dinosaur just got kicked in the slats! Shouldn't kick any more than a .22lr bolt action? Guy on GTA told me to run a dry patch through the bore & show a pic of the patch. Here's the 1st cleaning patches;
IMG_0220.jpg

And the patch after the loud/hard kicker;
IMG_0221.jpg

See those black lines on the patch? Those lines are from what is called " detonation". The oil explodes, & at night, well, you'd need a flash hider! It can damage seals & blow pistons & gas valves if it's bad enough. Wasn't that bad this time. Whew. Gotta shoot it out...if that new indoor range ever gets done?...:confused:
 

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