Bobbing a Crosman 357 Hammer

I bought a damaged Crosman 357 pistol a while back at the pawn shop for $10.00. The damage was to the hammer spur, which had broken off.

The hammer.

Besides being broken off, the pin was bent.

So I ground it down on the belt grinder, and deburred. I should probably have blued it or polished the whole hammer, but I just didn't feel like it.

I found a replacement pin in my collection of dowel pins.

Now this is where I humble myself. When I started this project, moths ago, I started to take apart the pistol. I had pulled the trigger a few times to make sure the CO2 cartridge was out of gas but I did not remove the CO2 cartridge...
Sure enough the safety was on, blocking the hammer, so when I started to take the pistol apart, WHOOSH! The whole thing exploded apart in a cloud of CO2. I spent hours finding all the parts (or most of the parts) and humbled, put all the parts in a box and tried to put it out of my mind for a while.
So the lesson is to always remove the CO2 cartrdge, even if you think it's empty...and always wear safety glasses...
Since I didn't have any pictures of the pistol assemby, I was a bit worried I'd have trouble putting it back together. I downloaded the exploded diagram (irony there...) as well as finding a good article on resealing it in Airgun Hobby magazine, Vol 4, No. 3.
It's worth noting that Airgun Hobby sells all their back issues, when I decided that I would pursue this hobby with vigor, I bought a complete set and subscribed.

The hammer back in place.

I was missing one of the two bushings that hold the tube seals in place (seen sitting on the corner of the tool post).

Drilling...

Parting it off.

So now I can reassemble it...

Surprisingly, I got it all back together with no problems.

Stock Screw Cups.

So, having figured out how to take the stock off of the Original model 45, I worked on making some screw cups for the front stock screws.

As you can see, the screw isn't centered in the hole.

The screw had a nasty bur around the edge, and the only washer was a star washer. Thus when the screw is tightened, the star washer wallows the hole out a little more...not so good.

Pressing the rear pin out which retains the stock.

The pin and one of the bushings that retain it came out together.

The bushing is plastic as far as I can tell. It's .359" long overall in three sections, .470" dia x .06" length for the major diameter, .387" dia. x .190" on the straight knurled section (major OD) and .352 dia. x .059" for the minor diameter. The hole is .197" diameter, .301" deep with a .140" dia x .048" deep section at the surface.

The trigger springs slightly back to interfere with the through hole.

So you have to push it forward to allow the pin to pass through.

The front screws go into that block which is held in a slot with peened over tabs.

I realized that the stock was springing the action out of alignment with the hole. Pushing down on the action lines up the holes. So the action wasn't fully bedded against the stock before.

Turning down some steel to the smallest diameter (.464") of the oblong hole worn in the stock.

Drilling clearance for the screw (#9 drill).

Boring the cup .397" dia x .125" deep.

Parting off .179" long.

One of two cups I made.

I pushed it into the stock. I was a little worried it would split the stock, but it doesn't seem to have put any more stress than the poorly aligned screws did. It should prevent the holes from wallowing out further and eventually causing the action to become loose (if it wasn't already...)

The rifle.

Covering Up The Front Sight Grooves

The Original (Diana) 45 has stamped grooves for the front sight, both on top and below (why?) at the front of the barrel.

I didn't want to remove them on the off chance I ever get a set of the original, Original, sights. But left as is they are ugly and not entirely comfortable to grasp while cocking.

So I drill.

And then drill deeper.

And bore to clear the grooves.

Boring picture of a bored tube.

Deburring the hole with a large countersink.

Turning down the OD.

And parted off the rod.

Flipped around it gets a rather large countersunk bore.

I thought I'd go for a minimalist tube look, but I didn't like it.

So I set the compound to about 3 degrees.

And turned a taper on it.

I took passes until the thinnest part of the tube was about .03"

Flipped and tapered in the front to about 60 degrees.

Making shims for the barrel.

Reaming to the diameter of the barrel.

Parting off two bushings.

Slitting the bushings.

Drilling for two #4-40 tapped holes. Using a ruler in between the bit and a round workpiece will show whether the drill bit is centered.

The shims on the barrel. These center the brake and protect the barrel from the setscrews.

The finished brake (really a barrel protector and cocking handle). It's a bit big, but sort of has to be due to the front sight grooves. So while I don't like it on aesthetic grounds, I have to admit it is comfortable to use when cocking the rifle.



If I was really cool I'd send it out for anodizing, but instead I'm hitting it with some semi-gloss black paint. It seems durable on the Diana 6 pistol frame, and will be more easily touched up.

A Small Puzzle

So the stock screws in the forearm of the Original (Diana) 45 bear on the wood of the stock. I want to make some nice screw cups that will spread the load, as well as looking pretty.

The first problem is that the holes seem off center. I can of course make off center screw cups, but I have a feeling it would look odd. It's possible that the screws can be tweaked a bit to center, or I can enlarge and center the counter bored hole.

The other side. Now in order to figure out what would be the best option I have to remove the action from the stock. Will I have enough wood to remove a bit more? Is the action fully bedded, etc?

The problem is that there is a pin that goes through the action in the rear, through two washers in counterbored holes. Now it's entirely possible I can just drift the pin out and remove the action but it's also possible that drifting the pin out will cause springs, tiny parts and other items to fly out as soon as the action is removed from the stock...so I have to do a bit of research.