A Crosman 101 Quandary

Regular readers will remember that I bought the Crosman 120 and a 101 in pieces, knowing that the 101 would be missing some parts. The first question to be answered with the 101 is "what parts?"

Yet another valve wrench gets made.

The finished wrench. I think I now have enough wrench variations to take apart any Crosman I come across!

The valve removed from the action.

So, having disassembled the valve, I now know what parts are missing. I referenced the service manual and checked the parts I have against the exploded drawings. I am missing the entire hammer assembly, and the entire bolt assembly, as well as the rear sight. I bought DT Fletcher's CD of the engineering drawings for the 101 and I can, in theory, make the missing parts. However making the Hammer Sleeve (PN 101-39) is somewhat complex.

It has a 5/8"-24 tpi. internal thread (and the hammer plug has a matching external thread) which is not a standard, nor do I have taps & dies, so it would have to be single point threaded on the lathe. That alone isn't much of a problem, only somewhat time consuming. However the Hammer Sleeve is also the sear, and as such is called out as "Cyanide H'dn", which means I'll have to dig out the Kasenit and do a case hardening to the part after machining. Again, not that difficult by itself. Add to that the need to bore 2.25" deep a flat bottomed 37/64 hole, w/ 1/64" 45 deg. chamfered corners through the sleeve.

So, the part is relatively time consuming to make, at least compared to the other parts, on a rifle that even in good condition isn't worth much more than $100-$125 given its vintage (It's a later model).

So, should I try and find some parts to complete the rifle or should I make the parts myself?
I just don't know. I'll think on it for a while.