Saturday, February 14, 2009

Derrick's Vintage Crosman Grip Frame Information

Not quite a year ago, I bought a vintage bulk-fill Crosman 112. If you have one, you already know that the grips are on the diminutive side and leave much to be desired. As a near future project, I'm interested in making a set of "free pistol" style grips as a woodworking exercise in pain and humility. However, the biggest hold up has been my reluctance to spend a relatively large amount of time making such exotic grips that only fit a gun from 1952. I don't want to get stuck if the vintage gun goes down with some weird problem--and I'd also like the option of using the grips on one of my (what 3 or 4 ?) Crosman 22XX pistols.

A quick detour. This picture of a 112 wearing a red dot is probably enough to get me banned for life from any and all vintage airgun forums. Nick, are you crying? Well, in case anyone is still reading, that's a Tasco RedDot model BKRD3022. It's got a .22 dovetail base. The rings are current Crosman production MT459 intermount rings for the 22XX guns. Do they fit the old gun? Yep. Perfectly.
The grips and grip frame at the bottom of the picture are from a current 22XX.

Since I'm looking at new parts compatibility with old, this seems topically appropriate. Morally inappropriate, but still...

A wide brass trigger from my Crosman 2240.

While I had the grip frame removed from the 2240 during the brass trigger blade upgrade extravaganza, I thought I'd see if it's close to fitting the 112.

Pulled the grip frame off the 112. That's the vintage assembly on top. Current down below. Safeties are obviously in different locations. Looks promising.

Side by side. New 22XX is on the left. Looks even better. Also easy to see why the 112 grips always felt "small".

Bottom of the 112 shows a threaded boss standing slightly proud of the gas tube.

An #8-32 thread in the boss.

This pic again. Better view of how the boss protrudes.

A quick test fit showed that the mounting holes were a match for location. The ONLY thing I had to do was countersink the grip frame for that boss.

The sears looked completely different. The 112 has a triangular tip. The 22XX, almost square topped. This would be the square one...

I slightly countersunk the hole and it bolted right on. It's NOT necessary to drill completely through the 22XX grip frame. About halfway is plenty. As a bonus, the frame still works on 22XX guns.

The difference in sear shapes made not a bit of difference. The 112 fired like a champ. This swap should work with most any of the old Crosman vintage airpistols. In order to complete the swap the following Crosman part numbers will be required:

1322A051 NEW GRIP FRAME
1322A044 GRIP SIDE COVER
1322-054 COVER BOLTS 2 REQ'D
151-020 LEFT GRIP
151-019 RIGHT GRIP
1322-017 SAFETY SPRING
105-039 SAFETY BALL BEARING
105-054 GRIP SCREWS 2 REQ'D
1300A07 TRIGGER
1322A048 SEAR
1322-045 PIVOT PINS 2 REQ'D

I also needed to fit some slightly different bolts to hold the new grip assembly to the 112. I used some easy to find (in the USA) #8-32's

Cost to buy all this was about $20 or so. Get it direct from Crosman. 1-800-724-7486

Obviously, if you're going to make custom grips, omit the right and left grip panels above.
I'm planning on making my own, but here is a good alternative, too. I'll also mention that the Crosman 2250 stock can be attached. It actually will bolt to the original 112's grip frame, but there are some unsightly gaps at the bottom.

3 comments:

Bill Marsh said...

Nice work,thanks for the article.
Another way to enlarge the grips on these old CO2 and pump pistols: I adapted a set of CR150 plastic grips. They have a nice wrap around style, and great feel.They have the right frame width.I used epoxy metal to fill the space at bottom and rear of grips and finished with leather finger wraps.

Robert Hudson said...

Please excuse this "off topic" comment/request... I have a Crosman 112 and am in need of the 10oz C02 cylinder... Can anyone help me source one?
Bob Hudson
951-675-3781
rlh@glamourphoto.com

Nick Carter said...

Robert,
Try these two places:
For parts you can try Bryan and Associates, Mac1
http://www.bryanandac.com/
http://www.mac1airgun.com/

I think Bryan has one for sale on their used airgun pages.