Early Crosman Model 101 Resealing, Part 1

As I said before I wanted to keep this 101 pretty much stock, so I had to make a new leather pump plunger instead of converting to a rubber one.

Some flat spring steel strip.

It was a little too wide so I grabbed it in my handy Vise Grip Sheet Metal pliers and ground it down.

I also ground the tapers on the ends.

There was much cursing involved so I have no pictures of the forming, but basically I bent it into a rough circle then formed it in this hole with a tapered punch.

Even so it was a little too springy so it got bent a little more. The round nose pliers were my weapon of choice.

I had a hard time getting 1/4" thick leather but finally salvaged some from an old leather drive belt. I punched the disc oversize.

I punched the center hole and mounted it temporarily, then sanded it down to size. Then I sanded the ends to get the proper thickness.

The finished plunger leather.

Mounted, and you can see how the expander pushes it out at the bottom edge. I need to put a new felt ring on.