Crosman 130/1400 mashup

[WestCoastFranky]

This is a project that I've been working on off and on for a while.  It's a Crosman 1400 with a Crosman 130 trigger frame.  It's still a bit rough as I want to refinish the wood pump handle with a black stain and maybe lengthen it.  I bought a parts 1400 on eBay that was a complete basket case.  The bolt flow through tip had been mangled by someone who was trying to get at the screw underneath and the tip had a dead bug inside of it.  The barrel had 5 pellets stuck in it and the gun was missing the rear sight and was covered in light rust.  Perfect! 

I also bought some 130 and early 1322 trigger frames on eBay.  It was the first time that I have ever seen trigger frames from so many eras in one lot and I learned a good bit about Crosman manufacturing practices.  Some of the frames were made from a heavy die-cast material and were reasonably well finished.  Other frames were made from a lighter weight material and were very poorly made and finished.  I also found out that the heavier trigger frames can be cold blued if you heat them up first.

My primary goal was to create a Crosman 1400 with a decent trigger.  Simply polishing the sear block and trigger block on the 1400 trigger didn't achieve the effect I wanted.  To put the 130 trigger frame on the 1400 required turning a new sear block and sear block stop on the lathe.  The sear block was made from tool steel and hardened.  The stop was made from aluminum.  I thought at first all I need was a new sear block but I discovered that the gun would stop firing after I pump 8 pumps into it.  Up to 8 pumps, everything was fine.  I pulled the gun apart a couple of times before I realized that the exhaust valve was being blown out of its housing because the sear block stop was too short, so I made a longer one.

The frame itself didn't need much modification except to open up the mounting holes.  Turns out that the front trigger frame mounting hole lined up perfectly with the mounting location for the stock mounting screw on the 1400.

This gun was a lot of fun to shoot as a Buntline.  Since it had no sights I would shoot it from the hip.  I added a modern Crosman stock and a scope to see how it would work out as a rifle.  Unfortunately, the trigger is still heavier than I would like for a rifle, over 3lbs at 3 pumps and over 5 lbs at 8 pumps.  It's back to the drawing board on the trigger.  I am going to try polishing everything and putting in a lighter trigger spring.