This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster.

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Leonardj
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This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster.

Post by Leonardj » Sun Sep 25, 2016 4:37 pm

This was originally posted in 2011.

A local gunsmith was doing some spring cleaning, and was about to toss this badly abused Crosman 137 into the dumpster, but instead thought that I could perhaps use some of the few undamaged parts still remaining, so he set it aside until my next visit to his shop. It was given to me on the basis of, "if you think you can do anything with it, you can have it".

I could not believe what I saw upon examining the gun. It had been over-pumped to such an extent, that the sear eventually sheared off, making the gun non-functional. The pics below show the result of what appears to be prolonged abuse by over pumping.

Top left: the rear of the grip frame has broken away at the rear mounting screw hole.
Top right: The rear of the main tube has had the mounting screw holes stretched badly.

Middle left: the pump arm has been badly bent. (the handle section should be parallel to the scale).
Middle right: the valve body o-rings have been extruded through the tiny crack between the valve sections - I have never seen anything like this before on one of these pistols.

Bottom left and right: the rear edge of the breech cover has been deformed by the pin that holds the breech cover/bolt in it's forward position. Never seen anything quite like this before either.

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This next pic shows most of the parts that had had to be replaced in order to repair the 137. Clearly, without the benefit of a well stocked stash of vintage Crosman parts, the gun would have been very costly, if not impossible, to repair. The rear mounting screw was bent, the rear sight fixing screw had been broken, even the piston head was bent! The broken sear had been lost long ago, but the gunsmith told me that it had just sheared the engagement section clean off.

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To add further interest to this little package, the original box was included with the gun - or should I say that all of the pieces of the box were included...LOL. The box was rough - no too ways about it - but all the pieces were there, so the next step was to try to restore - or at least repair the box. The pics below show what I had to work with.

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After a great deal of careful TLC, both the box and the gun are looking much better now, with the gun back to fully operational condition, and shooting to spec.

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Barry in IN
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Re: This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster

Post by Barry in IN » Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:04 pm

Wow. Just wow. What a mess (it was). I wouldn't think it posssible to do that much damage before something gave way and saved the rest. I guess one needs to be good at it.

Certus
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Re: This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster

Post by Certus » Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:23 am

Hi Leonard,

Well done for restoring the Crosman 137 to working order when many would have just given up and used it for spares or scrapped it altogether.

I bought the .22 version a while ago with the accompanying paperwork identifying it as having been made in 1966 at Crosmans Canadian factory. Iv'e found that 6 pumps represents the best compromise between effort required and acceptable power / accuracy at 10 metres.

Goodness knows why some people believe that excessive pumping will result in significantly greater power levels without damaging the mechanism. I also have the earlier Crosman 105 with the rather delicate looking double loop brass cocking handle which must have been even more prone to damage caused by over pumping.

Regards

Brian

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pmh
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Re: This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster

Post by pmh » Tue Sep 27, 2016 4:41 pm

Excellent work.

You can't help but wonder how many classic and collectable guns have simply been thrown away.

Kind regards,



Phil
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I now have so many airguns I've had to make a list, which is >>HERE<<
>>North Manchester Target Club<<

johnbaz
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Re: This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster

Post by johnbaz » Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:11 am

WOW!!

What a superb resto!! :o :clap: :clap:


John :P

johnbaz
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Re: This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster

Post by johnbaz » Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:16 am

pmh wrote:Excellent work.

You can't help but wonder how many classic and collectable guns have simply been thrown away.

Kind regards,



Phil
Hi Phil

Not sure that this would be considered a 'Classic' but It was offered on another forum, I think if no one wanted it, The bin was to have been the final resting place :(

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It cleaned up nicely..

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I had the rearsight and foresight tunnel already but had to source a forend shroud, Got this off the bay, It somehow looked better in the sellers pics!! :lol:

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John :P

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pmh
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Re: This Crosman 137 was just moments away from the dumpster

Post by pmh » Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:00 am

I would certainly class the Hurricane as a classic.

I always wanted one,as it was on the cover of the first ever airgun magazine I bought, back in the 1970s. I have come across several boxed examples, including the scope adaptor, etc, but they have either been in .22 (I prefer pistols to be .177) or silly money.

Good job by the way, another one restored for future generations.

Kind regards,



Phil
M0KPH
I now have so many airguns I've had to make a list, which is >>HERE<<
>>North Manchester Target Club<<

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