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Air Gun Home Forum Index » Airgun Smithing » Crosman Quest Project Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next    View previous topic :: View next topic  Crosman Quest Project   Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:12 pm radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA I decided, finally, on my inexpensive "project rifle" and ordered a Crosman Quest 1000X, .177 caliber. (I think it only comes in .177 anyway.) I chose this for the price, the brand-name and model popularity so I could find parts and info--and the fact that is seems to be a well-received and rated rifle by owners. Plus it it less likely to chop my thumb off like a cheap underlever type. All efforts will be to learn more about springer gun smithing, hands-on, and make it as more gooder (sorry to use engineering terms like more-gooder) as I can. But if I mess up, the $79.95 outlay won't kill me...besides, it was all from a gift card. I am thinking of bobbing the barrel a few inches and fabbing a brake for it. I may top weight the stock inside with lead, too, to get the C.G. closer to the piston axis. Of course a general cleaning, lube and tune. (still got to get some proper moly paste). I wonder if I can get a Maccari spring for this model? Any other suggestions? _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:25 pm AirGunEric Site Admin Joined: 20 Jan 2007 Posts: 6929 Location: "Out There" Maccari spring is not better than throwing money away- the factory spring does just fine, and changing it, at best might net you an extra 3-4%. Go with a trigger upgrade- the GTX II from Airguns of Arizona is the one you need. _________________ ` I'd say "I care." But I'd be lying. Canadian Airgun Supplier: http://www.scopesandammo.com/storefront   Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:38 pm radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA Thanks! I forgot to mention trigger work. I do want that, but didn't know which way to go. I ordered some moly paste, but will skip the spring. _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:42 am Slavia Moderator Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 4382 Location: Waseca, Minnesota, USA Lots of pictures, please! _________________ ¡Listo! ¡Apunte! ¡Fuego!   Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:44 am domer_pyle Senior Member Joined: 17 Sep 2009 Posts: 523 If you really feel the need to change the spring, the Tarantula will let you throw Barracudas at 820 ish fps. But the stock spring performs fine. I just wanted more energy down range to compensate for the smaller caliber   Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:01 am radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA Slavia wrote: Lots of pictures, please! Oh yes. I plan to use this thread as a running progress report with pictures and how-I-dunnits. domer_pyle wrote: If you really feel the need to change the spring, the Tarantula will let you throw Barracudas at 820 ish fps. But the stock spring performs fine. I just wanted more energy down range to compensate for the smaller caliber Cool! That's a hot .177. (I will keep that info in mind.) I will stick to the factory spring for now though and see what she chrono's after some break-in time. I don't need macabre power right now as this will be a light pest hunter (starlings, etc.), casual target shooter, and an educational project. I already got 2-3 other "man-powered" weapons and plenty of powder burners that I can dust off a 'coon or larger with. I want smooth action, accuracy, minimum hold sensititvity, quietness, and durability. -Rob _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:58 am radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA Well it's here today. Untouched Crosman Quest. I think step one will be disassembly and cleaning. Pictures of that will follow. _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:53 pm shawnhu Member Joined: 23 Jan 2012 Posts: 62 Awesome, excited to see the breakdown process, thanks for posting this!   Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:12 pm radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA Welcome! I took pictures of that, but I will post them tomorrow as I have company coming for dinner. -Rob _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:55 pm SMP Silver Status Member Joined: 04 Feb 2011 Posts: 1183 Location: Just south of "Out There"- Land O Lakes Ontario Rob Rob Rob.....We've talked about this _________________ Sean   Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:27 am radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA SMP wrote: Rob Rob Rob.....We've talked about this This is not intended to be a “how-to” thread. I am just showing what I’m doing to my rifle, and I am trying to learn as I do it. I am not making any recommendations about this work, and I am trying to use standard shop safety practices as I work, but this may not be apparent in the pictures. All work was performed with the gun unloaded and uncocked. Here’s the Quest 1000X mechanicals out of the stock for initial examination. Everything appears normal for this type and price range of gun. That is, lots of sharp edges I would like to smooth up so I don’t cut myself. Besides, sharp edges where not needed tend to generate wear and be fatigue points where cracks can start over time and stress. Just a general principle I use. I like to disconnect the cocking arm next on this model. There is a little e-clip that has to be removed to take that sliding anti-beartrap safety bar off. Then I put the clip back to keep the pin it goes to in place. The little spring there was removed too. The gun is not cocked, of course, and here it goes into the spring compressor to get it held tight before I removed the square, screw-in stock screw boss and the big cross pin that holds the spring retainer. Then I can back the spring out slowly without big pieces of gun flying everywhere and maybe hitting me. This is how the parts went into the compression tube (receiver). Inside the compression chamber/receiver. Fairly smooth, but covered in factory preservative-grease. I like denatured alcohol for cleaning all the oil, grease, dirt, machining dust, rustproofing off. (Ignore the old ashtray. Alcohol is too flammable to be around smoking or other heat sources.) Sure, you can just buy the gun and go shoot it and it shouldn’t be a problem, but I am trying to learn how to make this gun better--and step 1 is to get all the junk off it so I can see what I got to work with. Looks like the Chinese were out of drill bits that day they made the breach. and ground this out with a wooden stick wrapped with sandpaper (and in a hurry). Not so round. Probably hard to get a pellet to seat right in there. The spring ends are not allowing them to sit firmly square on the ends, and that will cause the spring to get bent crookedy sooner or later. I like straight springs. Straighter springs should be quieter and more efficient. Plus the end where cut are pretty ragged and sharp like it was done with a wire cutter rather than a machine. More possible fatigue points I think. Boy, this piston seal is a bit rough when you get up close. I’ll see if I can smooth this a bit at the lip. It fits tight, and is tough material, so I think I can sand a tiny bit around the left edge to and still have a snug, but easy sliding fit. It and the piston will be very lightly lubed on their sides with a moly paste lube made for airguns before reassembly. The rear spring guide fits the mainspring nice and tight—which I believe is good. It is rough though, and I think this and all the parts that slide and interact should be pretty smooth—but not so polished that there is no surface grip to retain lubricants. That’s all I have for today. Now I know what I have to work with here, I will smooth up the sharp edges where the slots in the receiver are, and also on the metal stampings. Square the spring ends. A hone type polish to the moving parts, and a bit of proper lubrication upon reassembly. Once I get the mechanicals “tuned and lubed” I can think about some modifications I want to make. I will post more to show things getting smoothed up. _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:11 am Big Ern Veteran Member Joined: 31 Aug 2011 Posts: 357 Location: Miami Fl. Great write up so Radar thanks for posting! Very cool spring compressor too! Ernesto   Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:31 am SMP Silver Status Member Joined: 04 Feb 2011 Posts: 1183 Location: Just south of "Out There"- Land O Lakes Ontario Very nice Radar That funky looking breach is probable just a burr of displaced metal from the grinding procedure. The cardews found that a lightly rounded shoulder in this spot produces the best velocity and accuracy. If you radius too much velocity suffers _________________ Sean   Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:38 am radar Silver Status Member Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Posts: 1138 Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA Thanks guys. The spring compressor is just one a made. I don't know if it's a good one or not as far as strength or safety goes. But it has worked for me so far. There are better designs, I'm sure. Sean, I will look into that radius. Thank you. _________________ It's never too late to have a happy childhood.   Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:41 pm oddtodd Silver Status Member Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 2029 Location: Richmond, IN USA Good write up! I am following it very closely as I have a storm that I am going to open up pretty soon. I like your spring compressor too. Looks plenty sturdy to me! _________________ Airguns: Two starlings talking "Larry, did you hear that? Larry?? LARRY!!!!" 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