Excerpt from my CD “Of memories and Airguns”
Hello to all;
I picked up another Crosman M-114.22 caliber Co2 Rifle in July 2019 off the internet, there were no missing parts, the only thing mechanically wrong was the bolt cocking pin had sheared off, which was pointed out by the seller, but other than that, all was in order. Not going into the Rifles Historical aspect that has been duly covered herein before.
I had been looking for a 113/114 for a project I had in mind, I have generally in the past stripped the finish off the stocks on these units and left in a natural wood state with a final coat of clear poly, as seen in some of my other posts. I have painted the barrels/tubes in different colors and so on but this time I intended to do something different with the stock!
I saw a Pistol many moons ago that had some interesting wood grips, they had a very blue hue to them, they weren’t painted, actually they looked pretty good! I asked the fellow about them and he said that when he got the grips they were in the raw wood, no finish at all, and he decided to just stain them and since his pistol had a blue high polished finish, he decided to do so with some Blue RIT fabric dye his wife used too dye blue jeans with; and then put a clear finish on top of that, they looked really good and quite an unusual contrast!! Told myself then; I was going to do that myself one day on something; and so, it was this C-114, that I decided to try that process on!!
After replacing the bolt cocking pin, I went thru my normal mechanical refurb on the valve system and components, trigger set @ 40 ounces, this has all been covered in detail in some of my other posts, no need to elaborate on that process here; anyway after completion I refinished the barrel/tube assembly in a Dura Coat “Metal speck” Blue finish with a final coat of “Clear Poly” finish. And I was now ready for the stock refinish.
After I completed striping of the stock, I went to my local Wally’s store and found some Rite Dye in a “Sapphire Blue” decided this was the color I was going to try. With the stock sanded and ready, I used a sponge to apply the RIT dye, (full strength) I did two separate coatings, let it dry between each coat. After I completed drying, I applied two separate coats of Clear-Poly finish. I think it turned out pretty good, certainly a “different” looking Crosman M-114”!!
In retrospect; regarding the stock, were I to do it again I would elect to dilute the RIT Dye on a 2- 1 basis, think the stock was a little too dark in color, but that’s just my eye, others that have seen it in person said they liked as it was; guess it’s in the eye of the beholder, photos are included.
I had a Center - Point 4x32 scope on hand, normally I prefer the AO scopes, but this fixed/power unit had the parallax set for 25 yards. Good enough for this project, using an IA two-piece clamp on mount; I set up scope, and was ready for Accuracy and Velocity evaluation.
Not going to spend much time on this aspect as this was really more about the “Blue on Blue finish” of this C-114. I set up at 25 yards using Crosman PMHP 14.3 grain pellet and JSB 15.89 grain pellet; the groups for both were slightly over 1 inch; Crosman 5 SHOT C-C 1.13 “ and JSB 5 SHOT Center to Center 1.10” One inch groups are perfectly ok with me, usually the JSB pellets in my experience are capable of .650” -.750” from these old Crosman’s (guess I need some more practice!) but as I said 1 inch groups at 25 yards; is ok with me.
This has been a really fun project for me, another 70+ year old Crosman back to life, with completely new look; can’t get much better than that in a hobby!!!!!! I currently have 16 of the Crosman Teen series Co2 rifles in my collection, I am sure there will eventually be more!!!!
Some may ask what my fixation is with the Crosman Teen series Co2 Rifles is all about, well pretty simple really; I received my first Crosman teen series rifle in 1952 when I was 12 years old, a Model 113 with 10-ounce Co2 Bottle, some 72 years ago now! All I had before were Daisy/ Red Rider BB Rifles, this air rifle for me was like having a “Bazooka” on a comparative basis!! It required much respect and was duly given such!!!!!!! My first C-113 CO2 rifle started my continuing collection of the Crosman “Teen” series Co2 Rifles that continues to this day!!
Garey
