Vigilante Mods

[George Schmermund]

I checked the parts list for the Vigilante and found nothing that references a "transfer bar". There is a "safety link" that is attached to the trigger that goes up to the valve stem. I'll assume that you are referring to it. If so, please be advised that the this link is there to make sure that the gun will not fire if it is dropped or the hammer is inadvertently struck.

If someone else is using the gun and isn't aware that it has safety issues there could be serious consequences. Just sayin' .........

[Multigunner]

I can see your concern.
The 38T relies on a quarter cock position, not a notch as in the colt hammer but a small stub pin that engages the sear. Don't remember if the 357 hammer has that pin or not.
I've had two 38T pistols with hammer spur broken from being dropped but the quarter cock pins remained intact.
The transfer bar is of course much safer but does appear to absorb hammer strike energy.

[George Schmermund]

Pellet head diameter is a popular topic for discussion on the internet. I've decided to get into the fray and see how fussy a Vigilante might be after getting the longer barrels and muzzle treatment. The following is a post from a thread that I've started over at the GTA forum. Rather than link to it I thought I'd re-post it here. If this is inappropriate please let me know.

Measuring the head diameter on pellets can be tricky. Even if you use one of the commercially available sizers there can be questions about whether the head is really round or not. Putting the pellets into an assortment of precision holes won't necessarily give you good information on a distorted head. Before setting up the laser micrometer (a nontrivial project) I decided to cobble together a simple test method.

Since I can't seem to throw anything out I've accumulated a lot of stuff that can be repurposed for doing experiments. What came out of the junk pile this time is a platen from an old HP scanner. Any clean, flat, and smooth surface can be used, of course. The important part for making reliable measurements is a good smoothly operating digital caliper. It should read down to 0.0005" or 10 microns. It should have a thumb wheel for adjustment because the adjusting action needs to be very smooth with a minimum of stiction.

The caliper is placed onto the cleaned glass and a spacer is placed under it at the end of the scale. The spacer is used to keep the caliper parallel to the face of the glass without rocking. This arrangement works well because the measuring jaws are raised above the glass far enough for the jaws to touch only the top end of the pellet. Since I'm now using wadcutters exclusively the pellets can be inverted and measured without any wobble. With the Jaws slightly open and the pellet remaining against the fixed jaw it can be rotated by slowly moving the jaw for another measurement around the circumference.

It will take some practice to get the feel for making the measurements, but when you get there you'll find that it can be done quickly and with considerably less error inducing force than a micrometer requires. Also, there is no fumbling with trying to hold the pellet square to the jaws while rotating the spindle. Repeatable measurements on the same pellet is when you know you've arrived.

The photos illustrate the measuring arrangement.

[Weiand]

My Vigilante is VERY jealous and says that I am a bad owner for not making it look like your work of art.

[George Schmermund]

The rail that was machined for a better and more stable scope mount on the carbine upgrade works very well, but I thought that a store bought rail would save a lot of machine time and look better. I found a Leapers weaver rail on eBay and gave it a try. This build would be a pistol instead of a carbine. The new weaver rail needed to be fit tested, so I put together another 10" barrel gun to see how it would look along with the new housing extension.  This housing is designed to protect the crown if the gun is dropped or bumped. I like it better than the exposed muzzle on the earlier builds.

I've also changed the knurled forestock to a Crosman part. It all adds to a different look. The collection of modded Vigilantes is growing and I don't know where the end is. I'm going to try to convert the next one to use a 90 gm powerlet. The parts are on order so it shouldn't take too long to see what happens.

The photos show the new build.

.

[soolio]

Very cool mods! If you haven't seen my build, take a look here....https://www.crosman-air-pistol-owners-forum.com/board/index.php/topic,12621.0.html

[George Schmermund]

Soolio - Yes, I've checked your mods out. Very nice, though the background you use makes me think that I've dropped a tab!

[soolio]

I somehow missed page 2!!! Great idea for the dropout Co2 change out slot;j

[George Schmermund]

After spending some time with the previously described pellet head diameter setup it became obvious that most of the RWS pellets that were measured were not really round. That fact can have some interesting effects on POA vs POI.

To test some of these effects I've been using a bore sighter which in itself has introduced unexpected results. Well, unexpected to me.

[Multigunner]

Beeman Coated Wadcutters work best in all my .177 revolvers (two 357, three 38T, one Umarex Colt)  and rifles.

[George Schmermund]

The Vigilante is finally morphing into the carbine I was hoping for. There are still some things that I want to experiment with on the barrel, but I'll do some shooting with this rendition for now. I think this one is going to be very good.

[George Schmermund]

This .22 cal conversion of the Vigilante went beyond expectations. The machining of the 2240 barrel and the barrel housing was fairly routine. The most critical part of any of these barrel mods is the spacing of the breech end of the barrel and the clip. If the spacing is right the clip is suspended between the forcing cone and the detent cylinder. The detent cylinder is conical which allows it to be fairly self aligning.  This allows the clip to press itself flat against the breech. There should be no light that can be seen on either side of the clip where it's pinched. Leaving room to shim the barrel allows this pair of sealing points to be tight when the gun is fired. When everything is right there is a very distinct click from the detent cylinder when the clip is indexed.

There's still work to do, but the main part of getting the barrel into the housing worked out well. I took a couple of test shots to see how things were going and ....... well, you had to be there. At 85º F the power plant was not found wanting. It was a whole new experience firing a Vigilante!

[Multigunner]

Excellent. I'd had the idea of converting one of my 357 pistols to .22 for quite some time. Have run across posts on various attempts with mixed results. I suspect the vigilante valve body is much better suited to a .22 conversion than the original 357 valve.

My .22 38T is my favorite repeater as far as satisfaction in power and accuracy goes, with my Umarex Colt coming in second in all but shear ingenuity of design.
Converting the Umarex to .22 would be fairly easy, just replace the barrel liner and ream out a few of the shells to the right ID and make new gasket tubes.

I've got a couple of parts 38Ts I can experiment with. I'd like to make a gas seal for the valve to cylinder gap to improve velocities.
I figure I could make a tube type rotary saw to cut a deep ring around the outlet of the valve and insert an O-ring to close the gap, with perhaps a matching indentation around the breech end of each chamber.
Others have made similar gas seals for the barrel to cylinder gap of the 357. Every little bit helps. If you can't entirely prevent gas escape at the gap just slowing it momentarily can still be beneficial.

I'm considering converting one of my late model .177 38T to .22. If so the plastic cylinder might be easier to work with than a steel .22 cylinder.