First tweaks on a new-to-me 2300S

[jdub]

I got this one used a few days ago.   I emailed Ralph at RB Grips as soon as I knew this 2300 was in the mail and ordered some nice grips for it. 

I'm very happy with it overall but I could not believe how gritty and creepy the trigger was!  I have a 1377 that I tweaked the stock spring on just a bit and it's WAY smoother than this 2300S was.   Last night I stoned the sear and sides of the trigger and cleaned up the grip frame casting so it sits flush.  I put bushings on the sear pivot too.  Still lousy. 

Today I ran over to the hardware store and grabbed some springs.  I cut one down and then trimmed down a .22LR casing to act as a guide and stuck those in.  Huge difference!  It's very smooth now and nice and light.  I did a few bump tests and everything looks good.  I'm saving the original parts in case I want to shoot in a competition that requires it but I would really hate to go back to that trigger. 

I know for $40 or so I can swap out the the trigger group for that of another Crosman gun but I'd kind of like to keep this as close to stock as I can.  For now anyway.  This fix cost me $1.50 for the spring and a little time (I found the .22 casing in my range bag  ).

Oh, the safety, complete with spring and bearing, is tucked away in a baggie until I get everything else tweaked.  I learned my lesson on the 1377.  I also learned, for those of you who fly fish, that a 3/32 brass bead head makes a great replacement bearing for the one you'll lose.

[chongman]

Could you explain about the bushings, maybe a close up pic to go along with it?

[Crosshairs]

Good start to a great pistol. You can also polish all of your trigger parts and make the trigger like butter smooth. She looks good so far keep us posted. 
                                           Mike 

[1377x]

good job!
thanks for the info on the bead

[jdub]

Could you explain about the bushings, maybe a close up pic to go along with it?

I had some old brass bushings but they were too thin so I removed them. Right now I have a single steel washer (polished) on the backside of the sear.  The trigger just has the standard spring washer thing.  There's still side to side slop in the trigger--I need to get some more thin washers or bushings--but there's almost no discernible creep and the gritty feel is gone.

[jdub]

Good start to a great pistol. You can also polish all of your trigger parts and make the trigger like butter smooth.

You can probably tell from the pic that I polished the sides of the trigger around the pivot where it contacts the frame/washer.  I also polished the back end of the trigger where is contacts the sear.  Now I just need to shim it out to remove the play.   The sear has been stoned and polished at all points of contact.  I'm running out of parts to polish I think 

[RC1947]

Your idea of the .22 casing sounds like something I'd like to do. The trigger assembly of my 2240 has been polished and shimmed, but it's the unguided spring that continues to give that gritty feel.  Would you be so kind as to provide a pic that shows a blowup of what you've done with the spring?  Thanks, RC

[Crosshairs]

You can probably tell from the pic that I polished the sides of the trigger around the pivot where it contacts the frame/washer.  I also polished the back end of the trigger where is contacts the sear.  Now I just need to shim it out to remove the play.   The sear has been stoned and polished at all points of contact.  I'm running out of parts to polish I think 

OK cool i see it now that you said something nice job.
                                               Mike

[jdub]

Your idea of the .22 casing sounds like something I'd like to do. The trigger assembly of my 2240 has been polished and shimmed, but it's the unguided spring that continues to give that gritty feel.  Would you be so kind as to provide a pic that shows a blowup of what you've done with the spring?  Thanks, RC

I'm not sure how it will work with the 2240 because the 2300S has the spring adjuster for the sear spring, which provides a lot of support to the lower half of the spring.  The adjuster is available from Crosman but I don't know if it's worth the cost since I believe most people adjust it as light as it goes and leave it.

Here are some closeups just in case.  You could use a full-size .22 casing, which would support the top half of the spring.  I'm not sure how much the lower half would bulge out.  On my 1377 I just reduced the tension on the existing spring without any kind of support and it works okay.

The spring I used was a 1-1/2" 5/16 OD #6U that I cut down as shown in the pic.  I had to tighten the end coils to keep them from slipping over the lip on the .22 casing and the adjuster.



With this setup I can adjust the spring tensioner about 1/8" tighter if I wanted, without hitting the .22 casing.  I seriously doubt that 1/8" more compression would even be noticeable though.



I would love to give credit to the person who came up with the .22 casing idea but I can't remember where I saw it first.  I know it has shown up on several forums including this one.  Someone brighter than me thought it up.

[cheewee]

nice work.
with a little bit of tweaking the .22 case can be used as travel stop on the 2240

[jdub]

nice work.
with a little bit of tweaking the .22 case can be used as travel stop on the 2240

I read about that.  Very clever.  A trigger stop with no screw in the triggerguard. 

I think I could do the same thing by adjusting the tensioner but I'd need to put something solid in the .22 casing to keep it from getting mashed.  It's very soft.  I trimmed the edge with a pair of regular scissors

[RC1947]

I'm not sure how it will work with the 2240 because the 2300S has the spring adjuster for the sear spring, which provides a lot of support to the lower half of the spring.  The adjuster is available from Crosman but I don't know if it's worth the cost since I believe most people adjust it as light as it goes and leave it.

Here are some closeups just in case.  You could use a full-size .22 casing, which would support the top half of the spring.  I'm not sure how much the lower half would bulge out.  On my 1377 I just reduced the tension on the existing spring without any kind of support and it works okay.

The spring I used was a 1-1/2" 5/16 OD #6U that I cut down as shown in the pic.  I had to tighten the end coils to keep them from slipping over the lip on the .22 casing and the adjuster.



With this setup I can adjust the spring tensioner about 1/8" tighter if I wanted, without hitting the .22 casing.  I seriously doubt that 1/8" more compression would even be noticeable though.



I would love to give credit to the person who came up with the .22 casing idea but I can't remember where I saw it first.  I know it has shown up on several forums including this one.  Someone brighter than me thought it up.

Thanks for the pics.  I'm going to a hardware store that sells all kinds of small and unusual parts for who knows what, and I'll bring the spring with me.  I hope to come up with something, and if that something works, I'll share it with others.  I think a short section of brass tubing might substitute for the adjuster.  I can probably get a .22 casing from the local gun shop.  Thanks again! RC