I polished my sear, now 2240 won’t cock

[Empress]

Hi everyone,

I am very new to the world of tune ups and modding, in fact this was my first ever attempt, and well as the title says it wont cock, I have Crossman 2240

What I did
1. Sanded/Polished Sear
2. Sanded down M3 Nylon washers, 1 to replace metal on trigger, 2 to shim either side of sear
3. Removed one coil from my spring.

Now I can get the bolt to cock about every 5th attempt, when it is cocked the trigger is light and smooth. However I don't want to be putting so much work into cocking it. What have I done wrong? What should I look for?

Thanks for any help.

[krawdad]

Are you saying when you pull the bolt back, the sear doesn't engage? As though it slips multiple times until it finally catches?

I assume you're talking about the trigger return spring and not the hammer spring when you say you took a coil off.

If that's the case it's one possibility is when you were sanding, you changed the shape of the sear and trigger pieces so that it's no longer right angles but rather curved in places allowing some slippage to happen. You have to take a close look and make sure that you didn't put any kind of a arc in the metal surface. It's very soft metal so probably pretty easy to do.

A bump test should always be done as well when working on polishing trigger parts. While pointing in a safe direction, when you do get the pistol cocked take the meaty part of your hand or a soft rubber hammer and tap the pistol like a bump test to see if the pistol will accidentally fire from the impact. If the pistol fires from this tapping then you have an unsafe trigger.

I suppose it's also possible that if you did trim the trigger spring it may not be strong enough to force the seer up and catch the hammer. Others may have to chime in on that theory as I've never trimmed that trigger return spring or adjusted it.

Just to let you know where i am getting my thoughts from, I polished the trigger pieces on my 1322 (which I believe has the same trigger as a 2240) to a mirror finish and put a little tiny bit of Molly on the contact surfaces.
I did not make any changes to the spring, nor did I put nylon washers in.

Dave

[Ace]

Are you saying when you pull the bolt back, the sear doesn't engage? As though it slips multiple times until it finally catches?

I assume you're talking about the trigger return spring and not the hammer spring when you say you took a coil off.

If that's the case it's one possibility is when you were sanding, you changed the shape of the sear and trigger pieces so that it's no longer right angles but rather curved in places allowing some slippage to happen. You have to take a close look and make sure that you didn't put any kind of a arc in the metal surface. It's very soft metal so probably pretty easy to do.

A bump test should always be done as well when working on polishing trigger parts. While pointing in a safe direction, when you do get the pistol cocked take the meaty part of your hand or a soft rubber hammer and tap the pistol like a bump test to see if the pistol will accidentally fire from the impact. If the pistol fires from this tapping then you have an unsafe trigger.

I suppose it's also possible that if you did trim the trigger spring it may not be strong enough to force the seer up and catch the hammer. Others may have to chime in on that theory as I've never trimmed that trigger return spring or adjusted it.

Just to let you know where i am getting my thoughts from, I polished the trigger pieces on my 1322 (which I believe has the same trigger as a 2240) to a mirror finish and put a little tiny bit of Molly on the contact surfaces.
I did not make any changes to the spring, nor did I put nylon washers in.

Dave

Two good points as mentioned above in "red"

[Empress]

Thank you for the reply Dave!

I was very careful sanding and polishing the sear, as I didn't want to change the shape, I used only 2000 and 3000 grit.

I did the bump test, and no accidental discharge.

One thing I have been trying to find is a description of how the everything works in an air gun. When I pull back on the bolt, what is this doing?

Oh and as for the spring yes the Trigger.

Thank you again for any help

[Empress]

“ if you did trim the trigger spring it may not be strong enough to force the seer up and catch the hammer.”

Apparently this was my problem, I happened to have a washer that fits over the post, put it in place and it cocks fine, although the trigger has a bit of a sloppier feel. I think I will order a new spring, and know to never snip one again… lol.

Thanks for the help. Although now I wonder what I can do to get a smoother trigger pull…

[Daryl]

I use moly grease on my percussion and flintlock gun's sear engagement with the tumblers. Just a little dab'l do ya.
What's this reference? The older guys will know.

[krawdad]

I use moly grease on my percussion and flintlock gun's sear engagement with the tumblers. Just a little dab'l do ya.
What's this reference? The older guys will know.

I very much agree with this advice. If you haven't already done this, the small contact areas need a little bit of molybdenum grease.

Dave

[Empress]

I use moly grease on my percussion and flintlock gun's sear engagement with the tumblers.

I see many brands out there, anything in particular I should look for?

[Dukemeister]

I use moly grease ....

I see many brands out there, anything in particular I should look for?

Good golly, which moly? LOL
It's an often discussed topic with ppl swearing by their own brand. There are some points to consider when chosing based on where it's going, what you want it to do, what you don't want ot to do, and how much you're willing to spend.
Molydinum disulphide particles https://www.engineersedge.com/lubricati ... istics.htm are what's in "moly" lubricants.
The moly paste is what should be used on spring piston components like springs, pistons, and guides. And for paste the MoS2 should be ?60% by weight, preferably with a minimum of combustible grease as a carrier. many of the Moly greases out there have way less MoS2 and too mucg grease to work well in a combustion chamber. Many suitable brands exist, Honda motorcycle moly with 70% used to be the go-to lube but AFAIK its no longer produced. A CV joint moly is an alternative. Anyhow to the point, if its not in the combustion chamber then you could use any moly paste/grease, so like on your trigger sears any one will do. There are 2 main benefits for using moly in these applications, one is high temperature resistance and the other is high pressure resistance. For trigger parts, you benefit from the latter characteristic. So in your case any moly will do. I just use my 60% moly for everything, even now I forget the brand and model number, but if you search this form you will find many alternatives.

[Daryl]

I use Lyman's Moly in the white tub container. I dont know the moly content.
Any synthetic grease would also work on the trigger's connection points, just not as well as a moly lube.imho

[krawdad]

I went looking and these are the airgun stores that have molybdenum disulfide (what we call "moly") grease that I could find. Not all have it in stock. I know it's expensive, especially since shipping is also very expensive. However, even the little 10gram tube will probably last you a lifetime.

I have a 40 gram tub of molybdenum grease I got in 1998 from Air Rifle headquarters and I have barely used any of it, considering I have used it to apply 3 tune kits to spring piston air rifles, as well as the tiny amounts used after trigger parts polishing. You really do use it sparingly.

https://dlairgun.com/products/73-molybd ... e415&_ss=r

https://www.airrifleheadquarters.com/ca ... /42989.htm

https://www.airgunsource.ca/us/air-vent ... paste.html

I never tried buying moly grease from a Honda dealer parts department, so that's something I have no experience to talk about.

Dave

[krawdad]

Found another one, but its out of stock.

https://airgunarcheryfun.ca/air-venturi ... tal-paste/

[Empress]

Thanks everyone, some Molly is in the mail!

[pelsby]

Try backing off the grip and sight screws a little ,