New to Me Crosman 160

Bought an old Crosman 160 today. The model 331 rear aperture sight dates it to around 1970 or thereabouts. For some reason, I had a hard time pulling the trigger on the deal. Ugh, sorry for the bad pun. Not that I didn't want a CR 160, but because I already have a Sportsman QB77 that I set up with an aperture sight a few months ago. I've been tire kicking on it for almost a week and a half. Nick finally pushed me over the edge and of course, he was right. The price was OK, not great, but OK, and I can always flip it and recoup my outlay. At least it's a .22 cal this time around.

Since it's a CO2 gun, 40 years old, had a hang tag that read "AS IS", etc... I fully expected it to leak gas in at a minimum of four different places. Anticipating the leaks, I installed one new CO2 cartridge and one empty rather than waste two to confirm what just had to be true. Incredibly, it holds. I've had quite a good run over the last year buying used gas guns that all worked--at least initially. I still expect to have to replace all the seals in the near future, but if it ain't broke--ah, I'll probably still mess with it. A quick ten shots offhand at 30' on a badly out of adjustment trigger showed the gun to even be sighted in. Where's the fun in that?

The grain is pretty nice on this one. I'd rate the overall condition at about 85%+ (it's probably better but I'd rather be conservative). There's just a couple pressure marks here and there, and some very faint freckling at the front of the breech.

The hairline crack at the toe and the previous owner's attempted epoxy repair job should be straightforward to fix and blend.

The rifle came in several variations over the years it was produced. The aperture sighted version with the diecast trigger assembly is one of the more sought after.

After production ceased, the design was resurrected in the Sportsman QB series guns which eventually became the QB78 and QB79 we know today.

Many of the parts are even cross-compatible though the new guns use metric fasteners rather than the SAE of the American made Crosmans. So don't be afraid of buying a non-working example.





Unsure at this point as to how much--if any work--I'll have to do to this gun. The trigger and the small crack in the stock are the only immediately pressing concerns. There's a great repair manual on the QB guns put out by Steve Archer that applies almost 100% to the Crosman rifle, too.