Thursday, May 1, 2008

Replacing the Broken Crosman Phantom Front Sight

As I mentioned in my earlier post on the old Diana Modell 5 I bought at the pawn shop, the deal included a Crosman Phantom with a broken front sight. I finally ordered in a new front sight from Crosman. They do not have a manual or exploded drawing of the Phantom up, which is odd, and when I asked on the phone they said they did not have any replacement sights, but they did for the Quest.
The Quest is essentially the same rifle with a wood stock. So I ordered the Quest front sight. The sight doesn't look like the one in the Quest exploded drawing or pictures, so I'm unsure what exactly I ended up getting, but it looks like the broken Phantom sight. Perhaps Crosman customer service was able to find one. The cost was $2.20 (plus $4.00 shipping, but I ordered a fair amount of other stuff, including two 24" barrels for my projects at the same time) and the part# is C1K77-001
Derrick sent me a used Weirauch sight set but it seemed akin putting lipstick on a pig to use it on the Phantom, especially as I'll probably end up selling or trading it.

The broken sight.

Tapping it off with a piece of wood and a hammer. It came off with blows of moderate force.

The barrel end. The straight knurl bites into the plastic, I didn't see any glue or epoxy.

The crown seemed rough so I innocently thought I'd just give it a quick lap.

I pulled out my drawer of miscellaneous machine screws. I always keep a baking pan by my screws so I can dump out a drawer and search for what I need. I selected a small brass machine screw to use as a lap. No pictures because my camera decided to get drunk and all the pictures of the drill with the screw in it were blurry.

Might as well show this drawer unit full of screws, nuts, washers and bolts.

Oh and all my other tiny drawers of fasteners...there are even more in other places.

Anyway, I then pushed a cleaning pellet into the barrel past the crown.

I thought I could use some Bon Ami mixed in oil...

But that didn't even barely remove any material, so I went with 1200 grit lapping compound.

As you can see the crown was really rough, even with the 1200 grit it only hit the high spots. At this point I decided to cut my losses...so I chucked up a fine cratex pointed abrasive and went to work.

Which still didn't achieve much. So I had to decide between stripping the gun, removing the barrel, chucking it in the lathe, making a crowning cutter, recrowning, lapping again, and reassembling...or...just calling it good enough on a gun I don't care much for. So I called it good after relapping with the 1200 grit. I only needed to get it lapped right at the rifling transition to the bore, which I seem to have achieved.

I then tapped the new sight on just up to the knurling.

I looked down the barrel and made sure it was on straight. Then I hammered it home with a block of wood against the face. Notice the circular reflection of the light, I couldn't photograph it but I saw a similar reflection of the front sight's green dot, which aided in getting it all lined up.
I remounted the rear sight and shot a few pellets, seems to work fine.

This highlights my need to make a shooting bench so I can properly benchrest and sight in these projects...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am very pleased to find this post of yours. thank you from port stanley ontario canada.

my crosman phantom 22cal came from walmart about jan.2009 and i have a story for ya.

let me say that this was factory new. i like being the first to handle my purchases and i inspect boxes and seals for evidence of being previously opened, dropped, or returned to the store.

it came out of the box with the rear sight not snapped onto both side mounting pivots. just one side. well, i figured out why. it was because the front site was mounted at the 11 oclock position. someone obviously made the adjustment to either the front or rear after not being able to get it to group.

i properly snapped the rear sight onto both pivots before noticing the one other fault.

pop, pop, pop, what the?... pop, pop, pop,... wideage, pop, wideage, pop, windage, windage,windage,windage, pop, windage, pop, pop, pop, yessss! finally! wait a minute...what the .....?!!! front site at 11 oclock?!!! LOL

i had no idea of what to do til your blog here. needless to say i will remove and remount my front sight now that i know not to attempt to just twist it and snap it off like i see in your pictures of the previous owner. and, i can rebalance my rifle by centering the rear site from it's extremely lopsided position LOL

thanks again for all the well written and well thought out articles here on our website.

like i always say, ... the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. i know you will keep up the good work. ;)

Weetabix said...

I have a Phantom with a broken sight, too. Did you just call Crosman and keep getting referred until you got to the right place?

Felice Luftschein said...

Call customer service:
1-800-724-7486
You'll need the part# from the exploded drawing when you call.

Smallgamehunter said...

Looks like a long shot sence its 2011 haha, but i bought a low profile rimfire scope for my crossman phantom took the back sight off but the front sight is right in the crosshair all i can see is a bright green if i am to take the front sight off is it ok to leave off?

Felice Luftschein said...

SmallGamehunter,
It's fine but you may want to add a muzzle break if only for aesthetic reasons and as a better handle when cocking. You could also just saw off the sight, leaving the part that goes around the muzzle.

Anonymous said...

I have a crosmen optimus .177 and this work to get my broken sight off thank very much for your tips

Sidharth said...

Grateful for your posts, i also require a front sight for crosman phantom .177 break barrel and have looked up the part no. as well but i am from india and have a language problem so cudnt call but have written emails to crosman twice but no reply. Pl advise

Felice Luftschein said...

For reseal kits, parts and service you can try Bryan and Associates, Mac1, Precision Pellet or JG airguns.
http://www.bryanandac.com/
http://www.mac1airgunstore.com/
http://www.airgunshop.net
http://www.jgairguns.biz/

In the UK:
Chambers Gunmakers
http://www.gunspares.co.uk/shopdisplaycategories.asp?id=23960&cat=Airgun+spares

Anonymous said...

Thanks but as you will see carefully these sights are either not shipping international like bryans, mac1 site inaccessible, airgunshop doesnt quote, i will be grateful if you will see my requirement and advise.
Thanks

Felice Luftschein said...

I don't know, you may have to write a letter directly to Crosman and ask them.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the tutorial.

Anonymous said...

on the crossmen optimus is it possible to put silencer