Crossman 140- a freebie relic with problems

Hi, First off let me say hello to the forum! I am new to working on airguns but not guns in general. I have spent a few years serving in the USAF with a few tours to afghaniland and the big sandbox of Iraq. I am currently a geography major student(hence the username) and after returning home from my last trip my wife's grandmother gave me her late husband's guns which included a few rimfire .22's and an old crossman 140 .22 cal.

After cleaning up all the rust and doing function checks(they were stored on a cement floor of closet since he passed away in '07..surface rust galore..no pitting though!!), i started to fumble with the only one that gave me problems-the crossman.

The gun looks to be in good shape and all the parts are intact but the gun will not hold air. I disassembled and did an initial inspection. None of the o-rings were stiff or cracked so I went ahead and ordered a o-ring/quadring seal kit from Bob Ferron on fleabay. After installing all the parts I still cannot get it to hold any pressure. After looking closely there seems to only be an o-ring for the transfer port and not any kind of tube likewise mentioned in other posts on here. Would this be the root of my problems or do I need to dig deeper into the abyss of sealing parts/mechanisms?

Thanks for the help and for a place to gather knowledge on these ol' relics.

My wife's grandmother didn't want to give me the crossman for sentimental reasons but since it didn't work she decided to throw it in with the others. I plan to fix it and refinish the stock as well as reblue the rifle as a birthday present for her to help ward off the 4 legged critters stealing from her bird feeders.

The transfer port is not an issue in terms of "holding air", the only time it can leak is during firing.... Your most likely problem is that the valve is being held open because you reassembled the gun incorrectly.... It's been a while since I was inside a 140, but I do remember that there are a couple of parts that can go in either way and when installed incorrectly, the gun leaks air out as fast as you can pump it.... The other potential problem is the quad seal, but you say you replaced that....

AirGunEric is quite familiar with the 140, if he doesn't chime in, PM him....

Bob

Thanks Bob, I'll go through the gun part by part according to the parts diagram I've got and see if anything got put in backwards.

Don't know what parts you got in the kit you acquired- but if the valve is leaking, make sure you have no dirt in it, and leaks beyond that are likely to be related to parts 140-058 (o-ring) and 140-070 (brass piece). Bob is correct on his advice. That being said- are you sure it is the valve leaking, or is air even getting that far? You may want to check the inside of the tube for surface rust and the condition of the pump cup seal (the one you need to use a puller to remove). Post a link to the kit you acquired so we can see what you got in it.