The Crosman 2240 Modified Air Pistol
After having taken a sabbatical from firearms for quite some time I decided to get back into some playing around with projectile throwers in general. In this case I'm going back to my youth with air guns. I started with these things back at the beginning of high school with my first Daisy CO2 pistol then from there the sky was the limit. Well fast forward to today and after observing from the sidelines the ammo shortages and price hikes, my interest in air guns has been rekindled. Now don't think I'm looking to just going back to playing with the little toys such as the old school Daisy BB guns we played with as kids or teenagers, we're talking about guns that are more than capable of hunting animals and even playing a limited self defense role.
Well this brings me to this gun right here. The gun showcased here is a Crosman 2240. This is a .22 caliber CO2 single shot bolt action pistol that shoots around 450 fps give or take. This particular specimen is a newer generation model with the bolt action versus a swing open breech block like the older guns in this family. Despite that, this gun is probably close to 10 years old. Well part of my rekindling of my air gun interest was to bring this gun out from cold storage and get it back in service. Also because this gun is one of the more common guns to be modified I decided to take advantage of the vast aftermarket and customize this gun to make it be an even better gun than what it was from the factory.
Well after doing some searching I found that one of the first things I wanted to customize on this gun was what amounts to a lower receiver like on some firearms. This part holds the pistol grip and trigger group. An aftermarket supplier sold a lower receiver that they 3D printed that fits this gun and uses an AR15 pistol grip while still using the original parts from the old lower. The plastic is pretty heavy duty that it won't break or crack under normal use. Of course we're not talking about dropping the gun on the ground but just normal use. The piece is actually of a decent quality.
Another thing is a suppressor or otherwise known as an LDC (Lead Dust Collector). This piece is perfectly legal since it can't be easily modified to go onto a regular firearm. The suppressor I picked up is made of carbon fiber and is made to fit specifically on the Crosman 2240 and similar barrels. It's held on with a set screw to a flat spot on the muzzle of the gun. This suppressor is approximately 8" long and is very light weight.
After trying to take the gun out for a final spin before adding these parts I ended up finding out that the cartridge seal on the power valve was shot and had material mashed into the valve opening, not letting gas pass through. That pretty much meant getting a new seal for the old power valve or just replacing the power valve, which I opted for since I didn't want to take a chance with the old valve being compromised somehow. I ended up finding another aftermarket supplier that modified power valves and made them release a little more gas. The kit that this power valve was in included a stronger hammer spring and a larger output bushing to allow more gas to pass through to the breech of the barrel.
After getting this kit I had everything I needed to get to work. First thing was obviously disassembling the gun. From there I swapped out the parts for the lower receiver, getting that put together, including the safety and the new sear spring that came with the lower so I didn't have to use the original. Once the lower was done I installed the power valve, which just involved putting the valve into the receiver tube and securing it with the included screw after lining up the holes for the power valve and the receiver tube. With the power valve in place the output bushing went on the receiver tube where it goes into the power valve and the lower receiver was bolted on. From there the hammer was inserted and the peg used for pushing the hammer back to lock it against the sear went in. With that peg in place I was able to put the bolt block on. The bolt block had to go on over the output bushing. I loosened the set screw holding the barrel in place at the muzzle which allowed me to move the barrel to the side to put the breech of the barrel into the bolt block. From there I was able to set the bolt block on top of the receiver tube to cover the hammer's peg and the output bushing. Lastly I inserted the hammer spring and cap, securing it with the two screws that would hold the rears of both the bolt block and the lower receiver in place. I tightened the set screw at the muzzle, then moved on to install the AR15 pistol grip, which is held on with a single bolt. Lastly I installed the suppressor, which again involved having to remove the front sight which was just pressed on so it didn't take too much effort to work the piece off. Once the gun was assembled it was time to test it out.
Despite not having a chronograph to verify velocity numbers, the gun did feel like it had a little more juice to it after shooting. Of course the number of shots per CO2 cartridge would be less but that's a small price to pay for a more powerful air gun. Even though the front sight is not on, lining the rear sight up with the top of the suppressor proved sufficient to get consistent accurate shots on the soda can that was out about 10 yards away from my shooting position. Now this is not the end all for this gun. As stated the aftermarket is vast for parts to customize this gun so my future plans will include a folding rifle stock, accessory mount (which will include either a laser or flashlight and a red dot sight), a gravity feed magazine block that goes on the bolt block which turns this gun into a bolt action repeater, and maybe a conversion to PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) to allow me to pump the gun up with an external pump versus using CO2 cartridges.
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