Let’s Fit A Steel Breech To The Crosman 362
There’s no doubt that the new Crosman 362 Multi-Pump air rifle will be a tinkerer’s delight! The first upgrade question for almost everyone will be “Can I fit a steel breech to the Crosman 362?”
Well, the answer is “yes”. And here’s how it’s done…
Now there’s nothing essentially wrong with the plastic breech that’s shipped with the 362. But it’s – well – plastic. Steel must be better, right?
More importantly from the HAM Team’s perspective is that the standard factory breech is supplied with a rear peep sight. Our eyes just can’t work with a peep sight in the way they once did. To hit the target, we need a scope!
Of course, you can mount a riflescope to the 362 by using those 459MT Crosman adapters that clamp to the barrel. But the HAM Team has never really favored this route.
Instead – like many folk – we’d prefer to install a Crosman steel breech kit. That incorporates dovetail rails that are ideal for mounting a scope. A Leapers UTG Bugbuster is the perfect riflescope for this airgun!
SAFETY AND WARRANTY WARNING:
Firstly be more than 200% certain that your 362 is not loaded with a pellet in the barrel! Make three pumps and fire the gun in a safe direction to make sure before you start doing anything to it!
Secondly, fitting the Steel Breech is going to invalidate your gun’s warranty. Don’t start this job and then complain to Crosman if you can’t do it. And don’t complain to HAM either. If you have any doubts, don’t do it!!!
We stared by removing the safety. It’s just like the Discovery/Maximus/Fortitude trigger assembly. Wedge out the end of the sear spring (arrowed) and the push-through safety will drop free from the trigger guard.
Next we removed the tiny setscrew from the barrel band. This clamps the barrel in place (just) and it must be removed because we’re going to pull the barrel forward.
Use the 50 Thou Allen (hex) wrench that’s included with the Crosman Steel Breech Kit. Then don’t loose that tiny setscrew! (Been there, done that).
Next, we pulled the bolt handle right back to cock the gun. Doing this reveals another tiny screw in the pellet-loading area of the plastic breech. Unscrew this using the same 50 Thou Allen wrench. Again put it in a safe place.
We take things very carefully with these tiny screws. You definitely do not need to strip either the socket heads or the threads by over-enthusiastic actions…
Now close the bolt and pull the trigger to release pressure from the hammer spring.
Next we removed the buttstock. The stock screw is removed using a 5/32-Inch Allen wrench. Then carefully wriggle the stock free from the action.
Now remove the top screw from the plastic breech using a slot head screwdriver.
Once the screw is out, the gun comes apart. Put the plastic breech on one side and let’s fit our steel breech to the Crosman 362.
Below we can see the Crosman Steel Breech Kit. It’s in .22 caliber, of course, to match the rifle.
First put the bolt in the breech and screw the bolt handle in place through the cutout slot. Check movement.
Then insert the breech plug into the rear of the steel breech. Push the bolt handle forward so that the hammer pin (sticking up out of the action) fits behind the bolt when assembled.
Next is the only (slightly) tricky part! We pushed the barrel into the steel breech, then aligned the transfer port with the valve and port in the bottom of the barrel (this is the critical bit) and clamped everything together with one hand.
There’s a close-up of the transfer port and the breech seal above. Note that the “short” end of the transfer port fits into the breech seal (it’s also called the transfer port seal, for obvious reasons). It bears down against the flat machined in the top of the valve.
The “long” end of the breech seal passes THROUGH the steel breech and engages with the port in the end of the barrel.
Hopefully this is clear from the photograph below…
If it doesn’t snap into place easily, then something’s wrong. Try again! And maybe again…
Now insert the rear slot head screw in the top rear of the breech and tighten “just enough”. That will hold everything together while you finish assembly.
At this point we tried a “dry fire”, cocking the bolt and pulling the trigger. If everything works well, you can replace those tiny setscrews in the breech and barrel band. Tighten-up the slot-head breech screw, too.
There’s also a setscrew to clamp the barrel to the breech. It’s included in the Crosman steel breech kit. Install that, too.
Then re-attach the stock. Re-install the safety and check function.
Carefully make three pumps and dry fire the gun. If it goes “bang” correctly, make three more pumps, load a pellet and make a live shot. If everything works – congratulations, you’ve fitted a steel breech to the Crosman 362. If not go back a few steps and try again.
Now you can mount that Bugbuster scope. Job done!
The only remaining issue is to work-out a comfortable hold on the gun while pumping it. Yes, it’s easier to pump without a scope but – hey! – no pain, no gain…
If you want to know the power you can achieve for different numbers of pumps with the 362, check out this HAM post.
