Surprise closet find!

It's getting a seal kit, re-bluing & oil finish on the stock. Lots of paint marks & dings in it. Automatic safety rod works in the little recess behind the bolt, shown here;

​But lever/switch/button cover for it is MIA? This denotes it as a 1956, first year of auto-safety. I need that part. Butt plate has bottom inch or so broken off, so I need that too;

​I talked to a tech fella at Crosman yesterday, & he said, from looking in the blue book, that my 160, without barrel band & stamped steel trigger guard is from 1955-1956 built, variant 1 with auto safety. The number " 101710" is for warranty purposes only, as it didn't denote date until 1975. Darn thing is as old as I am! Cool. I wonder if there's a place to register this antique as such, still in use?
Also, the ammo & Pellet Pen came in from Amazon yesterday. The Gamo rockets on the left are for the 160;

Here's part two of the resto video...

OK, ran into a problem. any place that carries parts carries nothing whatsoever for a first gen 160. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. I can get close on the butt plate & sand one down to fit. But that sliding safety switch behind the bolt can't be. Not so far as I know or have found anyway. So I'm screwed on that one. Unless one of you has one they're willing to part with. Or one of you airgun smiths can fabricate to fit? I was afraid something like this would happen. But, being common enough for me or someone like me to find...I thought some parts might be around? Whether used or NOS...
​Another problem I just realized, with a seal kit & manual from rjferon on E-Bay is the manual. the front page of the " Factory Service Manual" is NOT 1955, that it says on that first page. Even the picture is wrong for 1955-56. Not the variant 1 that I actually have. What he gives, according to the exploded diagram & Crosman's own listing, is variant 3, with cast trigger assembly & S331 peep sights, dated as being produced 1960-1971. I left him a msg to that effect as well. I'm just hoping the seals will work. I found a safety on e-bay that looks like a maybe, but idk how it'd fit? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Crosman-Model-160-PELLGUN-167-SAFETY-CATCH-656-/381749365722?hash=item58e2090bda:g:nQUAAOSwFc5XwFWW
​Need advice asap!!!****
​Talked to Dennis Baker a couple hours south of me, & he explained to me never to buy those E-Bay seal kits! He said there's a (stem seal assembly(?)) missing that is proprietary. without it, that little bag of seals from fleabay is worthless. I am so glad I spoke to Dennis! The man is quick, smart & honest! He also mentioned that when they updated a model in those days, they destroyed the old diagrams. So the 1960-1971 diagram is likely the only one left in existence?

Yup, no go there. BUT...I checked GTA site this morning, & a fellow member posted THIS; http://stevespages.com/pdf/crosman_factory_service_manual_all.pdf It's a complete Crosman factory diagram list that some old fella has collected over the years. Crosman doesn't even have all of these anymore! I found all the diagrams for my model 160 variant one in it in their entirety! I was also able to download it into my desktop Kindle app, where I put my cameras PDF's, & others.
​And by the way, Dennis has the complete & proper seal kit, with the stem assembly. It'll be here today or tomorrow.

The seal kit came in from Dennis @ bakerairguns.com. 

​It did come with the variant 3 schematic, however. Here's a link to the proper variant one schematic I have; http://stevespages.com/pdf/crosman_factory_service_manual_all.pdf
​Go to drawings pages 8.1, 8.2. & 8.3,& 8.5 for 160/167 variant one that I have. It seems you can't print separate pages? The safety switch & NOS butt plate will be coming in from E-bay in a couple more days. gotta pick up the Birchwood/Casey stock true-oil & other stuff from Gander Mtn today. Bluing kit will be in mon or Tuesday.

Here's episode III where I install sling swivel studs & stain the stock...

Took a couple pics of the stock with dried stain earlier this morning. This is before gloss oil finish starts;

Lots of grain character!

I also picked up these things from Gander Mtn to finish the gunstock & barrel. Then a set of seal picks & such to rebuild the model 160's innards. Besides targets, and a new 1/4 zip camo shirt...


​I saw the targets being used by YouTube air gunners, so I bought a pack. They're self-stick.
Got this cleaning kit for .177 &.22 from Walmart as well.

And now Episode IV- A New Hope...that this thing will actually​ get done;
​Gotta start another video, maybe tomorrow, of disassembling the barrel/Co2 chamber assemblies. Gotta remove old bluing & rust to polish the metals before rebluing it all for reassembly. That might be two more videos, seeing as how YouTube only allows 15 minutes of footage/video. Then we find a place to shoot in order to find out what all my efforts are worth. Besides all of you helping out with info & such. Thanks for that. Once all the polishing & bluing gets done, it'll all be downhill...

Well, I did Episode 5 in two parts & uploaded today. I started rebuilding sub assemblies, adding new seals & generally cleaning everything.
​Next time, I'll start stripping the old bluing/rust, & clean/polish the metal a bit before rebluing everything. And one last fine sanding & coat of oil on the stock before I finally begin re-assembling the whole thing. I can't wait to see how well it works!

Started Episode 6 this afternoon, but got dark, thunder-boomers, etc. Started stripping & polishing some of the metal parts, just to see how well these new chemicals/processes work 40-some years later? Here's a pic of my initial efforts;

​It was hard to believe the rust & bluing remover would work so well so fast! This is with some initial polishing with 600-grit wet-back & fine steel wool.

Here's Episode VI of Airgun Shooter with another installment of the model 160 restoration;

Posted two part video on bluing to youtube a lil while ago. Here they are;
Will have assembly video tomorrow to wind it up, if anyone's still interested?