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View Full Version : Bulldog Cocking Lever Issue Resolved


ShakySarge
12-09-2018, 04:48 PM
After talking with many Bulldog owners, it was apparent that the biggest issue we were having when souping up the dog was that the cocking lever would bend or break. This was primarily due to cheap aluminum being used to produce them. The linkage pin where the linkage connected to the cocking lever was warping which made it very difficult to cock the gun as the hammer was not moving far enough to the rear for the sear to engage. This led to us naturally pulling harder, which, in turn led to the entire lever bending and in some cases breaking.

A lot of guys are on their second or third lever, not cool. Could it be that Crosman knew this and instead of resolving the issue, was looking forward to selling more parts? Hard to say at this point.

Well, After racking my brain with another owner the other evening, I set about a way to fix the issue. And boy did it fix it!

Firstly, I took out the trusty digital calipers and did some measurements on the factory lever. Shortly thereafter, I found myself at Lowes picking out a piece of 3/8" rolled flat steel and some cobalt drill bits. Fast forward back to the ole work shed. Time to give it a go. I traced out the factory lever with a sharpie onto the steel, leaving enough room for grinding and polishing and went to town with a 4-1/2" angle grinder with cut off wheel. Once I had removed enough material, I switched to the regular grinding wheel to smooth things out a bit before moving over to the bench grinder.

Slowly but surely it began to look more and more like a cocking lever. Once it was within where I needed it to be I went to the drill press and bored out the holes for the pins. Now back to the bench grinder with wire wheel to polish out some of the small nicks and such and then a bit of time with a file and it was time to see if it would work.

I installed it into the bulldog and pulled it on back, EUREKA!!! Problem solved! It was actually easier to cock than with the factory lever. Next, I wanted to know what would happen when I turned the hammer spring tension all the way up seeing as how I have a washer modification on the spring guide. BAM, cocked smooth as silk.

I am planning on making about 15 more and already have 4 of them spoken for. I did contact a couple of the guys that sell aftermarket parts for the bulldog but haven't heard back from any of them which tells me A) they are pros that don't need some little guys advice, or B) they are going to produce them on their own and claim the idea as their own. Either way, whatever.