I wore out two rings on my K&B .40 before the sleeve was too worn to use again. And it still might go with with a new piston and ring. The point of this is that a new ring is 16 dollars plus shipping. Go ahead and spend the five bucks on gaskets as well. Treat it as a new engine break in since the new ring will have to seat itself. It's easy to spend enough on new parts to buy a running engine but it is an educational and, at least for me, an entertaining experience.