Crosman

Crosman Corporation is an American designer, manufacturer and supplier of products for the shooting sports. The company has a long-standing presence in airgun design and a tradition of producing pellet and BB air rifles and pistols. Crosman is also a producer of many varieties of airgun and airsoft ammunition and CO₂ powerlets. In addition, Crosman sells branded, licensed products as well as a variety of airsoft guns.

Crosman history

Crosman was incorporated in 1924 as "Crosman Rifle Company," after the sale of "Crosman Brothers" to Frank Hahn. The firm was based in Fairport, NY, a suburb of Rochester (from the print on the bottom of free vintage targets available as a pdf on the company's website). In 1960 it was acquired by Bangor Punta Corp.. In 1970, the company moved to another Rochester suburb, East Bloomfield.

Crosman's first models were the traditional American multi-pump pneumatic design, where 3 to 10 pumps would pressurize a reservoir for each shot. Descendants of these original models are still made, in rifle, pistol, and carbine form, and they remain quite popular. In 1992, Crosman acquired the Benjamin Sheridan Corporation's assets.

From 1971 through 1989, Coleman of Wichita, Kansas owned Crosman. In 1989, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings of New York acquired Coleman and sold Crosman to Worldwide Sports and Recreation. In 1997, an investment group, headed by Leonard Pickett purchased the company. Pickett was named CEO and held that position until his death in 2000. Ken D'Arcy served as CEO from 1997-2012.

In 2011 Wellspring Capital Management purchased Crosman and in August 2012 Phil Dolci was named CEO and served until May 2015. Brad Johnson was named as Executive Chairman and Interim CEO while remaining Chairman & CEO of United Sporting Companies, a separate company that is also part of the Wellspring portfolio.

Benjamin

In 1882, Walter R. Benjamin of St. Louis, Missouri, introduced the first Benjamin air rifle. These "Benjamin Pump" guns were manufactured by the Wissler Instrument Co. of St. Louis under a U.S. patent that had been issued to Benjamin. Unlike many air guns of this period, the Benjamin was intended not as a toy, but as a high powered compressed air gun in which pressure was built up by pumping a built-in piston located beneath the barrel.

The Benjamin Air Rifle Company was formed in 1902 when Walter R. Benjamin purchased the patent rights from the defunct St. Louis Air Rifle Company. Production from 1902 to 1904 and from 1906 to 1986 was in St. Louis, MO. In 1977, the Benjamin Air Rifle Company purchased Sheridan Products in Racine, WI. Benjamin and Sheridan were acquired by Crosman in 1992. By 2015, Benjamin was positioned as Crosman Corporation's adult hunting and high performance line and Sheridan had its name on one model: the Cowboy, a youth-oriented lever action.

CO₂

In the 1930s, Crosman began to experiment with CO₂ power. Like other CO₂ guns of the day, they were bulk fill, which meant that liquid CO₂ was loaded into a pressurized reservoir on the gun. Other manufacturers started to use 8 gram CO₂ bulbs used in soda dispensers. Crosman capitalized on this in 1954 by introducing a new 12 gram CO₂ bulb, called a Powerlet. The new Powerlet gave more shots per bulb than the soda bulb, and with the addition of a simple spacer, a Powerlet gun could use the shorter 8 gram bulb.

The 12 gram Powerlet, charged with CO₂ and a tiny amount of lubricating oil to keep the airgun's seals conditioned, is used by nearly all manufacturers of CO₂ airguns today.

In 2004, Crosman introduced a new disposable CO₂ power source, the 88 gram AirSource.

Current models

A list of current air pistols:

• 1377 "American Classic" pneumatic
• 1322 "Medalist" pneumatic
• 2240 CO₂ pistol
• 2300S CO₂ pistol
• 2300T CO₂ pistol
• 2300KT custom CO₂ pistol
• 3576 CO₂ revolver (previously available in .50 paintball and 6 mm airsoft)
• 1008 "Repeatair" CO₂ pistol
• T4 CO₂ pistol (Modeled after Glock series)
• Pro 77 CO₂ pistol
• C11 CO₂ pistol (Modeled after the Beretta 8000 series)
• C21 CO₂ pistol
• C41 CO₂ pistol
• Marauder PCP
• Vigilante CO₂
• USMC MOS 5811 Military Police (Not released as of 3/15/14)
• Wildcat
• Marauder Woods Walker
• Trail NP Break Barrel Pistol
• 1720T Target PCP Pistol
• PC77 Pumpmaster Classic (Previously a Walmart special)
• 1701P Silhouette PCP Pistol
• 1911 BB CO₂ Pistol
• TAC 1911 BB CO₂ Pistol
• GI MODEL 1911BBb CO₂ Pistol
• Survivalist CO₂ Pistol

A list of current air rifles:

• 2400KT custom shop CO₂ carbine
• Challenger 2009 3 position Dual Fuel match rifle
• 1077 "RepeatAir" CO₂ rifle with 12-round magazine and plastic stock (extremely quiet, popular in Europe due to cramped parcel sizes)
• 760 pneumatic rifle
• 2100 Classic pneumatic rifle
• 2289 pneumatic rifle (Sold in Doomsday pack)
• Benjamin NPS
• Crosman 664x (Walmart special)
• Quest 500x (Canadian version, 495fps)
• Phantom 1000x
• Phantom 1000
• Phantom 500(.22) (Canadian version, 495FPS)
• Varmint Power pack (Unreleased)
• Benjamin Train NP2 Synthetic (Unreleased)
• Benjamin Titan XS (Unreleased)
• Benjamin Prowler (Unreleased)
• Fury NP
• Vantage NP
• Raven
• Nitro Venom
• Optimus
• Nitro Venom Dusk
• Benjamin Titan NP*
• Trail NP*
• Trail NP XL*
• Benjamin Genesis
• MTR77NP*
• TR77 NP*
• Fury II Blackout
• Legacy (Jim Shockey Signature Series)*
• Benjamin Trail NP2*
• Banjamin Discovery*
• MAR 177 PCP conversion Kit (Fits on an AR lower)
• Marauder Rifle*
• Heritage 2260 (Limited Edition)
• Comrade AK (Unreleased)
• Outdoorsman Carbine
• M4177*
• USMC MOS 0311 Rifleman
• MK177
• Recruit
• Benjamin 397
• Benjamin 392
• Torrent SK
• Powermaster 66 Kit

Includes Variants*

And a list of soft air guns

• Spring Rifles: Stinger R32 (Modeled after H&K G36C), Stinger R34 (Modeled after the M-4), Sniper R38, (Modeled after Colt Model 653 M16A1 carbine), Stinger R39 (Modeled after Knight's PDW)
• Spring Pistols: Stinger P32, Stinger P36, Stinger P9, P312, P311, p312kt Stinger P30, Walther P22, and Walther P99
• Spring Shotguns: Stinger S32p (Modeled after M87SA), Stinger S30, Stinger s34p Wingmaster and Remington TAC-1
• Electric Rifles: Pulse R70 (Modeled after M4 SOPMOD), Pulse R72 (Modeled after H&K G3A3), Pulse R73(Modelled after the AR-15), Pulse R74, NightProwler SA (Modeled after Beretta Cx4 Storm), Pulse R71 (Modeled after H&K MP5 RAS), Tac R71 (Modeled after H&k mp5k) Pulse R76 (Modeled after the Russian AK74U). Pulse R78 (modeled after the M14.)The Newest AEG gun crosman came out with.
• Electric Pistols: Pulse p50 and the Pulse p72, and the Colt M1911
• Gas Pistols: Air Mag M50 (Modeled after Micro Uzi), Air Mag P50, Crosman Air Mag C11 (Modeled after Beretta 9000s)
• Sub-Machine Guns: Pulse M70, Stinger R36 (Modeled after H&K UMP) Pulse R74 (Modeled after H&K MP5), Pulse R75 (Modeled after the American 180)
• Nightstalker

Crosman is the only major airgun manufacturer with an online Custom Shop, which allows users to build a custom model 2300 pistol or 2400 carbine, with a wide variety of options. Using high end components available from the Custom Shop, it is possible to build a competitive IHMSA air pistol.

Crosman has manufactured and sold the Benjamin-Sheridan and Sheridan model airguns for many years. These models are still made to the higher quality standards of the originals, with wood stocks and primarily brass and steel components. The Sheridan line is strictly 5 mm (.20 caliber), while the Benjamin-Sheridan models are available in .177 (4.5 mm, .22 (5.56 mm), .25 (6.4 mm) and .357 (9.0 mm) calibers, depending on model.

References

• Answers.com Article Article about Crosman corporate history
• Vintage targets Shows Fairport location, target bottom
• Interview of Crosman CEO Ken D'Arcy

• [1] Benjamin history • [2] Benjamin History

External links

• Crosman corporate website
• History of Crosman and CO₂ powered airguns
• A forum dedicated to Crosman Air pistols