Vintage American Pneumatic AirGuns 😎

The multi-pump pneumatic airgun was perfected in the USA during the last half of the 20th Century.

There were three companies that were key to the development of this potent and reliable powerplant for air weapons.

Benjamin Air Rifle Company, Crosman Arms & Sheridan Products were the leaders in pneumatic AirGuns beginning in the 1920's with Crosman.

Pictured below is a Benjamin model 317, a .177 caliber pellet rifle that I know was made between 1940-56 because Benjamin only began using serial numbers in 1957, and they introduced this air rifle with the pump lever under the barrel in 1940.

The model 317 has a brass rifled barrel and walnut stock and pump handle.

The second photo is of a .22 caliber Crosman model 1400 Pumpmaster pellet rifle, which according to its serial number, was made in June 1976, making it the third and final variant of a long line of pneumatic air Rifles that began with the model 120 back in the 1950's, and then the model 140 and 147, with the final model being the 1400 'PumpMaster'.
It has a rifled steel barrel and maple stock and pump handle.
This is the only pneumatic AirGun that I have heard of, were it is not advisable to store the air rifle with 1-3 pumps of air, in this case because it has an automatic cocking action when it is charged with the pump.
This Pneumatic air rifle is considered by collectors and enthusiasts to represent the "high water mark" in pneumatic AirGun development.

The third photo displays a Sheridan CB Blue Streak .20cal/5mm pellet rifle.
It was made in December 1972, which was the first year since 1947 that Sheridan began using serial numbers.
It has a bronze rifled barrel and American Walnut stock and pump handle.
This Sheridan CB Blue Streak is in excellent condition inside and out, and shoots as straight & hard as the day it was made.
It has the factory installed Sheridan--Williams rear peep sight, which would officially make it a model CBW according to the Sheridan Catalogs from that time.
High quality AirGuns tend to inspire a sense of pride in ownership, and this Sheridan CB Blue Streak from December 1972 most certainly inspired someone to take good care of it for almost 50 years!

"G.K.ARMS" TTD-22 Custom

This is my first Custom Co2 pistol which for fun, I have named : 'G.K ARMS' TTD-22 Custom, which stands for : "Tactical Tack Driver .22 caliber"

I have a pair of stock Crosman 2240's and after shooting them for 7 or 8 years, I finally bit the bullet and spent a few weeks browsing online and found inspiration on eBay.
I was able to buy a slick 3D printed ABS polymer dual picatinny/Weaver rail, an O-LIGHT 450 lumen compact pistol light and a micro red/green dot sight.
I also put the new style grips taken from a P1322 multi-pump pneumatic air pistol. I think the new grip design looks more appropriate for this pistol than the grips it came with.

It's pretty easy to turn a $100 Co2 pistol into a $300 Co2 pistol!

I think the pistol looks great now, and I can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit so I can take it out for some early morning, or late night target practice/plinking 😎

This optic + light set up might be the ideal rig for inner city plinking.
Here in Canada, municipal "no discharge" by-laws make it difficult to enjoy your target pistols unless you have access to private land, outside of these "no discharge" areas.

Vintage AirGun catalog photos

Mr. Marvin was selling a lovely early 1970's  "made in the USA"

 Smith & Wesson model 78G, a .22 caliber single shot Co2 pistol based on the .22LR model 41 target pistol.

I have bought way more AirGuns this past six months, so I have to pass on this beautiful tack driver.

http://airgunoldies.com is Mr. Marvin "the AirGun Guy's" wonderful website!
Thanks to him, I own a pristine,  Hawthorne Montgomery Ward M-150, which is a rare variant of the Crosman model 150 .22 caliber Co2 Pellet pistol. It is in nearly new condition even though it was made around 1955.
A Crosman SA6 "Single Action Six" .22 caliber Co2 revolver replica of the Colt 1873 Single Action Army and because of the odd design of the Co2 O-ring seal, I am sure it was built in 1960.
  A 1st variant Crosman 1322 Medalist pneumatic pistol.
A Benjamin Model 317 pneumatic pellet rifle that was built between 1940-56, and a lovely,  CrosmanTrapmast 1100 .380gauge Co2 Air Shotgun(1968-71) + new old stock Crosman #8 Shotshells.

If I could afford them, I would have bought dozens more vintage AirGuns from Mr Marvin.

Crosman's M16 replica break barrel air rifle

The first replica AR-15/M16/M4 air rifle I owned was the Crosman M4-177, a multi-pump pneumatic air rifle that is a bolt action 5-shot .177 caliber repeater.

D&L AirGuns had a few "De-tuned for Canada" 495 fps Cosman MTR77NPC break barrel nitro piston air rifles in stock about 4-5 years ago for $250 including shipping & tax , and I bought one to find out if it was as nice in person as it was in photographs, and it was much better in person!

I have a number of different types of rear sights for the AR-15/m16/m4 style rifles, as well as a couple of the A2 sights with half a dozen different types of front sight posts.
Customizing these types of air rifles is half the enjoyment for me.
I have a few slings to carry this AirGun.
I prefer to use iron sights over scopes or other optics. The recoil from this AirGun was rather violent for the first 100 shots, and a UTG rear M4 peep sight broke because of the shock of recoil!

I have chronographed all my AirGuns with all sorts of different pellets, roundball, slugs & steel, leadl copper, polymer & alloy BB's.
The Users guide/manual states the velocity as "up to 495 fps" with "standard LEAD pllets"
So, the air rifle is not tuned for alloy lead free lightweight pellets, but for 7.4 or 7.9 grain Crosman Premier pellets.
That was refreshing for a change.
My M4-177 multi-pump pneumatic air rifle only shot the lead pellets around 425 fps, and 5.4 grain Crosman fast flight lead free penetrators would chronograph in the high 480's.

This nitro piston break barrel AirGun actually consistently averages above 480 with 7.4 grain lead pellets!

My Crosman MTR77NPC was my first air rifle that wasn't in the "inexpensive" catagory. I would say that this AirGun is in the lower mid-range of spring & gas piston air rifles.
Perhaps since this is definitely an "adult AirGun", Crosman doesn't detune it as much as they do with the AirGuns designed for younger shooters to handle. The m4-177 is lightweight, and with the adjustable stock, it can fit a smaller person.

Crosman 2240 Co2 pistol picatinny rail upgrade!

I own a pair of the .22cal/5.5mm  Crosman  2240 Co2 Pistols, and this is a Co2 pistol worth owning more than one of.

The Crosman 2240 is the Co2 pistol that helped spark my interest in the earlier Co2 and pneumatic air pistols that Crosman and Benjamin created and sold from the 1940's thru the present day.

I also own a pristine & rare variant of the Crosman model 150 .22 caliber Co2 pistol that is considered to be the Grand-Daddy of today's model 2240.
Mine was made around 1955 and is branded : Hawthorne Montgomery Ward Co. "M-150".

Anyways, up until now, to mount an optic on my 2240 pistol, I have a few of Crosman's dovetail barrel mounts + various ' dovetail to picatinny/Weaver rail ' adapters that work ok, but since they are clamped to the barrel, I have to sight then in everytime I take the pistol out shooting.
I could buy a steel breach that has a dovetail groove which is an expensive upgrade, and I have done ok with the barrel mounted rail plus a picatinny riser/adapter to attach optics that only cost me $20 for the mount & adapter.

I was browsing through eBay and looking at what airgun   products were available and I saw a nifty picatinny/Weaver rail that someone designed and manufacturered with a 3D printer.
I took a chance, and ordered one a couple of days ago.

This Rail cost me $30 plus $11 shipping, which is still considerably less than the steel breach upgrade.

It took a couple of weeks, but the dual rail arrived.

I installed the 3d printed dual picatinny rail on to one of my Crosman 2240 Co2 pistols, and it is awesome looking!
I am going to have fun with this Co2 pistol this summer, especially with one of my high power gun lights attached to the under rail!

Umarex 'Legends' P08 Luger 4.5mm Co2 pistol

I borrowed the next two  photographs from Tom Gaylord's 'Airgun Blog' & the two after that are from the " replica AirGun dot CA" AirGun review blog:

Here are two patent drawings of the original Luger :

I won an eBay auction for a new Umarex Legends P08 Luger Co2 4.5mm BB pistol for $110 CDN including shipping.
I only saved about ten dollars, but it was still kind of fun, and now I finally bought a Luger.
It should arrive in the next week or two since it is coming to me from New Hampshire, USA.