The 'Ted William's Match Rifle' -a mystery unravelled.

[cinedux]

https://imgur.com/e5LULCT Ted Williams Crosman 126 Match Rifle

I had one of these rifles for some months, it worked as both a pneumatic and CO2 rifle. In the former mode it was rather 'labour intensive' but energy generated by pumping was adequate. I had it photographed and recorded all I knew about it in the March '86 'Air Gunner' magazine. I revisited the subject in a follow-up article at the end of the same year (Dec. '86) and included some facts regarding the gun's name-which came directly to me from Fred Diehn, the Director of Marketing for Crosman Airguns in a 'phone call he kindly made to me. He explained this "Ted Williams' marked Crosman Model 160 rifle was a project undertaken for Sear's retail and mail-order house.My sample was subsequently returned to Mr Alan Hamer (Manchester Air Guns) who eventually sold it. I recorded all details as accurately as I could after inspecting and testing the rifle. The Crosman 126 Match associated with an Instantair hand-pump is an efficient shooter when charged with either air or CO2. The pump's fitted and polished ball handle is well designed and moderately easy to use.Unlike many air cane front pumps the Instantair does not require pushing against a hard object-which is convenient. At time of writing two samples of this interesting outfit are known. John Atkins

[xmdx13x]

That's awesome. I'd never seen or heard of one with a pump before. Thanks for the info and pics.

[Mark D]

I guessing that it never made it past the project stage?

[DT Fletcher]

Well, that's interesting. From my reading of it, Instantair was a special Crosman project. If there is one thing that I am certain of it's that Sears was considered the most important customer of Crosman. If Sears asked the Crosman UK marketing manager to strip naked and dance in the middle of the street, he would do it without question.... as long as he got the order.

To see if the Instantair ever sold in the UK, you'll need to dig through all the Sears catalogs (especially the Xmas special) to find it. Since the only thing being manufactured in the UK was the pump -which looks dead simple- there's every possibility that Sears bought a few hundred to go along with the guns from America.

With at least two in existence, I'm willing to peg it as a legit Sears/Crosman accessory made especially for the UK market.