New area of collecting for me: early Crosman 180 CO2 powered

[45flint]

My collecting started and has mostly been directed toward vintage spring powered guns. Love the blued milled steel. I then had the opportunity to pickup some vintage pumpers and they have been fun, especially learning the skills of resealing them. Being from the US, vintage Crosman CO2 guns are for sale all the time. Never that much interested but saw this 180 in just about as new condition and less than $100. Had to reseal it which took some time for this novice to learn. Bottom line these are great rifles, this has two power settings and the low is backyard friendly and about 8 FP. Nice blued steel, obviously not going to rival my Webley Mark 3 but it has its own charm. So simple and light. Wonder if these 1950-60’s rifles ever get over the England? Mine is the earliest 1950’s for sure. 60 shots with no work or recoil. Here are some pics, great fun.

https://imgur.com/a/FnNjR3h

[Gareth W-B]

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Yep, there is always another aligned avenue of air gun collecting to explore, that is what makes it such a compelling and vibrant interest. Nice story, and a lovely early rifle to see, so thanks for the photos. Yes there are a few of these around this side of the pond, but in essence, the early ones like yours are few and far between on our shores.

Interesting thing to note here, is that it was allegedly the potential power of the early arriving Crosman pump-up rifles to said shores which made the faceless drones that make U.K. legislation introduce an arbatory maximum power limit of 12ft.lb for air rifles (6ft.lb for pistols) before a firearms license would be needed to legally own one -- and so the sub 12ft.lb air rifle industry was born ...

[Geezer]

There’s a few over here. They mostly escaped over the ocean between the change to U.K. laws on CO2 in 1996, and the progressive tightening of import/export rules (and/or increased caution by sellers) after 9/11.

I have a second variant, with the better adjustable trigger and the lever safety on the side of the front of the trigger guard. Lovely little thing.

[Josie & John]

I'm a huge fan of 1950s - 60s Crosman CO2 arms too!

Well ahead of their time IMO - especially the Crosman 600.

John

[AllanM]

The 180's are great little carbines, small enough for a child to use but still OK for adults.
Personally, I think the Sears Roebuck/J C Higgins versions with the longer forend are more pleasing to look at although they shoot just the same.

[--ped--]

I ve early crosman pistol from western models to 600's but rifle wise I only have a 400 I keep looking for them at a feasible prce but the few I see for sale are a stupid money or are in need of too much work

[45flint]

I'm a huge fan of 1950s - 60s Crosman CO2 arms too!

Well ahead of their time IMO - especially the Crosman 600.

John

I’m sure a 400 is in my future, but the 600 is only high power and not backyard friendly I’ve heard. For pistols I’m eyeing the 150, almost a short 180. Lol The 180 is just so flexible and cheap.

[gingernut]

Big fan of American co2 guns.

Crosmans obviously. 150,600,SA6
S&W,Schimel, Challenger Arms Plainsman all favourites.
Benjamins too but they seem fragile.

[Benelli B76]

The 600 is fine for the backyard, not powerful but sounds intimidating with the multiple shots. The Schimel and the Plainsman are a different kettle of fish, make quite a crack on discharge. This is most recent Schimel from Kempton I refinished yesterday. These are fun to shoot.

Baz

[IMG][/IMG]

[series2a]

Above website has small write up on the 180, Mine is first variant.

[DT Fletcher]

I’m sure a 400 is in my future, but the 600 is only high power and not backyard friendly I’ve heard. For pistols I’m eyeing the 150, almost a short 180. Lol The 180 is just so flexible and cheap.

If you're after a 150 to shoot then there are a couple of top choices (there are something like 25 variations of the 150; easily the most of any Crosman model):

Medalist (chrome)
Ted Williams (Sears)

For a pure shooter, nothing beats the Ted Williams. Crosman production always put their best efforts into the Sears (and Wards) guns; for the simple reason that Sears inspected their merchandize and a rejected lot could result in people getting fired. I've never seen a less than great Ted Williams. Much harder to find. Will cost up to 2 times as much but worth every penny.

Note: had a problem with mice in the house one winter so I set up a kill zone which I could see from my chair in the living room. From there, I could see into the kitchen with the kill zone about 25 feet away. Had the kill zone set up so that there was a corner right in the middle (mice always pause for an instant when the come to a corner.) I would aim the Ted Williams right at the corner and would reliably get a head shot on the mouse virtually every time. Never once did I get a flier from the Ted Williams; as near perfect a target gun as Crosman ever made, imo.

Only the chrome plated Medalist comes close to the Ted Williams. Again, very costly, hard to find, but, worth every penny.

For those in Europe, Norica made their own version of the 150 that uses the 8 gram bulb. I just recently was given an example and it's a sweet gun. Shorter than the Crosman because of the shorter bulb, I think would be a great little backyard plinker. I know they were sold in New Zealand and presume they must have been sold in Europe, too, to some degree. Might be found cheap in Spain, maybe?

[Josie & John]

If you're after a 150 to shoot then there are a couple of top choices (there are something like 25 variations of the 150; easily the most of any Crosman model):

Medalist (chrome)
Ted Williams (Sears)

For a pure shooter, nothing beats the Ted Williams. Crosman production always put their best efforts into the Sears (and Wards) guns; for the simple reason that Sears inspected their merchandize and a rejected lot could result in people getting fired. I've never seen a less than great Ted Williams. Much harder to find. Will cost up to 2 times as much but worth every penny.

Note: had a problem with mice in the house one winter so I set up a kill zone which I could see from my chair in the living room. From there, I could see into the kitchen with the kill zone about 25 feet away. Had the kill zone set up so that there was a corner right in the middle (mice always pause for an instant when the come to a corner.) I would aim the Ted Williams right at the corner and would reliably get a head shot on the mouse virtually every time. Never once did I get a flier from the Ted Williams; as near perfect a target gun as Crosman ever made, imo.

Only the chrome plated Medalist comes close to the Ted Williams. Again, very costly, hard to find, but, worth every penny.

For those in Europe, Norica made their own version of the 150 that uses the 8 gram bulb. I just recently was given an example and it's a sweet gun. Shorter than the Crosman because of the shorter bulb, I think would be a great little backyard plinker. I know they were sold in New Zealand and presume they must have been sold in Europe, too, to some degree. Might be found cheap in Spain, maybe?

Hi Dean,

I'm sure quite a few of us would like to see some images of the Norica you mention and your thoughts around its performance downrange.

Kind regards,

John