Crosman Corporation is an American designer, manufacturer and supplier of

shooting sport Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

products, with a long-standing presence in

airgun An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chemica ...

design and a tradition of producing pellet and

BB gun A BB gun is a type of air gun designed to shoot metallic spherical projectiles called BBs (not to be confused with similar-looking bearing balls), which are approximately the same size as BB-size lead birdshot used on shotguns ( in diameter ...

s. Crosman is also a producer of many varieties of airgun and

airsoft Airsoft is a team game in which participants eliminate opposing players by tag (game), tagging them out of play with airsoft pellets, spherical plastic projectiles shot with mock air gun, air weapons(usually powered by an electronic motor) call ...

ammunition and Powerlet cartridges. In addition, Crosman sells branded, licensed products as well as a variety of

airsoft gun Airsoft guns are replica toy guns used in airsoft sports. They are a special type of low-power smoothbore air guns designed to shoot non-metallic spherical projectiles (pb) often colloquially (but incorrectly) referred to as " BBs", which ar ...

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, New York Fairport is a village located in the Town of Perinton, which is part of Monroe County, New York, United States. Fairport is a suburb east of Rochester. It is also known as the "Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal". In 2005, it was named as one of th ...

, a suburb of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

(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 a small town in the finger lakes region, 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 A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

and

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighter ...

form, and they remain quite popular. In 1992, Crosman acquired the Benjamin Sheridan company's assets. From 1971 through 1989, Coleman of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

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 A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and held that position until his death in 2000. Ken D'Arcy served as CEO from 1997 to 2012. In 2011

Wellspring Capital Management Wellspring Capital Management is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries. The firm, which is based in New York City New York, o ...

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. In June 2017 Wellspring sold Crosman to Compass Diversified Holdings, INC (NYSE: CODI). Upon the sale of the company, Robert Beckwith was appointed the new CEO. Robert had previously been the

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

under Brad Johnson.

Benjamin

In 1882, Walter R. Benjamin of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, 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-power 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. In 1977, the Benjamin Air Rifle Company purchased

Sheridan Products Sheridan Products Inc. was an American air gun manufacturing company. It was purchased by the Benjamin Air Rifle Company in 1977, and later purchased by Crosman in 1994. Company history Sheridan Products Inc. was formed to produce Pneumatic Ai ...

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

. 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 The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

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 Soda or SODA may refer to: Chemistry * Some chemical compounds containing sodium ** Sodium carbonate, washing soda or soda ash ** Sodium bicarbonate, baking soda ** Sodium hydroxide, caustic soda ** Sodium oxide, an alkali metal oxide * Sod ...

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.

Powerlet

A Powerlet cartridge, commonly referred to as a charger, is a small disposable metal

gas cylinder A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel for storage and containment of gases at above atmospheric pressure. High-pressure gas cylinders are also called ''bottles''. Inside the cylinder the stored contents may be in a state of compressed gas, vapor ...

holding of liquid and often a small quantity of

lubricating oil A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

, used as a

pneumatic Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air. Pneumatic systems used in Industrial sector, industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A central ...

power source for certain

air gun An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chemica ...

s, paintball guns,

carbonation Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic ch ...

, and for quick

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...

of various devices such as a

personal flotation device A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suite that is worn by a ...

. Originally developed and the trademark owned by Crosman Corporation and introduced to the market in 1954, the Powerlet cartridge has become the dominant source of power for inexpensive, rapid fire air guns from many manufacturers. Typically manufactured from the same steel alloys and using the same

metal spinning Metal spinning, also known as spin forming or spinning or metal turning most commonly, is a metalworking process by which a disc or tube of metal is rotated at high speed and formed into an axially symmetric part. Spinning can be performed by hand ...

fabrication processes as much larger refillable

gas cylinders A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel for storage and containment of gases at above atmospheric pressure. High-pressure gas cylinders are also called ''bottles''. Inside the cylinder the stored contents may be in a state of compressed gas, vapor ...

, a Powerlet cartridge typically provides 20 to 40 shots in an airgun, depending on the gun and environmental conditions. The first 10 shots from a new

bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...

are consistent, with subsequent shots losing power. For paintball markers, fewer shots are produced due to the greater weight of the paintball compared to an airgun projectile. For modern paintball guns, this technology is considered outdated, as they cannot fire as many shots as a modern large-capacity tank can provide, though some still use Powerlet cartridges for stock paintball. They are also still favored for paintball pistols, for players wishing to run "light" with considerably less weight. Because liquid needs to

vaporize Vaporization (or vaporisation) of an element or compound is a phase transition from the liquid phase to vapor. There are two types of vaporization: evaporation and boiling. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon, whereas boiling is a bulk phenomeno ...

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

eous form to be usable,

latent heat Latent heat (also known as latent energy or heat of transformation) is energy released or absorbed, by a body or a thermodynamic system, during a constant-temperature process — usually a first-order phase transition. Latent heat can be understo ...

is absorbed every time a shot is discharged, cooling the cannister. When discharging repeatedly, the temperature within the Powerlet cannister can drop low enough to affect the vapor-liquid equilibrium and reduce the

vapor pressure Vapor pressure (or vapour pressure in English-speaking countries other than the US; see spelling differences) or equilibrium vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases ...

significantly. The drop in output pressure (known as the "

work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal t ...

ing pressure") not only can affect the ballistic performance, but also can cause the gun to "freeze up" and cease operating completely due to insufficient

force, until the cannister warms back up again. This causes a problem due to the rapid-fire nature of many competitive paintball skirmishes, so the

high-pressure air Paintball is an equipment-intensive sport and in order to safely conduct a game, every player requires a paintball marker, marker with propellant to fire the paint, a mask to protect the eyes and face, Paintball equipment#Paintballs, paintballs, a ...

(HPA, or "N₂") systems are more commonly used. In 2004, Crosman introduced a new disposable CO₂ power source, the 88 gram AirSource.

Current models

Air pistols

* 1377 "American Classic" pneumatic * 1322 "Medalist" pneumatic * Stinger P311 * 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 * Maximus PCP * 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

Air rifles

Spring-piston

* Fury II Blackout * Marlin® Classic (BB) * Optimus * Phantom 1000 * Phantom 1000x * Phantom 500 (.22) (Canadian version, 495FPS) * Quest 500x (Canadian version, 495fps) * Raven

= Nitro Piston

= * Crusher * DPMS Classic A4 Nitro Piston * Fire NP * Fury NP * Genesis NP * Incursion Nitro Piston *

Jim Shockey Jim Shockey (born 1957) is a Canadian outdoor writer, a professional big game outfitter and television producer and host for many hunting shows. Shockey is the former producer and host of ''Jim Shockey's Hunting Adventures'' and ''Jim Shockey's ...

Steel Eagle * Eva Shockey Golden Eagle * Mayhem * Nitro Venom * Nitro Venom Dusk * Phantom NP * Phoenix * Rogue * Shockwave NP * Silver Fox Nitro Piston * Stealth Shot Nitro Piston * MTR77NP* * TR77NP* * Vantage NP * Varmint power pack * Benjamin Genesis * Benjamin NPS * Benjamin Prowler * Benjamin Summit * Benjamin Titan NP* * Benjamin Titan XS * Benjamin Trail NP* * Benjamin Trail NP XL* * Benjamin Trail NP2* * Benjamin Trail NP2 Synthetic

Pump pneumatic

* 664x Powermaster (Walmart special) * 760 Pumpmaster* * 2100 Classic * 2289 pneumatic rifle (Sold in Doomsday pack) * AirMaster * Bushmaster ACR Dual Ammo Air Rifle * Cowboy * M4-177* * MK-177 * Legacy (Jim Shockey Signature Series)* * Powermaster 66 Kit * Recruit * Torrent SX * USMC MOS 0311 Rifleman * Benjamin 392 * Benjamin 397 - 766 American Classic 1-3

PCP

* Armada * Bulldog* * Challenger* * Marauder* * Maximus* * MAR177 PCP conversion Kit (Fits on an AR lower) * Wildfire * Pioneer Airbow * Benjamin Discovery*

CO₂

* 1077 "RepeatAir" CO₂ rifle with 12-round magazine and plastic stock (extremely quiet, popular in Europe due to cramped parcel sizes) * 2400KT custom shop CO₂ carbine * Comrade AK * MK-45 * Heritage 2260 (Limited Edition) * Outdoorsman Carbine * Full & semi Auto R1 * DPMS SBR * MPW Bushmaster ''Includes Variants*''

Airsoft 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 M4). 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 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
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Benjamin history �

Benjamin History

External links

* {{Official website Pneumatic weapons Hunting equipment Airsoft Manufacturing companies established in 1924 1924 establishments in New York (state)