The Crosman 101, My Favorite Air Gun

You can probably tell from the picture in the heading of my Blog, my favorite air gun is the Crosman 101. 

I first found out about the 101 while reading a post in an air gun hunting forum. A member there had posted pictures of a successful squirrel hunt using his trusty 101. I was intrigued that a 50+ year old air gun was still being used to take game.

I started researching about these air guns and found that they were "serious air guns" built to take game, more of a tool than a toy. When it was introduced in 1925 the Model 101 offered an alternative to using the more expensive powder burning fire arms. They were marketed as "Power Without Powder". This also explains why most air guns of this era were .22 caliber instead of the more common .177 caliber air guns that I grew up with in the 1960s and 70s.
 I was hooked.... 

 Months of watching the online auctions finally paid off and I won my first Crosman 101 in 2011.

 I was a little worried that I would have trouble finding parts for it since it has been out of production for about 60 years. A search online found there are several suppliers of parts for the Crosman 100 series air guns. A big thanks to those people who make these parts available to us. Once I got it resealed I was pleasantly surprised to find it shot extremely well.

This isn't the best group ever shot, but even with too much caffeine in my system the 101 can still put 10 pellets in a dime sized group at 10 yards. When I do my part (and drink less coffee) it will consistently shoot ragged one hole groups.  

My online searches found manuals are available to down load on the Crosman website. I also found some helpful information about the 101 in "Steves Pages". The Blue book of air guns was another helpful source of information. 

There are numbers stamped on these air guns that you would think would be helpful in determining their age. This is not so, there doesn't appear to be any records of what these numbers mean. Parts are interchangeable between variants and the different models in the 100 series so a first variant could have a third variant cocking knob..... this can make determining which variant you have confusing. There were also steel barrels along with brass barrels, a clickless version was available with a synthetic pump handle to reduce noise while pumping.  I haven't tried to memorize all the differences between the different variants. I just enjoy these air guns for what they are, a well made piece of air gun history. 

As near as I can tell this 101 is the first variant, built from 1925 to 1929. It has the octagonal shape where the barrel enters the receiver, knurled cocking knob and the logo with the patent date Oct. 28, 1924. 

I had every intention of restoring this 101, as it was missing most of the paint on the receiver.  

During the clean up of the air gun I came across evidence of some art work left by a previous owner.

A pheasant next to where the rear sight mounts.

The card suits and a letter B had also been etched into the paint. This art work doesn't show up very well since the paint is long gone. 

I can picture a teen aged hunter, bored while waiting for a pheasant or rabbit to show its self, passing the time by using his pocket knife to scratch these patterns into the black paint exposing the shiny metal underneath.  

I couldn't bring myself to paint over the history of this air gun so it will remain this way.  

Even though I was extremely happy with my Crosman 101, I still kept an eye out for another one. I still wanted one to restore. I kept watching the auctions and about a year later I won my second 101,or so I thought..... When it arrived I unpacked it to find it was actually the more rare .177 cal. version, the Crosman 100. Needless to say I was not disappointed. Since this one is more rare and actually in very good shape I couldn't bring myself to restore this one either.

The 100 was built from 1940 to 1950. I think these weren't as popular because the .177 caliber hadn't caught on and people still wanted an air gun to take game with. I didn't have to do much with this air gun, it did need to be resealed to get it to hold air. Once it was in shooting condition again I found it to be just as accurate as my earlier 101. 

It took another year but I finally got my "in need of restoration"  Crosman 101. This one had been repainted. Not just the metal, the wooden pump handle had been painted also. The stock had been sanded and resealed, but not very well. This was just what I was looking for. 

The wood isn't perfect but I am happy with the way it looks.

This 101 is the same vintage as the 100, manufactured some time between 1940 and 1950. It needed to be resealed along with being refinished. I didn't get as lucky with the accuracy on this one. Even though Chrony tests showed everything was working well it just won't group well. I have other mods in mind and haven't called this one done yet.

In my quest to find more information on these air guns I sent a message to the Crosman Facebook page. I was pleased to get a quick response and copies of a couple old Crosman adds arrived at my house a few days later.

An add from 1947 for the "Silent" rifle, using the "Power Without Powder" sales pitch.

Crosman first introduced America to "CG" Compressed Gas (CO2) in 1931 at Camp Perry. Development of this new technology was interrupted by WW2 and was put on hold. Production of CO2 air guns was restarted in 1946. These air guns were not for sale to the public but were made available to commercial shooting galleries. In 1947 Crosman opened a new division, Rifle Range Inc. to market modern indoor rifle ranges to shooting clubs, veterans organizations, YMCAs' and schools. 

The CG air guns were eventually made available to the public, the CG guns were divided into two classes, commercial and noncommercial. The commercial guns were made in a unique .21 caliber,  ammo was only available for these air guns from Crosman. 

All of the Silent Rifles, models 100 thru 104 were modified into the CG configuration and were available for non-commercial sales.

The Rifle Ranges Inc division and the CG era ended abruptly in 1950. The void was filled by the model 111 and 112 Pistol along with the model 113 and 114 rifle. They were bulk fill and came with a refillable CO2 bottle. The 10 oz. bottle had to be mailed back to Crosman to be refilled. The CO2 guns eventually progressed to the much more convenient 12 gram cartridge  in later years. 

It is a bit ironic that I now fill my Benjamin Discovery with a 20 oz. CO2 bottle..... What once was old is new again. 

A big Thank You! to Shoot356 for introducing me to these fine air guns, the person/ people behind the scenes on the Crosman Facebook page for taking the time to send me the Crosman adds and to the people who make repair parts for vintage air guns available to us.