Crosman
Crosman Corporation is an American designer, manufacturer and supplier of products for the shooting sports. The company has a long-standing presence in airgun design and a tradition of producing pellet and BB air rifles and pistols. Crosman is also a producer of many varieties of airgun and airsoft ammunition and CO2 powerlets. In addition, Crosman sells branded, licensed products as well as a variety of airsoft guns.
Crosman was incorporated in 1924 as "Crosman Rifle Company," after the sale of "Crosman Brothers" to Frank Hahn. The firm was based in Fairport, NY, a suburb of Rochester (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 another Rochester suburb, 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, pistol, and carbine form, and they remain quite popular. In 1992, Crosman acquired the Benjamin Sheridan Corporation's assets.
From 1971 through 1989, Coleman of Wichita, Kansas 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 and held that position until his death in 2000. Ken D'Arcy served as CEO from 1997-2012.
In 2011 Wellspring Capital Management 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 1882, Walter R. Benjamin of St. Louis, Missouri, 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 powered 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, MO. In 1977, the Benjamin Air Rifle Company purchased Sheridan Products in Racine, WI. 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.
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