Marksman air pistol from Morton Harris.
This report covers:
- Tag team
- What’s wrong with that picture?
- Morton Harris???
- Morton Harris became Marksman
- MP and MPR
- Loading
- Fatal flaw?
- Summary
This report includes lotsa stuff from recent reports. Today we have a topic that includes vintage airguns, making repairs to them, darts, BBs, pellets, getting the best performance from an airgun etc. There is lots of stuff!
Tag team
Ian McKee and I are teaming up on this one because there is so much to consider. I’m introducing the series today but Ian will be showing us things almost nobody has ever seen. You see — not much has been written about the Morton Harris Marksman pistol. So Ian and I have discussed it and we decided that we would write the book on it. And by that I mean write it in this blog. He will do most of the hard stuff, which he is good at and I will take most of the credit, which I am good at. We each get to play to our strengths that way.
What’s wrong with that picture?
I bet most of you have already spotted what’s odd about the picture at the top of the report. That barrel looks like it’s pointing downwards. Well, there is an excellent and quite technical reason for that and you’ll feel foolish when you learn what it is. That barrel is pointing downwards! Yep, when whoever designed the original pistol that was made and sold by Morton Harris in 1955-1957 (according to the Blue Book of Airguns), he designed it with a barrel latch that caused what you see above. When the pistol is new, the downward slant isn’t as noticeable, but as it ages, the barrel does droop. It didn’t take the company long to realize that THAT would never sell. So they drew a picture of what the pistol should have looked like and put it on the outside of the box the pistol came in.
This is the box that the pistol shown above came it. Notice that the barrel doesn’t droop. In all other ways the picture of this pistol and the pistol itself are identical. Is this an example of deceit in advertising?
Morton Harris???
Wait a minute, BB. Who is Morton Harris? I thought Marksman made the Marksman air pistol. They did, but Morton H. Harris, Inc. was what the company was called in the beginning. They operated in Beverly Hills California and then moved to Los Angeles, according to the late Robert Beeman in the Blue Book. So look on the box, if you have one, to see where they were located when yours was made. The very first pistol had a rotating cover in the left grip panel to hold spare ammo. That one was made only in 1955 when the company was in Beverly Hills.
Morton Harris became Marksman
My box and pistol both say Los Angeles, so I think I have one from the end of the Morton Harris run. Let’s face it — it was only three years, start to finish! Morton H. Harris then became Marksman Products and moved again to Torrence, California. That’s the Marksman we know. They continued to make the pistol but it also changed into the one that looks like what we all know.
This is a much later design of the same pistol, and it’s the one most of us recognize. This one is a repeater but it was a single shot before that. This report series is about only the Morton Harris Marksman pistols, so this will probably be the last you see of the later designs.
MP and MPR
The first pistol was called the MP, for Marksman Pistol. When a repeating function was added it became the MPR. After that it was the model 1010 and even later the model numbers and letters proliferated, like the 1010C, etc.
Loading
I tried for weeks to load my new/old pistol, but I couldn’t get the barrel to open. I tried everything except using common sense that I seem to be lacking. But Ian McKee also has one of these pistols and he discovered the “secret.”
The secret, which is defined as something I don’t know but almost everyone else on the planet does, is to first cock the pistol then slide the spring-loaded front sight forward. That pulls a latch out of the way so the barrel can tip down.
The slide latch was pressed down and the slide was pulled back. Push it forward until the latch grabs it and the pistol is cocked. Now the front sight can be pressed forward.
When the pistol is cocked slide the front sight forward.
That latch in the upper left of this picture is connected to the spring-loaded front sight blade.
When the front sight is slid forward on the cocked pistol the barrel tips down like this for loading.
Fatal flaw?
After a very small amount of research I discovered that the Morton Harris pistol has at least one common flaw that will render it unusable. The catch that holds the slide closed will eventually move to a place where it will no longer pop up into the slide. When that happens the gun is next-to-impossible to function. You can get by with pushing the latch up into the slot, but eventuaslly even that becomes impossible. Bending that catch so it reaches higher is difficult because, like the rest of the pistol, it’s made from zinc diecast material.
My Marksman slide catch still holds but looks ready to go. This is a far up as the catch goes unless you press it up. Online are many Morton Harris pistols on which this part has failed.
Shoot faster?
My last comment today is a way to possibly make the pistol shoot a little faster. I dropped a bolt-type dart into the barrel and it fell through. The bore is large. So flare the skirts of the pellets you shoot and you may gain a little velocity.
I flare the skirts of pellets with a roll pin punch.
Bottom pellet was shot as is. Top pellet has a flared skirt. This isn’t a precise test, but it does give an indication.
Summary
This is the first in what will be a series of reports on the Marksman air pistol made by Morton H. Harris. No book on this airgun exists so Ian McKee and I plan to write one — by which I mean this series of reports.
Well, this is why we tune in. The history of Marksman pistols is something no other airgun blog would do!
Tom,
A very interesting intro in the evolution of what seems to be an underappreciated pistol. You must have been excited gaining a collaborator in making this blog.
Siraniko
PS Section Tag team 1st paragraph 5th sentence: “And bt (by) that I means (mean) write it in this blog.”
PPS Section Summary 2nd sentence; “No book on this airgun exits (exists) so Ian McKee and I plan to write one — by which I mean this series of reports.
Siraniko,
Wow, I gave you a lot to do with this one!
Thanks,
BB
You still have to put the y on by.
Ian & BB,
My first thought when I saw that first pic was, “Wow! This thing’s broken.”
I guess I was wrong; it’s just a poorly designed latch.
Putting the artwork on the side of the box instead of a picture of the actual gun with the downward pointing barrel tells me that their marketing person was smarter than their engineer, LOL! 😉
Looking forward to the rest of this series,
dave
This just illustrates that marketeers have always been good liars.
“As Seen On TV!”
What was really funny is our daughter at five years old was watching a commercial on the boob tube when she turned to us and said that things were not as good as they were shown to be on TV. Why is it so many adults have that issue?
Obviously she is officer material and no doubt smarter than many of today’s so-called “adults.”
Yep, his daughter is smarter than MANY adults I know! Hahaha! 🙂
Thedavemyster-
The state of the art of packaging in 1955 precluded photo duplication, so no deceit. That was just what they had to work with. Of course there were an abundance of commercial artists available, many of whom were quite accomplished. Nowadays, ‘Art’ is generated via a few keystrokes.
“Nowadays, ‘Art’ is generated via a few keystrokes.”
pacoinohio, I had a roommate in college, a fellow engineer, who was also a fine arts major.
He got me to go to a lot of art museums, and also some modern art exhibits.
I often argued with him that a lot of the modern art wasn’t art at all.
I would look at a ball stuck on top of a cube and say, “any five-year-old can do that.”
Him: “Ease of reproducibility does not detract from its artistic value.”
Me: “It does to me! When I see a painting by Rembrandt, I amazed…by this…not so much.”
LOL! 🙂
thedavemyster,
the question arises, as it so often does, ‘what is art?’.
————
When I was still in grammar school, our art teacher treated us to a week long bicycle tour, including, a visit to a Modern Art Museum.
As soon as we entered, I remember each one of us made a face that supported the vocalisation of discomfort, something like, “URGH !”, which was caused by the stench of a gigantic block of rancid lard, then there were bits of furniture riddled with nails, pictures of paint splatter, empty frames, etc… the whole building seemed full of rubbish. I remember the least stupid exhibit, was a canvas painted plain blue. Apparently, it was a new version of blue that the artist had invented. It looked nice. 🙂
Anyway, following this first hand, close-up visit of crazy-art, as we termed the modern stuff, our teacher asked the class to define art.
After a lengthy discussion amongst ourselves, our art teacher finally settled the matter with:
‘Art is whatever causes, in the observer, an emotional response!’
———
To me, that meant- and still does, that anything becomes art as soon as someone declares it to be! 🙂
By that definition, when I pass gas, and my kids all giggle uncontrollably, I can truthfully declare it was (f)art! :o) Thank you, hihihi!
Roamin Greco,
erm, I think that depends:
Even a ‘Happening’, or performance art, has to first be declared as such, otherwise, at best, only the memory of it can be elevated to the status of art.
So yes, your backside trumpet solo is a fart, unless and until you say, ‘it’s art!’ 🙂
Once upon a time many, many years ago, I recall fiddling with one of these things. Not knowing anything at the time, it did not last long.
I do seem to recall the barrel tipping up.
Thanks for an interesting report. The photo of the roll pin punch reminded me of the little nub on the end of the plastic pusher of the pellet pen. So, out of curiosity, I took a closer look at the pellet pen. It has more of a tapered shape that is close to the taper of the actual pellet skirts. So, it probably would do much to flare the skirts. Although I think it might help reshape a slightly deformed skirt (if it was very thin and flimsy), it wouldn’t do much. Here’s a photo showing what I am trying to say:
BB-
I have about 20 or so of these. A fun game is to place buckets out around the driveway and lob (artillery style) BBs into them. Otherwise, my son uses them for his collection of 20th century military leather holsters to hold their shape.
I acquired one of these in chrome (not nickel, I believe) because it was in great shape, the price was right, it looks cool, and it points well in the hand. It is a lousy shooter, however. I thought it would be like my Marksman, which shoots decently, but alas, no.
Michael
There sure are a lot of these for sale on ebay WITH THE ORIGINAL BOX.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166069537794?itmmeta=01HR4TZ8KTS5MHPWQH920F8K2J&hash=item26aa840c02:g:tkUAAOSwb5FkUXzP&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4KiYiMSpIes796l%2FeYdXYc8zHbRI1FU0aoTMIUNxL–ZNqy6gh1AYaYbX4suHWvXJf3%2BCfpvzfdnox7l9Vbupf34BTh72xflb409zw9%2BCdw%2FPXuj7pn2B0YacsqXpNOgGil%2BC6ATCnIjiiXRscvy48CzSAIHqtw4bnNHu40klGJ%2BFqCcSK0%2FlK1TSh40k8%2FFc27iFyheos2Z1j3Mhi8pa2u5o6k104qTu3XX5Kp–ACPQmiwG3%2BzPd91eujUJOrGhhnoyfbLdE0QfwJKkzcKIxF1lHvwaKhjdfbfRYMHQXaA%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4KK_ZrBYw
There are a lot of airguns from Dr. Beeman’s collection being resold recently as well. Someone must have purchased a bunch of air pistols and is in the process of trying to fund his or her retirement.
I recently purchased another Crosman 160, this time with the S331 peep sight, and last night I won a Diana 36, which is a 34 with a nicer stock, to which I plan to give the Ridgerunner tune. Now where’s my round tuit?
RG, if you follow the auctions, not many of the collection is selling.
Many of them have ended with no bids, then been re-listed several times.
I recently bought a S&W 586 air pistol, made by Umarex in 1999 at a local gun show.
I bought it to round out my “collection of replica revolvers to write a future blog.
I saw two break barrel pistols on the table from the Beeman collection (they had the same little brass tag as the gun broker ones), One was priced at $25 without the box, and another for $50 with the box.
That’s a tough way to finance your retirement.
No, I did not buy either of those.
Ian
Nice find. I can’t wait to hear yor blog about the revolvers.
I have seem some get passed over, but certainly not the ones I was interested in! For some reason, Rock Island packaged many guns together, sometimes as many as 6 or 8 or more in a lot. Like Webley pistols. Sure, $100 per pistol is a good deal, but when there are 6, it really puts a dent in your wallet. I could probably have bought some, I wanted a Crosman 160, but not 8 of them grouped together with a couple of other rifles. The Mark I and II sold, I think. I still have a few of those in inventory. Now I see some of Beeman’s collection finding their way to ebay for exorbitant prices, and you are right, they get passed over.
I wonder what a Super Streak with the little gold tag might go for….
While stumbling around ebay I found this….a Crosman 160 that just sold for $265.00 PLUS $60.00 shipping! I had one of these that I refinished. These stocks were made from Elm and some had incredible grain pattern.
My did and it had an amazingly accurate barrel. Just based on the price I think these vintage “gas hogs” have been rediscovered.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/186316034507
I won 2 of them for much less, one with the peep sight. Should be here tomorrow or Wednesday.
B.B. in case you or the readership are interested there are 5 or 6 Zimmer schuetzen type guns for sale on March 23 on an auction site called invaluable.com. When I saw them, I thought of the reports you have done on those interesting guns.
Roamin,
I looked. One incomplete rifle and one they mistakenly called a zimmewrSCHUETZEN, which doesn’t exist. That one is 6mm, which isn’t a zimmer caliber. It’s just a smallbore rifle.
Thanks anyhow.
BB
No worries, I would have had to reread all your Zimmer posts to be able to differentiate. I merely saw that similarly styled or type of rifle, not only one, but several between lots 454 and 467, and immediately thought of you. The auctioneers probably were not knowledgeable enough to accurately identify them. Some of my best deals have come through such circumstances.
Anyway, someone clearly had a collection and has either passed away or has decided to liquidate.
Well, just for the record, I’m interested in this slice of airgun history. This seems to me one of the most popular BB pistols.
I have a Marksman BB pistol since about 1964. At the time I wanted a Daisy C02 200 but my dad didn’t want to have to buy all the CO2 I would use. It would have been a lot! I had fun with it, still have it, still works. One summer I shot it so much I could hit with it very well at close range. My friends couldn’t hit with it at all. Shows what some practice can do!
Mike
Mike,
Your pistol probably still works because you shot it a lot.
BB