Today reader Ian McKee, whose blog handle is 45Bravo, tells us about the Crosman 1300 Medalist II.
If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email me at blogger@pyramydair.com.
Take it away, Ian
A brief history of the Crosman 1300 Medalist II: Part One
by Ian McKee
Crosman’s 1300 Medalist II
This report covers:
- A short history of the Crosman multi pump pistols
- Did we miss the Medalist I?
- Did Crosman get the cart before the horse?
- A deeper dive
- What it isn’t
- Summary
Today we are looking at a brief history of the Crosman 1300 Medalist II. It was a short-lived but highly sought after air pistol from Crosman.
BB briefly mentioned the 1300 Medalist II in part 1 of a 3-part blog about the Crosman 1377 in 2008.
Today we will start to fill in the gap of the 1300 Medalist, and update the history of the Crosman multi-pump pistols.
A short history of the Crosman multi-pump pistols
The Crosman 105/106 series were introduced in 1947. BB did a report on them in 2007.
The Crosman 130 series of multi-pump pistols were made from 1953 until 1970. BB covered the 130 series briefly in 2005.
The Medalist II Model 1300 in .22 caliber was made from 1971 until 1976.
Did we miss the Medalist I?
Did we miss the Medalist I?
In 1977, Crosman replaced the 1300 Medalist II with the new 1322 model. The 1322/1377 series retained some of the 1300’s features but introduced a significant design change to the knock open valve system to improve the trigger pull.
The 1322/1377 series (in .22 & .177 caliber respectively). The 1322 was produced until 2004. From my research the 1322 was called the Medalist
From 2022 through 2024 BB reviewed the Crosman 1322 American Classic in a 5 part blog.
The 1322 was resurrected in 2012 with many changes and was known as the “American Classic”. It continued American made production until 2024 when production was moved overseas.
The newest model has both English & French markings on the packaging and as of the writing of this article, is still in production as the 1322 Classic.
Side note, the 1322 production can be broken down into 4 different variations or production periods. If that is of interest for a future blog, let me know in the comments.
Did Crosman get the cart before the horse?
As we see from the above timeline, the Medalist II was introduced before the Medalist.
(Note to Tom and myself: we need to ask someone who may have been with Crosman from that time period about that…) [Tom says—I’ll check with Ed Schultz.)
A deeper dive
The Medalist II is a .22-caliber single-shot multi-pump air pistol that was all metal with the exception of the grips, pump handle, front sight assembly, and the channel that filled the gap between the barrel and pressure tube. Even the rear sight assembly was all metal, (that changed towards the end of the production run, as did the rear sight insert that incorporated a peep sight opposite the open rear notch.)
Yep, all metal! Anyone want to venture a guess what that hole is for in the rear cap? I will cover that in part 2.
It uses a blow-open or “auto cocking” valve design that was introduced with the Crosman 130 in 1953, and was also used in the Crosman 140 rifle (1955), and 1400 Pumpmaster rifle. BB did a 2-part blog on the 1400 Pumpmaster in 2008 also.
The blow-open valve meant you did not have to manually cock the airgun for each shot, just start pumping the action then open the bolt, load a pellet and shoot.
The new valve design is said to have helped prevent valve lock caused by over pumping. But as BB has covered before, it has its limitations. One downside is the trigger pull increased as the number of pumps increased.
What it isn’t
Even with the name Medalist, it is not a true target pistol. First of all it’s in .22 caliber, where .177 is the only caliber recognized in Olympic airgun competition.
The trigger is non-adjustable, and the trigger pull weight seems to slightly increase as the number of pumps increase.
The grips are not of a target hand-filling design, but they do feel good.
While the sights are quite good for the age of the pistol and price point, they definitely are not micrometer adjustable sights!
All that being said, the 1300 Medalist II is my favorite of the 13XX series of multi pump pneumatics.
While it is not as popular with the crowd that modifies the 13xx series of multi pump air guns because of the blow-open valve, it is popular with those that want a well made almost all metal multi-pump air pistol.
Because of the short production run, unique valve design and the low number of plastic parts, it is also popular with collectors.
As mentioned the pistol is all metal, it has adjustable sights, the overall length is a little shorter than the 1322 series, in my opinion it seems to balance in the hand better and just FEELS right in the hand for a fun plinker / short range small pest control gun.
The fact that it has user adjustable power is also a plus.
Summary
This is the first blog about the Crosman 1300 Medalist II, in part 2 we will take a more detailed look at the gun. And the velocity and accuracy report will follow in part 3.
Shoot Safe, and have FUN!
Ian
45Bravo,
Been a long time since i played with any of those multi-pump pistols of my youth ;^)
“Anyone want to venture a guess what that hole is for in the rear cap?”
Ian if the self cocking feature fails to work you can use a nail or a metal rod that fits in that rear cap hole to manually push the valve closed and engage the SEAR.
Thank you! fun read and fun pistols.
shootski
Winner Winner Chicken dinner!
Yes that is the intended use of that hole.
There are many out there that did not know that..
And many more that never noticed (or cared) about the hole.
Although I can say in my years of using Airguns with that valve design, I have never had to use the feature.
Happy Friday everyone!
45Bravo,
Never needed to use that feature best i can remember as well.
Please!
NO more rubber Chicken Dinners :^0
praying for SNOW…or at least snowmaking conditions…the downhill skis are waxed the XC skis just need the Kickwax of the day ;^)
shootski
Ian,
“There are many out there that did not know that..
And many more that never noticed (or cared) about the hole.”
Not having even handled one of these things, I am required to plead total ignorance.
I eagerly await the “Monday – Wednesday – Friday” publication of our Blog. I also fondly remember those days of yore when our Blog was published 5 times a week. As BB would say, what to do, what to do, hummm. I realise that Pyramyd AIR is watching their dollars, undoubtedly to maintain the best customer experience possible. To maintain this customer experience, all-the-while retaining their cash flow, could “volunteer” bloggers such as Ian, and other talented and knowlegable airgunners be pressed into service to fill in as volunteer blog writers for those two days a week? I might summize that there are enough Blog readers that might fill in with their knowlege and experience with airguns to keep the Blog jumping an extra day or two a week. Boy Howdy, I miss those good old days when I could expect my favorite blog 5 nights a week. Tom, do you think that this might be feasible? Orv.
Hoppalong Doc,
I see no problem with that except that Tom will have to build up quite a buffer of articles from volunteers submitting articles to make the idea work. It would be frustrating for readers to get introduced to a 5 days a week blog again then sputtering back into a three days a week blog when the articles run out. Tom also has to edit each and every article before it gets published to keep things to his standard. I don’t think there are that many in the commentators who are going to be able to put out an article week after week.
Just my $0.02
Siraniko
Siraniko,
Thanks for your opinion. You hit the nail on the head!
Guest bloggers for me are like extra doctors in the theater during an operation. One can only go so fast!
BB
Orv, FM did a blog for about four years in the early 2000s; believe it, quite a bit of work was involved, even posting once a week. Many times it was a couple of posts per month at best. Still don’t know how BB gits ‘er done but when you like what you are doing, you can usually summon the energy to do it.
Orv,
I am afraid that Siraniko and BB are right. Ian, I and others I am sure would be happy to step up and fill in the gaps, but being it would be necessary for BB to edit each and every blog post, his workload would not be reduced any. We should be thankful he is in only semi-retirement. I for one am.
Can you imagine what this blog would be like if it was run by the Bow Bully? Or PAIR for that matter? They have been moving away from airguns for quite some time now. Soon, all of us old, fat, baldheaded geezers will have to go someplace else to find airgun stuff. I am not looking forward to that.
FM for one prays Tom still has a lot of air left in his tank and the rest of you as well.
RigeRunner,
I don’t think Tom is even semi-retired. Remember he is his sister’s estate Executor and trust me that can be a JOB that lasts for months if not years.
shootski
shootski,
Well, I am going to give him semi-retirement at least as far as this blog is concerned. I have gone into full retirement here and I have never been busier in my life.
Ian,
Thanks for reviving interest in this “old gal”. The truth is I have never had one of these air pistols before. I always thought the pump handle looked kind of “clunky”, so I never bothered with one of these things.
I do have a Benjamin Franklin 130, 132 and 137 that I am attempting to restore. Whenever I do get them up and running, they will be awesome pistols to pop feral soda cans with.
Ian,
I would love to know what the difference in trigger pull is like on one pump vs. “max pumps”?
If you have a trigger pull gauge, please include this in future reports.
Thanks and have a great pre-Christmas Weekend everybody!
-Yogi
PS made in France?
In my opinion, the increase in weight is negligible, but noticeable.
No, I don’t have a good digital trigger gauge.
I adjust by FEEL.
When I have had to hit a certain number for competition, I would use a metal rod and metal nuts to hang on the trigger.
I would weigh the total mass of the assembly,” nuts and rod”. And get it to my “target weight” of say 100 grams.
Then adjust the trigger until it would not fire with the weight on the trigger.
As for the French text.
My guess is some countries (some parts of Canada for example) require bilingual packaging.
That would give Crosman a broader marketability or their products.
Ian.
Sorry Ian,
I thought that part of the gun was manufactured in France.
My mistake! Could France make an airgun?
-Yogi
Yogi,
If you could get the French to do more than grumble about how things are, they could likely make a very nice airgun. They have a lot of hot air, do they not?
I know, that was not a nice thing to “say”. They used to make the Giffard CO2 air rifles and air pistols, which are very well made.
In the first half of the 1800’s they were supposed to make the best artillery pieces.
Maybe that is an idea for B.B.’s blog?
-Y
Yogi,
I do recall reading that they used to make superb cannons somewhere. My rememberer recalls that they used all that hot air and filled a balloon and did a bit of flying back then also. My, have the mighty fallen.
They also made pretty good tanks, such as the Char-B, which was superior to most of the German ones they encountered during the Battle of France in 1940. What made the difference to the outcome was the Germans used their armor more efficiently and effectively.
And speaking of cannons/artillery, it usually required “intervention” from one of the famed “88s” to stop those Char-Bs and other heavily-armored types, such as the British Matilda.
Yogi,
Here is the trigger pull weight data you asked for:
Regards,
Will
Oh for corn sake, I made an Excel graph with 20 shots, but I don’t know how to load it. Stand by…
Here is some data:
Pumps – Pull Weight
2 – 3#, 15oz
4 – 5#, 2oz
6 – 6#, 2oz
8 – 7#, 3oz
10 – 7#, 12oz
12 – 8#, 12oz
16 – 9#, 1oz
20 – 10#, 2oz
Will,
The way I do it is cumbersome but works.
Print to pdf – I use Microsoft print to pdf
Open pdf in photo shop and save to jpg
Don
Benji-Don,
Wouldn’t a screenshot work? I’m asking.
shootski
shootski,
not sure I have had poor quality from low resolution in the past. screenshots may be getting better.
Benji-Don,
Thank you for that!
Future airgun historians may eventually refer to these as a PDS designed air gun. Pre Dot Sight.
Barrel mounted scope rings were a nice try, but no medal winner there.
Bob M,
PDSMP. I like that. Most of my sproingers and pumpers are PDS.
Bob M-
Since the Weaver Qwik Point hit the market in 1971 and there were other, earlier iterations; Pre Dot Sight designation needs to go waaay back in the timeline.
Pacoinohio,
Boy we are a technical bunch. I too read the history of dot sights. First patented in 1975 but the military had them well before.
I was really referring to the ‘design’ of the airgun with no optics rail, not the date of manufacture.
There are many 45-ACP airguns made today, for example, that have no upper rail installed or any accommodation for one and could be considered a PDS ‘design’. They never designed it to accept a dot sight of any kind. They cling to the original 1911 design, to be “Original” looking.
So, any pistol, or rifle, that has no type of upper rail or mounting device is a Pre Dot Sight Design or they would have added one for today’s shooters.
Now here are two PDS pistols I have that have been made or modified by design to accommodate a DOT sight in a different way. Take away the side mount attachment and there is no provision for mounting a DOT Sight on the pistols. An old FN design. There are also wrap around under barrel mounted rail adapters to update the function of a PDS design.
Ian, thanks for the introduction to this great pistol. I see them on auction websites from time to time and regard them with curiosity. Having never experienced a multi-pump pistol, I wonder how the pumping effort is compared to a multipump rifle like the newer 362. It must be a little harder with the less leverage of the shorter pump arm length.
The 1300 is not a hard gun to pump, the stroke is responsibly short and the swept volume is less than a rifle with a longer tube.
The manual states that 6 pumps is “adequate for informal practice. “
I will cover that more in part 2.
Ian
45Bravo,
For those unfamiliar with these pumper pistols it might be interesting to talk about the versatility and all the over-the-counter modifications available for the current models that make it a long-standing American Classic. Part 3?
Bob, that is a very deep rabbit hole.
While I have been VERY DEEP down the rabbit hole of the Crosman 2240 modifications, I have done only minor mods to the 13xx Guns.
Hydro dipped the plastic parts to look like carbon fiber.
Longer barrels, muzzle devices things like that.
So only knee deep in the multi-pump mods.
Maybe a future blog showing some of the mods I have done in the past.
I also still have a box (I haven’t touched in years other than to peek into it) of a few 13xx guns in various stages of mods.
I guess I can complete some of those project 13xx guns.
What I wish I had the tools and skills to do the mods that “skeletonize” the guns.
Like this.
Ian
Or this.
Maybe one day….
45Bravo,
Yes, I have looked for a 2×4 to tie to my butt a few times to keep from falling down that hole.
I think a few parts fell into it over the years that I cant find.
Speaking of which, I have not seen my 2240 carbine for a long time.
My key words were “Over the counter”. Simple things like the barrel, breech and stock but blogs on custom modified airguns might be very interesting once in a while as long as a voiding warrantee statement is there, when necessary. Like a full-auto conversion.
Ian, wow! Nice pics! 🙂
Ian,
Now this one would be cool, pardon the pun.
A pox on you! Now, I am wanting to get those Bens up and running!
I am glad I could push you through the barrier you had built up about the Benjamin’s…
Ian
Ian,
This was a most interesting report; it brought up great memories.
My first air pistol was a Medalist II Model 1300 in .22 caliber.
It was a great pistol, easy to pump and shoot, and a ton of fun.
Thank you & Christmas Blessings to you,
dave
Ian,
I am enjoying this report as well. Thank you for the excellent guest blogs. I enjoy my two 1377 pistols very much and lego-ized a Crosman Bug Out pistol that has been a lot of fun. A multi pump pneumatic is so versatile and fun to use.
The blow-open valve is interesting to me and I Iook forward to learning how it works. I enjoy that design in an older Crosman 760 Powermaster. I do notice an increase in trigger weight with that gun (smoothbore) with increasing number of pumps and can try to measure that with my Lyman analog scale.
Regards,
Will
Will,
will you please contact me at 45bravoairguns@gmail.com?
Thank you.
Wrong again.
In the picture I posted above I stated that the two pistols were based on an old FN design. They are actually based on the CZ-75, with an internal slide.
Cybergun converted these two from airsoft pistols to shoot BBs. They are replicas of Italian firearms maker Tanfoglio’s IPSC Gold-Custom pistols. A Gen 1, lower and a Gen 2, with DOT sight mounted.
There are also ‘Limited’-Custom Editions. They come without the barrel compensator and side mounted upper rail. Outstanding all metal air pistols. Even the grips!
Tom,
Is WordPress taking you on a holiday today?
Siraniko