HEALTHWAYS PLAINSMAN 175 MANUAL
A sliding manual safety is provided on the left side of the grip and a three-position power adjusting screw is located in the base of the grip.Įarly Plainsman with lever type piercing cap The trigger is double action only and the long pull feeds the next BB into place in addition to cocking and releasing the internal hammer. BBs are poured in to a reservoir at the upper rear of the pistol which is covered by a sliding gate which incorporates the rear sight and are then gravity fed to a magnetic elevator arm which conveys them to the breech. Barrels are steel and either smoothbore or rifled according to model. On most models of the Plainsman, grips are black but towards the end of production some were produced with plastic grips in a very convincing walnut grain.
The Plainsman is constructed mainly of zinc alloy with steel internal parts and plastic grips. However, the Plainsman story didn’t quite end there because in 1983 Marksman bought the rights to manufacture the Plainsman and from 1984 – 1987 the Model 9401 was manufactured and sold as the Marksman Plainsman Model 1049. Production of the various Plainsman models continued until 1980 when Healthways finally ceased trading. The company had actually filed for bankruptcy in 1963 and only continued to trade as it was bought over by a number of large corporate owners. However, despite the commercial success of the Plainsman, by the 1970s Healthways was not doing well. It sold well and during the 1970s a licensed version was sold by the Uma Hunting and Sporting Goods Company in Germany (which would later became Umarex) and marketed in Europe as the Perfekta Plainsman. Other than an early modification to the piercing cap which allowed the use of larger 12g CO2 cartridges, the Plainsman stayed relatively unchanged during its production life. “ Most sensational pistol ever made!” Hmm… Healthways hyperbole from the early 1970s. The slightly less exciting truth was that the Plainsman was a relatively simple and robust design which was sold fairly cheaply (early models retailed at around $12, around half the price of a Crosman revolver replica) and proved to be reliable and trouble free. Finally, in 1969 Healthways launched the Plainsman, modestly claiming that it represented “ The most sensational invention in the history of the air gun world” and that it was “a cclaimed by gun experts as a new era in gas powered guns”. Pitcher and in the course of the late 1960s several patents were registered for new air pistol designs. Noting that lots of shooters seemed keen to buy these pistols, US sporting and fitness goods manufacturer Healthways (“ America’s most unusual line of sporting goods products”) decided that a CO2 powered replica air pistol would fit nicely within its existing range which included outdoor and sports equipment such as diving gear.įor the design of what would become the Plainsman, Healthways employed engineer and gunsmith Kenneth R. CO2 cartridges, mainly still the 8g type produced for soda makers, were readily available, relatively inexpensive and offered a reasonable number of shots per CO2. All good reasons for considering the Plainsman if you’re thinking about expanding your collection of vintage replicas though you do need to know which version to buy if you are to avoid problems sourcing ammunition.īy the mid-1960s, the use of CO2 in air pistols was well established with, amongst other things, a range of Crosman CO2 powered replicas.
Like the Colt Woodsman that it (sort of) resembles, it’s also a decent shooter as well as being reasonably well made, robust and reliable and decent examples can be had for relatively little money. The Healthways Plainsman was designed and first produced in the sixties and it lies somewhere between the quality and technical sophistication of, for example, the Crosman 600 and the cheap and cheerful end of the market represented by the Marksman 1010. Incidentally, don’t confuse this with the much rarer and more valuable Challenger Plainsman, a pump action pneumatic air pistol manufactured by Challenger Arms Corporation in the 50s and 60s. Just make sure you know what you’re buying or you may find yourself with a replica that it’s almost impossible to find ammunition for.
It’s an ugly little devil, looking like some kind of Frankenstein marriage between a Colt Woodsman and a Japanese Nambu, but it’s robust and reasonably powerful and accurate. This time we’re looking at the Healthways Plainsman, a CO2 powered multi-shot replica of the classic Colt Woodsman.
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