Hahn 45 BB SA Revolver
*Excerpt from my CD “Old Airguns and Memories”
*Excerpt from my CD “Old Airguns and Memories”
Hello to all;
Crosman CO. introduced the HAHN .45 BB 18 shot CO2 Revolver in 1958, it was patterned after the Colt Firearms single action .45 Colt pistol the “Peacemaker” this was an established manufacturing policy with “Crosman, making copies of traditional Fire arms” and a good one I might add, that is still practiced today. The Hahn BB revolver mimicked the Colt pistol in almost all outward appearance facets, sights, weight, length etc. and might be mistaken for the real thing, at first glance! It was powered by 1-12 gm. C02 cartridge. I picked mine up at a gun show in San Antonio, Texas in 1982 with original box and papers and is under review herein.
Crosman enlisted one of the “Fast Draw” exhibition shooters of that time frame, Dee Woolem To help advertise the Hahn BB revolver and indeed Crosman made some very nice “Fast Draw” leather holsters” as an accessory option. Crosman also promoted the “Fanning“ manipulation aspect of the pistol, where the trigger was held back and the palm of the other hand used to manipulate the spur hammer in rapid fashion, an aspect most of us are familiar with in this time frame, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry etc. (well at least some of us are familiar). Production of the Hahn BB revolver lasted until 1970 when it was superseded by the Pellet firing version, the-Single Action 6.
Specs on the Hahn BB revolver were as follows: black finish, white Staghorn plastic grips, Oal,-10- 3/8 inch, weight 2 lbs. 2 ounces, smooth bore barrel, and single action, safety was applied by pulling hammer back to first click, about a quarter inch locking the hammer & trigger, 18 shot capacity (6 in cylinder 12 in magazine).This was a really attractive looking CO2 single action revolver!!
To charge the pistol place the hammer on safety, unscrew the thumb nut at front of barrel, insert a 12 gram CO2 cartridge small neck first hold cartridge in place and tighten thumb nut screw until tight against the CO2 cartridge, cock the hammer to full cock position and fire the pistol downrange this will pierce the CO2 cartridge and charge the valve system, place the revolver hammer on safety. Crosman also provided a small thin piece of black plastic tubing that would snap over the CO2 cartridge to cover it, enhancing the aesthetics of the revolver. More often than not this was missing on most of the revolvers I have seen. Mine fortunately had the original piece! Not to worry though a duplicate could be made from a piece of ¾ inch ID flexible plastic tubing from Home Depot etc.
Loading the revolver; move magazine slide tang forward and lock into notch, hold gun barrel up. Pour 6 BBs into loading hole, revolve the cylinder by hand and hold gun muzzle up at an angle to allow BBs to roll into holes in Cylinder. Then pour more BBs into loading hole until full. Release magazine slide tang from notch. Total BBs 18!
I had not shot the Hahn revolver in several years so before range testing I decided to perform a complete valve rebuild. If one wants to have fun afternoon challenge and remember all the cuss words you may have forgotten, simply completely disassemble and reassemble a Hahn 45 BB revolver!!!! Man these old units are fun! Guess I was just having a bad day, enough on that, after the rebuild I was ready for the field testing, I had never seen any velocity or accuracy claims for the Hahn revolver and all I had done was simply plink with it so I was looking forward to the field test.
I set up a target at 15 ft. and as is my usual practice used a ½ inch adhesive dot on cardstock paper, I used only one dot instead of my customary 3 because I did not expect much in the way of accuracy from a 5 inch smoothbore and BBs, I chronographed simultaneously with accuracy testing using Daisy plated BBs. Shooting from a bench rest I was able to achieve a 6 shot group of 3.600” center to center subsequent groups measured between 3.400”- 3.600” center to center not outstanding but certainly minute of beer can angle and all that is necessary with the Hahn 45 revolver, this is a fun Co2 pistol to shoot, not a target pistol!!
Velocity over 45 shots averaged 277 fps a high of 313 fps and a low of 240 fps for a little less than 1 ft. lb. About 60 shots were available on one CO2 cartridge at least on my pistol. I will say that playing cowboy with it, by fanning the hammer really used up CO2 FAST!!! I never experienced any malfunctions with the pistol during any of the field testing.
The Hahn 45 BB revolver is an extraordinary example of Crosman/Hahn ingenuity and market savvy from a bye gone era, get one if you can!!!!!
As a side note on these older units, I might mention that in the late 80s I contacted Crosman in regards to any service manual that might be available and they said that since I was in the Gunsmithing business (at the time) they would provide me with a copy of the Crosman Authorized Service Manual” that they send out to their repair centers (no charge) for Pre -1965 models, covering 23- rifles and pistols from that time frame, that was all they had . Which they did, over 200 pages, EVP, parts numbers etc. notes to Factory Authorized Repair Centers regarding revision changes, updates including a list and of repair tools available, (one was a set of gun frame jigs used to repair the 44-36-SA6-45 pistols, for 3 bucks) wish I would have ordered one!! Indeed, I had to fabricate some jigs to repair the 45!!! The manual was real asset for someone like me who had and still does have, a real interest in these older units, I have found it to be an invaluable aid, over the years and am grateful to this day that Crosman sent it to me!!!!
Garey
