This pistol was in production for only about a year. In my 20 some years of collecting odd ball airguns this is only 2nd time I came across Crosman 451. Got it in local pawn shop from a guy who had no clue of how rare this guns are but the most interesting is obviously the story behind this pistol.
The idea of a Colt 1911 replica initially came from Ed Denniston, CEO of Crosman in the late 1960s and preliminary design had been completed when Roger Molina and Denniston visited the US Army Infantry Training Center at Fort Benning in Georgia. The main purpose of the visit was to discuss the possible production by Crosman of a conversion kit for the M16 rifle which would allow it to fire BBs, ideal for training inexperienced troops destined for the conflict in Vietnam. During the visit discussions also covered an air pistol which could be used for training army personnel who would be using the Colt 1911. The US Army Training Center had evaluated the multi-shot Crosman 600 as a possible training weapon, but rejected it because it was just too different in use to the 1911. When the people from Crosman described the 1911 replica they had on the drawing board, the Army trainers seemed interested. Sensing that they might be able to achieve sales if they could produce a reliable, multi-shot air pistol which resembled the 1911, work on the development of what would become the Model 451 accelerated.
451 was designed initially as a training tool which would replicate the feel and function of the original firearm as far as possible. The rear and top of the slide was a moveable part and some of the CO2 from the firing valve was used to push this backwards via a rod actuated by a nylon piston when the pistol was fired. This replicated the recoil effect of the cartridge firing weapon and cocked the hammer. As springs moved the slide forward, it also indexed the pellet carrier for the next shot, resulting in a true single-action trigger as on the 1911.
When the 451 was launched, jamming soon proved to be a major headache. Large numbers of 451s were returned to Crosman Service Stations across the US because of pellets jammed in the barrel. Unsurprisingly, the US Army showed little interest when the 451 proved to be unreliable. Added to this, poor commercial sales, loss of revenue through returned 451s and the unacceptably high QA rejection rate meant that instead of being a best-seller, the 451 was a commercial disaster in which Crosman failed to re-coup the high costs of design and development. After just twelve months of production, the 451 was quietly dropped from the Crosman range.
