CHALLENGER ARMS CORPORATION

Many of these guns were made by Goodenow Manufacturing Company of Eric, PA about 1953-1958 and will have fine walnut stocks. They included a pump pneumatic shotgun, a pump pneumatic and CO₂ rifle, a very solidly built pump pneumatic pistol, and finally, an equally well-built CO₂ pistol. Construction and design was too good to be competitive at the time. Self-contained valve units, seals, and pump washers were designed for owner replacement.
There is considerable confusion about the Plainsman name. It was first applied to the solidly built guns distributed by Challenger Arms Corporation and later used by Healthways for these same guns and then by Healthways for an entirely different, more economical series of CO₂ rifles and pistols. (Healthways probably did not actually manufacture any of the Plainsman airguns listed below, but rather only sold acquired inventory and packaged, perhaps made, shot shells with the Plainsman name combined with the Healthways brand.) Even later, the brand of Plainsmaster was used by Marksman for their Model 1049 CO₂ pistol. Marksman also used the name Plainsman for a slide action BB rifle.
Dunathan´s American BB Gun (1971) first reported two airgun models with the Challenger name. However, the gun he listed as an 1886 Challenger actually represents only a single patent model, perhaps made by the Plymouth Air Rifle Co., and is marked "Challenge". The second gun, listed as an 1887 Challenger, actually was made in small numbers, but its maker is not known (probably not Markham) and there seems to be no justification for referring to it under the Challenger name. The first verified use of the Challenger name for airguns seems to have been by the Challenger Arms Corporation. The Challenger name was again used in 1982-1989 by Crosman for their versions of barrel cocking, spring piston adult air rifles made by Dianawerk and Anschütz and, in 2000, on their own Model 2000 Challenger CO₂ bolt action rifle. Ref: AGNR - Jan. 1986.
For additional information on Plainsman Model airguns, see Healthways, Inc. in the "H" section.