geekWithA.45
Moderator Emeritus
Yup, on the second try. I have the Led Zeppelin mirror somewhere in my attic to prove it.
Strange question--carnival shooting gallery guns?
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Yup, on the second try. I have the Led Zeppelin mirror somewhere in my attic to prove it.
230RN
2A was "political" when it was first adopted.
I remember (1948?) the pump .22s cabled to the counter. I don't think were any prizes at Coney Island when I was a kid. The reward was knocking down the little row of moving ducks and making the circular plates tink and fall over.
The rifles looked a lot like the Browning pump, I recall, and that's what I thought they were until I read this thread. But of course, being forced to actually think about it now, the Brownings would have been too expensive.
My brother was a whiz at these and he showed me the trick: take your first shot at the center, if it was a miss, circle the target by quarters until you hit one, then shoot the rest by Kentucky Windage and Kentucky Elevationage.
That went for one rifle... if you got a different rifle, you had to re-determine your windage and elevationage.
I think maybe that Coney Island gallery was smarter than the ones I've read about above --instead of mucking up the sights deliberately, they were just poorly (or never) sighted in. So once you got the hang of it, you could get "rewarded" all day long --or until your change ran out.
And they were .22 short cases, much like CCI minicaps.
(The RWS BB and CB caps I've seen were primer-driven only, the BB with a little ball that always fell out of the case, and the CB caps had a little conical bullet, much like pellet rifle ammo, but pointed. The cases for both CB and BB caps were copper, and about half the size of a .22 Short case. I always admired the little acorn they had as a headstamp.)
Hmmm... thinking about Coney Island makes me think of hot dogs....
Hmmmm... hot dog..... drool drool slaver slaver....
The rifles looked a lot like the Browning pump, I recall, and that's what I thought they were until I read this thread. But of course, being forced to actually think about it now, the Brownings would have been too expensive.
My brother was a whiz at these and he showed me the trick: take your first shot at the center, if it was a miss, circle the target by quarters until you hit one, then shoot the rest by Kentucky Windage and Kentucky Elevationage.
That went for one rifle... if you got a different rifle, you had to re-determine your windage and elevationage.
I think maybe that Coney Island gallery was smarter than the ones I've read about above --instead of mucking up the sights deliberately, they were just poorly (or never) sighted in. So once you got the hang of it, you could get "rewarded" all day long --or until your change ran out.
And they were .22 short cases, much like CCI minicaps.
(The RWS BB and CB caps I've seen were primer-driven only, the BB with a little ball that always fell out of the case, and the CB caps had a little conical bullet, much like pellet rifle ammo, but pointed. The cases for both CB and BB caps were copper, and about half the size of a .22 Short case. I always admired the little acorn they had as a headstamp.)
Hmmm... thinking about Coney Island makes me think of hot dogs....
Hmmmm... hot dog..... drool drool slaver slaver....
TRIGGER51B
Member
If you liked those guns heres a link you may enjoy...
http://www.geocities.com/bbmachinegun/strafer2page2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/bbmachinegun/strafer2page2.htm
Owen
Moderator Emeritus
I worked in an amusement park for a summer. At the time, it was called Riverside. It is now Six Flags over New England.
I used to work that game fairly often. The guns aren't rigged, and the sights aren't really off. However, the bb's are lead and are reused ad-infinitum, and the bores are smooth, so they aren't exactly the most accurate things.
The trick is to shoot the points and then cut out the middle.
By the end of the summer, I could do it maybe 1/3 of the time.
The guns we had held 103 bb's. We had a device that we would stack the feed tubes into. Then we would put another piece on top that was basically a bucket that had holes that lined up with the tubes. We'd scoop the bb's out of the trap and into the bucket to fill the tubes. The problem was that our feed tubes would hold 104 to 105 bb's. This meant that as we loaded the guns, we would bump the top bb out of the tube, so the gun wouldn't jam. Of course this led to no end of problems with people who actually saw us do it, and would make a stink. By the end of the summer, I had a plan. I'd tell them they could have that bb back, but if the gun jammed they lost, and they wouldn't get a second shot at it. If they accepted the feed tube the way I wanted it, and the gun jammed, they'd get a second feed tube to shoot at the same target.
I never ever lost this bet.
By the end of the summer, I could tell who would challenge me on it, who would insist on the extra BB, and who wouldn't. I could also usually tell who was going to win the game in just a few tries, by what they did with the first few shots.
On a night with 8 or 9 thousand people in the park, we would generally give out 2 or 3 prizes. For that park, that wasn't busy, but not dead either.
It was a great game to work at except for Friday and Saturday, when the park would be full of drunks from the concert or the race. Generally on those nights, one of the supervisors and a security guy would basically be stuck in the booth to handle the complaints and people that wanted to teach "that 17 year old punk a lesson!"
My understanding is that the game was one of the top 3 money makers in the games department, beat out only by the ring toss and the dime toss. Part of the reason is that those giant animals were only worth about $3, circa 1994. All of the summer employees were paid less than minimum wage, because we were seasonal help, and for some reason, we fell under the rules for migrant agricultural workers. I was always amazed at how much people would put into those stupid games, and it was almost always folks that probably couldn't afford it. Working the ring toss, I watched a woman spend about $160 before she finally gave up. I watched another guy trying to win (and I remember this very clearly) a large Tweety Bird for his gf. It was probably 4 feet tall. IIRC he spent $120 on the dime toss before he finally won. The tweety bird was the most expensive prize in the park. It cost the park about $7. The dime toss was located just outside the race track entrance. On a busy Saturday night, the game would have two employees for 14 hours, give out 4 prizes, and take in over $2k.
That whole job was a great learning experience for me. I was shocked to learn that most of my coworkers were stealing from the park hand over fist. The length to which customers would go to cheat was amazing. For a kid that would turn a dollar found on the ground into the lost and found, it was a real eye opener.
I used to work that game fairly often. The guns aren't rigged, and the sights aren't really off. However, the bb's are lead and are reused ad-infinitum, and the bores are smooth, so they aren't exactly the most accurate things.
The trick is to shoot the points and then cut out the middle.
By the end of the summer, I could do it maybe 1/3 of the time.
The guns we had held 103 bb's. We had a device that we would stack the feed tubes into. Then we would put another piece on top that was basically a bucket that had holes that lined up with the tubes. We'd scoop the bb's out of the trap and into the bucket to fill the tubes. The problem was that our feed tubes would hold 104 to 105 bb's. This meant that as we loaded the guns, we would bump the top bb out of the tube, so the gun wouldn't jam. Of course this led to no end of problems with people who actually saw us do it, and would make a stink. By the end of the summer, I had a plan. I'd tell them they could have that bb back, but if the gun jammed they lost, and they wouldn't get a second shot at it. If they accepted the feed tube the way I wanted it, and the gun jammed, they'd get a second feed tube to shoot at the same target.
I never ever lost this bet.
By the end of the summer, I could tell who would challenge me on it, who would insist on the extra BB, and who wouldn't. I could also usually tell who was going to win the game in just a few tries, by what they did with the first few shots.
On a night with 8 or 9 thousand people in the park, we would generally give out 2 or 3 prizes. For that park, that wasn't busy, but not dead either.
It was a great game to work at except for Friday and Saturday, when the park would be full of drunks from the concert or the race. Generally on those nights, one of the supervisors and a security guy would basically be stuck in the booth to handle the complaints and people that wanted to teach "that 17 year old punk a lesson!"
My understanding is that the game was one of the top 3 money makers in the games department, beat out only by the ring toss and the dime toss. Part of the reason is that those giant animals were only worth about $3, circa 1994. All of the summer employees were paid less than minimum wage, because we were seasonal help, and for some reason, we fell under the rules for migrant agricultural workers. I was always amazed at how much people would put into those stupid games, and it was almost always folks that probably couldn't afford it. Working the ring toss, I watched a woman spend about $160 before she finally gave up. I watched another guy trying to win (and I remember this very clearly) a large Tweety Bird for his gf. It was probably 4 feet tall. IIRC he spent $120 on the dime toss before he finally won. The tweety bird was the most expensive prize in the park. It cost the park about $7. The dime toss was located just outside the race track entrance. On a busy Saturday night, the game would have two employees for 14 hours, give out 4 prizes, and take in over $2k.
That whole job was a great learning experience for me. I was shocked to learn that most of my coworkers were stealing from the park hand over fist. The length to which customers would go to cheat was amazing. For a kid that would turn a dollar found on the ground into the lost and found, it was a real eye opener.
Lupinus
Member
Nope never shot out the star but thats the entire point. Of all carnival games I'd say that one is about the most rigged lol.
Any one else know some carnival rigging? I know the basketball games are rigged, the hoop of a standard hoop will fit two basketballs, the fair ones are just about 1 1/4 basketballs.
Any one else know some carnival rigging? I know the basketball games are rigged, the hoop of a standard hoop will fit two basketballs, the fair ones are just about 1 1/4 basketballs.
VARifleman
Member
Paintball guns used to knock down statues on a spinning wheel while there are strobes going off. It's timed and going a lot faster than it looks.
DC3-CVN-72
Member
Post #26
geekWithA.45, I also have the AEROSMITH mirror to prove it! It is outlined in blue cardboard and the mirror is the etched coppy of the band's "ROCKS" album cover! It's still hanging up in my old bedroom in my parents house that my father turned into his office when I left home. I'll never forget the first time my father showed me this trick. It was in the late '70s. There use to be a small amusement park just outside Chicago called Santa's Village. By this time my twin brother and I were to big for the kiddie rides but not quite old enough to be left alone. One saturday my father got a call from the steel mill he worked for to go there and check on something and my mother was out. on the way home we stop at Santa's Village to play some of the games. when we get to the shooting gallery, my twin brother and I blaze away at the red star, as much fun as it was, after 5 times each neither one of us could shoot the star out. Then my father {U.S. ARMY-'60-'68} Says "Let me show you boys how it's done." He carefuly aims, takes single shot and says "shoots way low so you have to adjust high" takes another shot and says " The key is to shoot the points off the star and then the middle out, and take your time." and continues to do just that. He did it in one turn. We were both awe struck!!!!
I've never done it on the first try, but I have done it on the second and I can prove it.
geekWithA.45, I also have the AEROSMITH mirror to prove it! It is outlined in blue cardboard and the mirror is the etched coppy of the band's "ROCKS" album cover! It's still hanging up in my old bedroom in my parents house that my father turned into his office when I left home. I'll never forget the first time my father showed me this trick. It was in the late '70s. There use to be a small amusement park just outside Chicago called Santa's Village. By this time my twin brother and I were to big for the kiddie rides but not quite old enough to be left alone. One saturday my father got a call from the steel mill he worked for to go there and check on something and my mother was out. on the way home we stop at Santa's Village to play some of the games. when we get to the shooting gallery, my twin brother and I blaze away at the red star, as much fun as it was, after 5 times each neither one of us could shoot the star out. Then my father {U.S. ARMY-'60-'68} Says "Let me show you boys how it's done." He carefuly aims, takes single shot and says "shoots way low so you have to adjust high" takes another shot and says " The key is to shoot the points off the star and then the middle out, and take your time." and continues to do just that. He did it in one turn. We were both awe struck!!!!
I've never done it on the first try, but I have done it on the second and I can prove it.
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.
I loved it. I was pretty good at it (considering I only did it once a year, at the county fair). My technique was a very brief burst to see where the gun was shooting (sights were usually a little off)....Then empty the gun, trying to cut a complete circle all around the star. Still only "won" occasionally, but always got all but a bit of the star. Usually failed because I went too fast/too slow to completely cut away all the needed paper.
Try it next time.
repsychler
Member
I've shot out the star once, and have come within the tiniest sliver of red a few more times. If I can find a gun that shoots a reasonably tight pattern, I can at least come close to winning. The ones I've been running across lately spray in every direction but straight.
Don't get these guns...
Unless you like to see them dribble pellets. Sometimes they puff out a low burst of air, which causes the pellet to go out slower. The pellet being shot behind it at regular speed would get deflected on this pellet. When valves get really worn out, that's when they go on the airsoft bulletin boards when the fair rolls into town at a cheap price each - they will need rebuilding of the valve system with new parts which would bring the total cost closer to a new one. They blow a whole bag of shot in new ones, because they shoot too cleanly, too straight. They have to build up some lead inside to make the bore a little smaller, which causes the pellets to spin a little. That little rag they push in removes the oil that drips inside from the valve system, nothing more. That way the shot really rides the bore, creating a larger dispersal radius at the beginning - you blow a quarter of the shot before the accuracy radius tightens. By that time, you won't have enough to get the star. However, when the timed quota is met, they lay off the cleaning rag, until somebody wins.
Bwana, I loved and lived in that game, too. The light gun system is a modified version of the carnival air gun. The targets are set to react only on the specially timed flashes. A movie projector lamp provides the light source, and is piped to the gun via a fiber-optic cable- this keeps the gun from getting incredibly hot. The gun's shutter is in the gun base - a solenoid attached to a spring-loaded cutaway rotary can. This keeps the only serviceable part in the gun to just the switch- a simple videogame-style leaf switch. Real easy assembly, but oh, lots of fun!
Unless you like to see them dribble pellets. Sometimes they puff out a low burst of air, which causes the pellet to go out slower. The pellet being shot behind it at regular speed would get deflected on this pellet. When valves get really worn out, that's when they go on the airsoft bulletin boards when the fair rolls into town at a cheap price each - they will need rebuilding of the valve system with new parts which would bring the total cost closer to a new one. They blow a whole bag of shot in new ones, because they shoot too cleanly, too straight. They have to build up some lead inside to make the bore a little smaller, which causes the pellets to spin a little. That little rag they push in removes the oil that drips inside from the valve system, nothing more. That way the shot really rides the bore, creating a larger dispersal radius at the beginning - you blow a quarter of the shot before the accuracy radius tightens. By that time, you won't have enough to get the star. However, when the timed quota is met, they lay off the cleaning rag, until somebody wins.
Bwana, I loved and lived in that game, too. The light gun system is a modified version of the carnival air gun. The targets are set to react only on the specially timed flashes. A movie projector lamp provides the light source, and is piped to the gun via a fiber-optic cable- this keeps the gun from getting incredibly hot. The gun's shutter is in the gun base - a solenoid attached to a spring-loaded cutaway rotary can. This keeps the only serviceable part in the gun to just the switch- a simple videogame-style leaf switch. Real easy assembly, but oh, lots of fun!
Kind of Blued
Member
I've heard that Mr. Garand himself used to go across the border and shoot at the carnival shooting gallery in Coney Island until his $100 was all used up. This was when they used .22s.
Sylvan-Forge
Member
Yeh!
.
bonza
Member
Yes, the Red Star galleries were/are great fun, but my favorite was when I was growing up in Adelaide, Australia in the 1970/80s. There was a semi-permanent beachfront carnival where they had a 'real' shooting gallery with Browning .22 Autos using the frangible .22 Short ammo. From memory, the rifles weren't even chained to the counter.....try doing that today!!
Went to our recently opened Cabelas' near Olympia, Washington a few weeks ago & they had one of the electronic shooting galleries mentioned in a previous post, my 13 year old son & I had a fun time on that!
Went to our recently opened Cabelas' near Olympia, Washington a few weeks ago & they had one of the electronic shooting galleries mentioned in a previous post, my 13 year old son & I had a fun time on that!
Sixtigers
Member
When I was a young tad, I used to love going to the Arcade in the bottom of the Nugget in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They had a huge photo-electric shooting gallery, with an outdoor-themed target selection...If I remember right, it was the inside of a log cabin, including a roof section and large 'wilderness' yard to the right. You could shoot almost everything, from the cow skull in the sand, to the owls perched on the roof, to the coffee pot on the potbelly stove. Everything you shot was animatronic, and would react somehow to a 'hit'. The owls eyes would move, the coffepot would spin around, the cow skull's jaw would move up and down. Heady stuff for a kid! Think it had about 10 places for shooters...Took up a whole room. They must've shut that thing down sometime in the 80's.
Never did get that red star. I try every year--it's the last thing our family does when we go to the County Fair, so it's a tradition--and now I've got a new strategy, thanks to y'all. Never thought it was rigged--hell, you can see the pattern and know the guns aren't accurate--but it is fun, and my kids love it. We keep the stars (and for awhile, little pictures of Osama Bin Laden) and put 'em in a scrapbook.
Never did get that red star. I try every year--it's the last thing our family does when we go to the County Fair, so it's a tradition--and now I've got a new strategy, thanks to y'all. Never thought it was rigged--hell, you can see the pattern and know the guns aren't accurate--but it is fun, and my kids love it. We keep the stars (and for awhile, little pictures of Osama Bin Laden) and put 'em in a scrapbook.
Speedo66
Member
I also remember the .22 short pump guns cabled to the counter at a shooting gallery in Coney Island, Brooklyn. I used to take one or two of the empty casings home with me as a souvenir.
A trip to Coney Island meant the original Nathan's hot dogs, fries, corn, and knishes from a near by store. The rides were secondary.
They also had a shooting gallery on Broadway in Times Square. Small traveling carnivals also had them. The guns were filled from a pre-loaded tube dumped into the back of the stock as I recall.
Impossible to imagine firing live rounds on street level anywhere in the Big Apple today. Legally, that is.
A trip to Coney Island meant the original Nathan's hot dogs, fries, corn, and knishes from a near by store. The rides were secondary.
They also had a shooting gallery on Broadway in Times Square. Small traveling carnivals also had them. The guns were filled from a pre-loaded tube dumped into the back of the stock as I recall.
Impossible to imagine firing live rounds on street level anywhere in the Big Apple today. Legally, that is.
jackstinson
Member
I loved the old .22 pump gun shooting galleries!
I know GAMO sells a sort of "gallery" thing, but one of my projects this coming winter is to build one of these:
MODERN MECHANIX Dec, 1953 - Build an Air-Rifle Shooting Gallery
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/02/build-an-air-rifle-shooting-gallery/
I know GAMO sells a sort of "gallery" thing, but one of my projects this coming winter is to build one of these:
MODERN MECHANIX Dec, 1953 - Build an Air-Rifle Shooting Gallery
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/02/build-an-air-rifle-shooting-gallery/
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Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow
member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2007
- Messages
- 13,146
My recollection is a lot of them looked like Thompsons. I doubt they were lead BBs - I think they were steel so they could be re-used. Of course they were designed to be too inaccurate to draw a circle around the star and punch it out - you just had to be extremely lucky to get rid of the entire star. Hacked me off in junior high school at the state fair!
Mathias
Member
I just recently had a .22 Marlin given to me that I thought was a Model 100 that was missing magazine tube parts. Turns out it is one of 500 gallery guns that Marlin made. (Page 632 of Brophy's book "Marlin Firearms, A History of the Guns and the Company that Made Them") The tube is there to spill the spent cartridges out of the front. Not sure of the year or value but it was very cool to find out that a gun that was sticking in a garage's rafters and given to me for free is a rare one.
Hello Bonza.
Oh my God, someone else who remembers the shooting gallery at the Bay Sideshows.
Opposite side of the road to the main gallery, the beach side,about half way down towards the breakwater was another gallery using air rifles, five pellets, four ducks down to win.
"Tatta"(a childhood friend) would watch over my shoulder and call the fall of shot for the first round, then we'd know where it was shooting and aim off to win a prize.
Used to really upset the old codger who used to run the gallery.
It's all gone now was last back home earlier this year, bloody high rise apartments.
Oh my God, someone else who remembers the shooting gallery at the Bay Sideshows.
Opposite side of the road to the main gallery, the beach side,about half way down towards the breakwater was another gallery using air rifles, five pellets, four ducks down to win.
"Tatta"(a childhood friend) would watch over my shoulder and call the fall of shot for the first round, then we'd know where it was shooting and aim off to win a prize.
Used to really upset the old codger who used to run the gallery.
It's all gone now was last back home earlier this year, bloody high rise apartments.
waterhill
Member
I remember seeing a tv show, perhaps Mythbusters, where the carnie told the guy that there must not be any red left on the card. Well the tv guy shot the card in a line above the star, dropping the untouched star and its portion of the card to the floor. He won twice and the carnie sent him on his way.
theotherwaldo
Member
Similar experiences at the Long Beach Pike back in the '60s. Dad was banned for taking the prize 3 out of 5 times, but I never did take the whole star out.
Later, in the late '70s, I worked summers in a show that toured the Pacific Northwest. Some of the guys that worked that booth could stitch that star out every time.
I was in awe!
Later, in the late '70s, I worked summers in a show that toured the Pacific Northwest. Some of the guys that worked that booth could stitch that star out every time.
I was in awe!
Farnorthdan
Member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2008
- Messages
- 217
Winchester pump
Ahhh...one of my favorite collectibles. The Winchester pump .22's, I am now up to 6 models collected, model 1890, 1906, 90, 61, 62, 62A, 63. these are great pump actions, probably the best ever made, smooth as silk actions and dead nuts accurate. Some shoot S,L,LR...some only shorts.
DS
Ahhh...one of my favorite collectibles. The Winchester pump .22's, I am now up to 6 models collected, model 1890, 1906, 90, 61, 62, 62A, 63. these are great pump actions, probably the best ever made, smooth as silk actions and dead nuts accurate. Some shoot S,L,LR...some only shorts.
DS
Funny you asked about this as I played this game my first and only time a couple of weeks ago. It was at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the guns used were Tommy Guns. I didn't shoot out the star, but it was close and I'll know to shoot around it next time, not just shoot out the middle. The really funny part was watching the other shooters. Most of them just kept blasting at the target, without ever trying to find their gun's zero.
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