Toy Guns of the 1950's - 1960's

[Texian Pistolero]

Also, remember the

"potato gun"?

Actually, this cast metal POS would work with any tuber,

I mainly used potatos and carrott ammo to torture,

Gretchen,

(a female near seat mate)

in the first grade,

Now I wish I had taken a more skilled approach to Gretchen.

If so,

I know that I would be much happier now.

 

[Seven High]

I wish some manufacture would bring some of these models back. I would buy several just for fun.

 

[Otony]

Ah, the Johnny Seven One Man Army. I was the most envied kid in the neighborhood.

Thanks a lot! Brought back many great memories.

 

[Hook686]

Today, 10:11 AM #1
Rembrandt
Senior Member

wrote:

Growing up I had only two interests....toy guns and electric trains. These ads from the 1960's brought back some old memories. Anyone remember getting one of these sets?

Maybe those antigun moms are right .... you had all those gun toys and turned out to be a gun nut. Geesh I would think folks here would publish that they were raised without male influence, gun toys and as a result of that lack are now full fledged gun nuts. hmmmm might foster the promotion of firearm usage in public schools again ... and new neat gun toys for me to buy my grandson.


Hook686

 

[38Mike]

Wow.....we used to run around the neighborhood playing "Combat". I was always "Little John" . Can't remember the brand of the guns we had; seems like one of my friends had a big old machine gun that'd fire plastic bullets....toughest "mission" of all, trying to take out MG nest... .......memories of the good old days

 

[foghornl]

I had the Mattel "shootin' shell" Winchester, brother had the "Rolling Block Sharps", oldest brother had the "Fanner 50".

Friend had the Johnny 7 OMA, and another kid had the Secret Sam setup.

Oh yeah, those "Greenie Stik-ums" were not cheap, compared to the red paper roll caps.

"...hitting a whole roll of caps with a hammer..."

Oh, yeah, I made that same mistake, too....ONCE!

"What? What? Speak up, boy, you're mumblin' again. . . "

 

[RavenVT100]

I have a friend who confided in me that as a child, he lusted after the Johny Seven One Man Army, and his father, an urban, liberal professor of sociology, refused to allow him to buy it with his own saved money, citing all the usual liberal poopola.

My father was also an extremely left-wing, liberal college professor, who admonished any "gun use" or guns in general, but did allow us to have air rifles and bb pistols. Apparently he was on the rifle team when he was in college and was wise to the fact that there's a difference.

But as far as real guns were concerned, it was basically "Son, if you ever buy a gun, I'll kill you."

My father has since passed away, and my gun collection keeps growing.

 

[Frandy]

I'm 57 and this thread is bringin' tears to my weary, old eyes. Why, if I could have back all those toy handguns and long guns (oh, my M-1 carbine-like plastic whatever made me combat warrior extraordinaire!), why...why...I'd get rid of all my current firearms!

Well, not really, but the memories are flooding back. Oh, and smashing rolls of caps on the sidewalks of NYC with a hammer or rock - WMD!!!!!!

 

[CAS700850]

I recall summer days spent playing either war or police (depending on the mood of the day), with tennis ball (baseball using an old tennis ball, broke fewer windows) breaking up the monotony. Great times. I had a great armory. I recall a black lever action "Lone Ranger" rifle that took roll caps, and had a little switch on the lever that tripped the trigger and let you fire Rifleman style. Squirt guns that rarely saw water. When some of us got a little older, and got into model building, we'd customize our guns, using model paint. I once gave a Larami Falcon (remember Larami, used long strips of plastic caps that fed in a magazine, almost like a real auto?), a total brushed nickle finish using a mix of silver and flat black Testor's enamel. Then came the Star Wars blasters, which were still cool. I even remember taking toy guns to school for playing at recess. Imagine that...

You know, collecting toy guns isn't a bad idea...in addition to the real thing.

 

[max popenker]

Can you imagine how the things were on the other side of the Iron Curtain?

In the late 1970s i had a nice, battery-powered Mauser C96 Schnellfeuer which fired bursts as long as batteries were fresh. An i had a heavy, cast metal Nagant pistol with very realistic (i mean - heavy ) trigger pull, that fired caps; Also, i had all sort of plastic rifles, including scaled-down copy of AK with detachable bayonet, and, best of all, the ~1/2 scale Maxim M1910 machine gun copy, made of green and red plastic. The thing had a mechanism that rattled when you swung the barrel from side to side. Hell, i wish all these toys survived through the years, so my 5-years som coult try something real instead of those China-made space-guns...
But probably the best toys that actually made me into the REAL guns, were those crudely-made wooden ones, made for me by my father...

He always was sort of a pro-gun, but my mother said "no guns at home as there's two boys in there" (me and my younger bro). So, he never owned a gun, but back in his youth he was a sport shooter, and recently we had a great time shooting MY gun (a 12ga semiauto).
Thanks God, my wife is less anti than my mother. And, sometimes i think that she could be even better shot that me - once i will be allowed under our stupid law to own a small-bore rifle, as the 12ga is too much for her.

 

[fiVe]

What a blast from the past!

Thanks for posting this, Rembrandt.

I had the Johnny Eagle Magumba with the trophy plaque and the Johnny Seven O.M.A. That was a long time ago. They haven't made toys like those for years.

 

[middy]

Growing up in the 70s and 80s I had a few decent toy guns, but nothing like those. I remember looking through Gramma's old JC Penny's Christmas catalogs from the 1950's and being envious of all the cool toy guns y'all used to play with.

 

[HankB]

I had the Johnny Eagle "Lieutenant" pistol . . . the closest thing to a 1911 I've ever seen in the toy world. You could put greenie stick-on caps on the back of the cartridge, and when you fired it, you'd get a "bang." (Had to cycle the slide manually.)

Also had the "Multi-Pistol 09" and a host of others not listed here. A Dick Tracy Power-Jet Gun (squirtgun that looked like a riot gun . . . and used caps to boot!), an M-14 lookalike that took a couple of batteries in the buttstock so it would make a "pow pow pow" sound as the flash hider cycled in and out . . . a tripod-mounted M2HB lookalike, scaled for a kid . . . a mortar . . . a Mattel tommy gun that took roll caps . . . lots of good times. (And the funny thing is, I never confused toy guns with real ones . . . )

If the toy gun was molded in a bright color, I learned early on that a little diligent work with a magic marker would make it look more "real" . . . probably against some law today.

 

[huaco]

I had one of the Hubley 1911s. I think it just said 'Hubley Automatic' on the toy but it was so realistic and heavy I was sure I could rob a bank with it had I wanted. Probably could have too. I remember lusting after it for weeks and going back to that department store in Waco to fondle it several times before I saved up the bucks to bring it home. All my toy pistols before that had been cowboy revolvers. Some of them were well done but the Hubley was always my favorite.

 

[Dr.Rob]

When we played "Kelly's Heros" I got to be Oddball... since I had a sweet Luger cap gun... one to one scale,and heavy.

Had a wicked cool black dart rifle that looked almost like an M-1 Carbine, pretty nifty.

Tommy guns, sure but only because nobody made a toy BAR.

My brother had a toy M-1 Garand with a scope.

Somplace I have a VP-70 dart gun.

 

[charby]

Anybody else take a whole roll of caps and hit it with a hammer?

Oh hell yeah, I am laughing my butt off right now. I grew up on a moderately quiet street in the 80's next to a country club neighborhood. My brothers and me would take a roll of caps put it on a brick in the backyard and a wait in ambush with a heavy hammer.

one of my brothers would look through the fence and wait for someone to walk down the sidewalk and about the time they passed, one of us would let the hammer drop and watch the person about poop their pants from the noise. It was great!!

Charby

 

[Legionnaire]

Cool! I used to have one of the Multi-Pistol 09s, and had that neat little derringer cap gun that rode in the grip of the bigger pistol for years after its host broke. That and green stick'em caps. I guess that was my first concealed carry piece!

 

[landon74]

I guess I'm a little too young for those, but they look really cool. When I turned seven, my Granddad gave me a set of cowboy boots, and a set of cap firing peacemakers with a holster set. Me and my cousin figured out in pretty short order as cool as those caps were going off one at a time, if you put the whole roll on a rock and hit it with another rock it made a really big boom! Ahh good times, good times....

 

[ZeroX]

I was born in 86 so I didn't have all that great stuff but I did this one lever-action shotgun. It didn't load caps or anything but when you pulled that trigger, you got quite a kick. And there was a handgun that had batteries in the mag well that would cycle the slide when you pulled the trigger. Good times.

 

[cane]

I had a really neat Matel "grease gun" I swear the wire stock, and receiver/barrel were made with real M-3 stampings. The magazine was red plastic with a trap door on the bottom to hold extra rolls of caps. You could put a roll of caps in it, wind up the handle on the side, and cut loose on full auto. Wish I still had it.

 

[Rembrandt]

Dr Rob, did your Luger look like this one?....picked it up at a gun show for $20.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Very much like this one... the grips were reddish brown plastic and the body was cast metal that had black paint baked on it.It was one of the most realistic toy guns I ever owned.

 

[Rembrandt]

I think that's the same one....only mines had all the paint removed. Same manufacturer, "Lone Star".

 

[Crom]

Some of my personal favorites, the best of which was the Defender Dan Machine Gun and the Johnny Reb Cannon.

 

[MudPuppy]

The cool gun toys have not faded away entirely--I got a batter powered SMG for my son. It has "recoil" and jumps all over the place like its going full auto. Hilarious to see the little guy hang onto it. Its a green plastic thing made like a French gun.

Oh, and you know why kid's toy guns should be modeled on French guns, right?