What a stroll down memory lane!
CajunBass, mainmech48, and
Connecticut Yankee - - I remember those solid metal handguns well!
I was in the 5th grade - - About 1954? - - in El Paso, Texas, when I discovered an ad for solid cast aluminum pistols. Sent off for the pamphlet, which had a very short historical blurb about the guns. I was in heaven reading about the nifty guns they sold. Full size replicas, clearly made from casts from the real thing. Someone made a small fortune with his collection of WWII souveniers. There were 12 of them. Let's see - -
1911 .45*
P.08 Luger*
Walther P38
C96 Mauser Broomhandle
7.65 Beretta 1935*
CZ P27
Colt SAA "Frontier"
"Spanish Moxley .32 revolver" which was exactly the same as a 4" S&W M&P
Colt Cobra .38* - - Didn't say Detective Special. Cobra, which was still a pretty new model at the time.
Nambu 8mm pistol
- - And a few others.
* Either my little brother or I owned these. And a cousin got the P38 and the Broomhandle. They sold for $2.00 each at first. Soon went to 3.95, and the last ad I saw offered the same ones for, I think, 5.95.
Man, what memories surface after all these years! Lytle Novelty Company, 2656 Fashion Ave, Chicago, Illinois. (How can I remember that? I have trouble recalling my granddaughters' birthdays.
)
About 1950, there were a series of cap revolvers mentioned above. The big one was the Stallion 45, a good copy of the 7-1/2" barrel SAA. Used big two piece cartridges. Pull out the big bullet end and insert a circular cap and replace bullet. Bullet provided the anvil, and smoke came out the hollow point and went down the barrel. It took even longer to reload than the real Peacemaker, but for six shots, it was unbelieveably stylish!
There were two smaller versions, Stallion .38 and .32, but their loading gates rocked rearward, unlike the .45 version, and their "cartridges" were smaller, too, though they used the same size caps. I had the .45; my brother had the .38 version. Of course, we lost the ammo components, and I never found replacement pieces.
Best to all - -
Johnny