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Toy guns...time for some nostalgia?


Sabrejet

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Posted

I was just reading and enjoying the current thread on Marx toy soldiers. It made me reminisce about my own childhood days spent playing with toy soldiers. Most of us on this forum probably had an interest in the military from a very young age and which has continued to this day...right? (Mrs Sabrejet sometimes refers to my collection as "big boys' toys"!) When I was a kid growing up in post-war Britain, "war toys" of some description were aways on my Christmas list...die-cast vehicles...plastic airplane kits..toy soldiers.....and especially guns!

 

So, I thought it might be fun to look back and reminisce about the toy guns that most of us had and remember from our childhoods. These days, sadly, toy guns are definitely not PC. They tend to be moulded in unrealistic coloured plastics and/or can only be sold to kids of a certain age. In my day, cap-firing guns were the big thing. Little pink rolls of paper with tiny spots of gunpowder which fit into the gun and made a sharp "crack" when struck by the hammer. My favourite was a cap-firing Luger. I can still smell that acrid powder to this day!

 

As I recall, the guns available to us in the UK in the late 50s > early 60s fell into three basic catergories...military, western and space-age. The military guns were plastic replicas of Tommy Guns, and M1 rifles which had removeable mags with dummy plastic rounds. I also had an M-14 which held batteries within the butt so that when the tigger was pulled it went rat-tat-tat and the red muzzle went in and out!

 

Western guns were a favourite of mine. In those days, even on this side of the big pond, we were ennthralled by the adventures of The Lone Ranger, The Range Rider and Davy Crockett! I had a Lone Ranger dressing-up outfit, complete with a twin-holstered gun-belt which held a pair of cap-firing, silver, ivory-handled Colts! I loved those guns and practised twirling them around my fingers for hours on end. I was the fastest kid on-the-draw on my street! One Christmas, I was given a Winchester rifle. It came with six little brass bullets which actually ejected realistically when the lever was pulled!

 

The space-age guns were fancy "ray-guns", usually operated by a friction motor or batteries and which emitted space-age sounds and flashed coloured lights...a long time before today's light-sabres etc!

 

Then..in the mid 60s the "spy craze" came along, fuelled by the likes of James Bond /007 and " The Man from Uncle". They all had amazing gadgets and soon we had toy guns which had all manner of hi-tech add ons just like our screen heroes' guns.

 

I'll add a few pics which will hopefully prompt some of you to share your childhood gun tales too?

 

 

 

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Sabrejet

Posted

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Sabrejet :thumbsup:

Posted

Hi FR...my 25 year old son was round at my house yesterday, We were watching a tv show called "100 best toys" (Lego was #1) There were no guns...but what was evident is that toys should NEVER be played with! Keep them, mint, in the box for a minimum of 25 years, then sell to collectors for a handsome profit!! Sadly, all of my guns were loved and played with...but do I care?! ;)

 

Ian :thumbsup:

Robswashashore
Posted

Wow, Ian, you always start the most esoteric threads!

 

My contribution to the "Christmas Toy Hall of Fame:"

 

The BEST Christmas present Santa ever left -- Christmas 1960 -- As you can see, even as a little girl the militaria bug had bitten.

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With thanks to my Dad who, to the dismay of my mother, always indulged his Tomboy daughter in matters of gift selection. (My twin sister received a Suzy Homemaker Oven that year.)

 

Jean

Posted

Hey Jean. Fantastic...you've set the ball a-rolling...thank you! Hopefully, as America wakes and comes on-line there'll be a few more additions to the thread?

 

Ian :thumbsup:

Posted

Here's the 1960 Mattel Winchester I mentioned previously, plus the "Johnny Eagle" MI4 from also from the 60s.

 

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Sabrejet :packin heat:

 

Schoolboy heaven?!

 

 

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Sabrejet! :thumbsup:

Posted

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Ian. Heres one I had posted before on the forum of my brothers and I playing war. The guns were wood. I'm the one on the right filling my diaper and I don't remember the guns. My brother doesn't remember what happened to them but wishes he still had them. Giving my age away the picture was taken during the war. Robert

Posted

Hi Robert. Thanks for your input. Someone ACTUALLY posted a wooden "Tommy Gun" on the forum recently...in the Homefront section, I think? It was a commercially made one IIRC.

 

Ian :thumbsup:

Posted

Wow, do those pictures bring back memories! I remember my Johnny Eagle Lieutenant set with both the rifle and the .45. What fun we had shooting those things at each other. I think that things like that and TV shows like Combat had a lot of influence on me always wanting to be an Army officer.

 

I also remember the Man From Uncle set and the James Bond set that had the pistols in cases. Too bad all of those disappeared when my parents divorced and dad cleaned out the basement of the house.

 

One of the best ones I had was a Crosman M1 Carbine BB gun. It was one of thecarly ones that had the wooden stock. That went the way of my other toys. Imagine what they would be now!

Manchu Warrior
Posted

Great thread. And these guns are ones I picked up over the years and are not necessarily the ones I played with as a kid. Because those guns did nor survive my childhood. But the thread did get me thinking and one of the toy guns that I clearly remember playing with was some kind of repeating air rifle. It did not shot any projectiles it just made a popping sound when you fired it. The problem started when one of kids in the neighborhood figure out that when you packed the barrel with dirt and shot someone at close range it would sting a little. And it definitely stung and to be honest I don't know how we never managed to take out an eye or two.

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The Guerrilla Warfare Tommy Gun and what looks like a 30 Cal machine gun. Both of the guns were made by Mattel.

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The Springfield Model 1903 Rifle made by MARX and it is a very small cap gun that actually shots one cap at a time. And the last one is the Frontier Derringer and

I am not sure if this was made as a toy or as a replica.

Posted

I had a James Bond attache case set and a Monkey Patrol set when I was a kid. I had a blast with those. I also had a derringer that used a cap to shoot out a red plastic bullet, with significant noise and velocity. One day while my brother was petting our high strung Daucshund dog Reggy on the head, I snuck up and shot the dog in the butt with the derringer, which got my brother a bite on his hand. We still laugh about it today as one of those growing up stories after more than 45 years.

 

Bob

Posted

Hi Mark. When I was a kid I used to read imported DC comic books...Superman..Batman..The Flash etc. I was always fascinated by the ads aimed at American kids. There were often BB guns among them. How I coveted one of those just to shoot tin cans off of the back yard wall! Back in those days (early 60s)i think you had to be at least 17 years old to be able to own an air rifle in the UK!

 

Ian :thumbsup:

Manchu Warrior
Posted

Almost forgot I have one other one this is an M16 made by Empire. It makes a very annoying sound when you pull the trigger that drives my dog crazy. So, if I ever want her to leave a room and she does not listen I just pull out the M16 and she goes running. Put please don't think that I torture my dog because I don't even have to pull the trigger.

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Posted

Hey Manchu. The Tommy Gun looks great...apart from the colour! A sling too! Also the M16 looks pretty realistic, at a glance. Are they 1:1 ?

 

Ian

Posted
I had a James Bond attache case set and a Monkey Patrol set when I was a kid. I had a blast with those. I also had a derringer that used a cap to shoot out a red plastic bullet, with significant noise and velocity. One day while my brother was petting our high strung Daucshund dog Reggy on the head, I snuck up and shot the dog in the butt with the derringer, which got my brother a bite on his hand. We still laugh about it today as one of those growing up stories after more than 45 years.

 

Bob

 

 

Great story Bob!

 

Ian :lol: :lol: :lol:

Posted

It's hard to find good toy guns for my kids today.I had some kind of hybrid M1 Carbiine bolt action thing that I loved, an M60 that cycled a belt through it, several others. Buddy of mine has one of those Crossman M1 Carbine BB guns, wood stock, with the mag. Pretty neat. I am amazed at what was available before my time, some really primo stuff there.

Manchu Warrior
Posted
Hey Manchu. The Tommy Gun looks great...apart from the colour! A sling too! Also the M16 looks pretty realistic, at a glance. Are they 1:1 ?

 

Ian

The Tommy Gun is 25" long and the M16 is 26" long. And to give you a good visual I took a photo of them with a Mattel Winchester like the one you posted earlier.

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Posted

Here you go fellers! Jog a few memories?!

 

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Ian :thumbsup:

Posted
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I received a Nichols Stallion pistol as a Christmas present when I was 9 or 10. It was one of only a few presents I remember getting. I still have the gun, but it is well played with and broken. Thanks for sharing the pic.

Posted

BTW. For the dog lovers out there, Reggy was startled, but not hurt in any way after I shot him in the butt. I can't say the same for my brother though as he still has a small scar on his hand from the incident.

 

Bob

Posted

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"Hi-Ho Silver!!"

 

 

Ian :lol:

 

This is what today's kids have....pink Glock anyone!? (That's progress?)

 

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Sabrejet :pinch:

Posted

Hi Meatcan...real patches too!?

 

Sabrejet

Posted

That's right, Ian. My mom took some of dad's patches and sewed them onto that "Junior Warrior" jumpsuit she made. The helmet, complete with plastic foliage, the Thompson, a 1911 Colt, and plastic grenades came as part of a COMBAT playset. That picture is from 1965. That was the coolest thing I ever had!

 

Sadly, the Thompson got run over by a lawnmower when I left it outside in a "foxhole" some years later.

 

Doubly sadly, the patches, and the other remaining items I had of dad's army service, were stolen from my house a couple years ago.

Terry

 

 

Hi Meatcan...real patches too!?

 

Sabrejet

Posted

GREAT thread! I love it!

 

I had a green plastic 'Thompson' that made the 'clackclack' sound. Alas, it finally was "Killed in Action" in the vicious Battle of Tree Fort, circa 1980 or so.

 

However, I did manage to hang on to the rest of the set. Pics will follow shortly!

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