Something a little different or Gun-a-holic Part II

[River City John]

I may have mentioned before I was a fan of Rin Tin Tin. One year for my birthday my Mom gave me an outfit that was the same as Rusty's uniform, complete with turned up front to the hat and yellow Cavalry bandanna. I remember I had a Mattel rolling block carbine that took the shootable spring-loaded cartridges that I'd affix a Greenie Stick 'Em Cap onto the base of each.
Many an enjoyable afternoon patrolling the neighborhood giving commands to my imaginary faithful canine companion, with a shout of " Go  Rinty! " he'd launch himself to worry the bad guys as I worked that carbine.

[Crow Choker]

I may have mentioned before I was a fan of Rin Tin Tin. One year for my birthday my Mom gave me an outfit that was the same as Rusty's uniform, complete with turned up front to the hat and yellow Cavalry bandanna.

I remember those uniforms (Rusty's) seeing them back in the day in Sears, Montgomery Wards, and others, looked pretty sharp. I always wanted the Lone Ranger outfit. Ahh', the worlds and things our imaginations took us in our younger years. I once made a pair of Davy Crockett style buckskins out of old potato burlap bags and a hat from some old fur skin of some critter from the coat collar one of my Grandma's had. A possible's bag was drummed up from some old, discarded ladies purse. A flint long rifle was made out of a long tree branch that had sort of a bend on one end that sort of looked like a rear stock. That burlap outfit itched like it was full of fleas and was hot with upper temps. A cousin and I took the flat woven lids of old round bushel baskets to be shields, made swords out of wood shaving bale laths, and made spears from long sticks for spears. Fought many Alexander the Great and Roman Army type of engagements. Alot of fun had back then at little expense and imagination. Beats wearing yer thumbs out on some new fangled device kids now think they need.

[Major 2]

I had a Mattel rolling block carbine too... No uniform though.
I did have a Roman breast plate (of styrene plastic) shield and plastic jeweled short sword; My Kingdom was my neighborhood as I ventured many quests.

Here is a memory you may recall,
Kellogg's U.S. Navy Frogmen, they had a capsule on one leg that when filled with backing soda would propel them in water.
Even the evening tub was an adventure

[Abilene]

I remember watching Rin Tin Tin but the memory is vague and I don't remember a uniform (yeah, I know I could look it up).  The only cool outfit I had that I recall was about age 6, a really neat Zorro outfit with hat, mask, a reversible red/black satin cape and reversible red/black satin sash, plus plastic sword (epee?) of course.  All I lacked was boots, so I'd tuck my pants into dark socks. 

[Crow Choker]

I had a Mattel rolling block carbine too... No uniform though.
I did have a Roman breast plate (of styrene plastic) shield and plastic jeweled short sword; My Kingdom was my neighborhood as I ventured many quests.

Here is a memory you may recall,
Kellogg's U.S. Navy Frogmen, they had a capsule on one leg that when filled with backing soda would propel them in water.
Even the evening tub was an adventure

WOW Major--with that Roman outfit and fancy sword, you had it made. Recall those 'Frogman'-had them and some submarines ya put baking soda in. There were some top floating ships also we'd have 'sea battles' of subs firing fake torpedo's at the surface ships. My Dad was in the US Coast Guard in WW2, spent 2yrs in the North Atlantic convoy duty, playing cat and mouse with German U-Boats, got a few too. He showed us kids proper tactics on dropping depth charges on the subs. 

Abilene-bet with that Zorro outfit you were a real 'swashbuckler'!! We'd play Zooro also, use my Mom's makeup to paint a Zorro musthache, but had to invent the outfits. 

[Major 2]

I like to think... "WE" our generation had "IT"
We were Cosplay, way before there was such a thing, roll playing, and computer games had nothing on us!

I recall fending off Indians (excuse me First Nation Indigenous Persons) one day.
The next maybe space invaders, or the black knight.
It was still fresh in our minds to fight off Germans or Japs (um, Japanese that is)
I wonder how many neighborhood invasions I participated in, both foreign enemy or unworldly?
And less I forget, imagery Cop & robbers, G-men and secret agent man.

It was a shining time

 

[Dave T]

I have to join the crowd who grew up playing with cap guns. I had one of the Fanner 50s that I played with so much it fell apart. I was heart broken.

A couple years later I got a wood and steel pipe pretend 1903 Springfield. It had a "working" bolt you could open and close. Watching WWII shows on TV made me a fan of the M1 Garand. When I realized I could remove the bolt the wood stocked toy looked close enough to a Garand a kid could pretend.

Still, the Westerns on TV were always my favorites. I even had a plastic Derringer - remember Yancy Derringer, and Paladin carrying one - but I never had a toy Winchester. With the Fanner 50 in my holster and the Derringer hidden behind my belt buckle, that would have been make-believe heaven.

Dave

[Baltimore Ed]

We built a lot of forts when I was a kid. Tree forts, bunkers in the ground, you name it. Busted my thumb a couple times trying to nail straightened out nails. Every time there was a good storm lumber would wash down the creek behind my house from peoples yards on the low side of the creek. The creek was called the Bread and Cheese Branch Run. I lived at 204 N Branch Rd. There was a 12 ft difference between my yard and theirs. We would hike down to where all the flotsam piled up and drag home what we wanted. Good summer days.

[Major 2]

Tree forts another treasured memory  I built several.
One I recall, in an old tall Banyon tree about 50 or so feet from Biscayne Bay (Miami) just north of the Rickenbacker Causeway I swear it was 30' up, It had 3 levels of decks.
We could see way out across the bay and in to Seaquarium no other trees anywhere near that height.
Developers cut and bulldozed it in 1960 to build the Brickel building.
In October of 2016 a portion of that building under re-model collapsed.

There was also a coral (oolite) rock cave nearby we played pirates in, they also razed it.

[Russ T Chambers]

Dave T's comment on derringers reminded me of a belt buckle I had.  Had a derringer that clipped on the buckle and was spring loaded.  Pushing your stomach out caused the gun to flip open and fire a cap.

[Major 2]

Dave T's comment on derringers reminded me of a belt buckle I had.  Had a derringer that clipped on the buckle and was spring loaded.  Pushing your stomach out caused the gun to flip open and fire a cap.

The Belt Buckle Derringer was by Mattel, circa 1959    you see them on Ebay quite often.
They are very cool, I wore mine to school, imagine that 

[Mogorilla]

My father ran a paper tube company, had a patent on paper furniture.   A lot of my toys as a kid were paper as were my friends.   I was an odd kid and read the Iliad the summer before I turned 10.   My mom spoke of the summer of the Iliad like it gave her ptsd.   Dad made me armor, Spears, helmets from plastic batting hats swords and shields.  All from paper or paper mache.   We stormed Troy, sailed in the Argo and fought monsters.   Good times,   When dad passed all my Argo crew were there.  Two still have their swords and breastplates. 

[Major 2]

Mog, that is a wonderful memory 

[Mogorilla]

Thanks!   It was a bit off topic, but your comment on the roman breastplate hit home.     Good times.  Dad was real practical.  He would make comments, "Oh, keep reading, when they open the Mythology factory, you will be a shoe in."    Then he would enable the heck out of me with the toys.   I celebrate talk like a pirate day at work, well because I am weird.   I do raffles to support a local no-kill shelter.    One year, a friend came in with a paper tube saying she had a pirate bazooka.   She left it in my office.   She had no idea of my upbringing, so I made it a pirate cannon.   Cardboard, paper mache and paint.    It was a raffle item.  Learned a few things, one at 6:00 a.m., this in the back of your pick up will elicit stares and a complete lack of tailgating.    And when you tell security you are bringing in a toy cannon, better explanations are needed.   A grandmother at work won it and later told me the problem was each grandkid wanted to take it home.   

[Major 2]

That is what this tread is all about, memories and shared joy of our youth 

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

Howdy Toy Fans,

I and a friend had fanner fifties and the rolling blocks that fired the spring-loaded plastic bullets. What great gun fights and fast draw shoot outs we had. In addition to numerous cap guns that my memory has lost there is one that still stands out. I remember it as an 1860 conversion, nickel plated with "ivory" grips. The best part was that it had "real" bullets with shells that slid off the pot metal bullets so you could put a cap in each and then reload the gun.

On a similar note, my friends and I were FORCED to attend dance lessons. We would have a competition to see how many "guns" we could hide on our bodies.

During our WW2 phase, I had a cool, plastic Thompson sub machine gun that let you pull a charging handle to the rear and would then make "full auto" sounds when the trigger was pulled.

Only slightly similar, I was 12 -14 and when my mother went grocery shopping, she would drop my buddy and me at the dump with our .22 rifles to shoot rats. Can you imagine that happening today. I would have been removed for the house and my sainted Mother would have been jailed.

We built forts on the ground. Anything in a tree was a "tree house". I don't know why.

Rev. Chase - still a kid at heart

[Abilene]

A toy gun that was my favorite was a double barrel over/under, like a big oversize derringer, and the barrels rotated on a thin axis pin.  There was also a red rubber/plastic dagger blade in between the barrels that could be pushed forward.  I loved that gun.  Unfortunately a neighbor kid was messing with it and that weak axis pin broke off.  I was so bummed. 

Rev. Chase, we also had one of those tommy guns that made noise.  I had forgotten about that.

[Baltimore Ed]

My first 'gun' was a Model 25 Daisy pump BBgun. Got it for my birthday. Didn't have to shake it like those lever guns as it had a spring fed magazine/internal barrel that screwed in the outside barrel. Think it held 25 BBs. Had a plastic stock but I built a pistol grip for it.  I could shoot that critter. My first new .22 rifle was a Remington Fieldmaster pump. Like a pump.

[Froogal]

Remember the POP guns? those that you stuffed a cork into? And if you lost all of the corks, well maybe it will work with a pencil just kind of laid in there.

It worked. But I really should not have targeted my little sisters balloon. The pop gun disappeared after that.

[Major 2]

Howdy Toy Fans,

I and a friend had fanner fifties and the rolling blocks that fired the spring-loaded plastic bullets. What great gun fights and fast draw shoot outs we had. In addition to numerous cap guns that my memory has lost there is one that still stands out. I remember it as an 1860 conversion, nickel plated with "ivory" grips. The best part was that it had "real" bullets with shells that slid off the pot metal bullets so you could put a cap in each and then reload the gun.

On a similar note, my friends and I were FORCED to attend dance lessons. We would have a competition to see how many "guns" we could hide on our bodies.

During our WW2 phase, I had a cool, plastic Thompson sub machine gun that let you pull a charging handle to the rear and would then make "full auto" sounds when the trigger was pulled.

Only slightly similar, I was 12 -14 and when my mother went grocery shopping, she would drop my buddy and me at the dump with our .22 rifles to shoot rats. Can you imagine that happening today. I would have been removed for the house and my sainted Mother would have been jailed.

We built forts on the ground. Anything in a tree was a "tree house". I don't know why.

Rev. Chase - still a kid at heart

The good Rev's gun would have been just like this one....

And Ed's Mod 25 may have looked like this... photos are from the internet

I never had a Mod 25 BB gun, but I did have a few Daisy Lever gun including a 'Spitin Image".
I did however have the Hubley like Reverend Chase, I sure it was the inspiration for all my future infatuation for 1869 Army's and conversions