"Alarm and Starting Pistol"

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My grandfather used to read meters in a small town, and carried a tear gas pen gun on his rounds. I don't recall him talking about using it, but such things were common back in the 60s and perhaps 70s.
 
Neat find.

I have one, a revolver that kind of looks like an RG. I bought it in maybe 1984. It shoots .22 blanks, and was also marketed as a self-defense option. Though I never saw any such rounds, it also is supposed to be able to fire .22 caliber "tear gas rounds." There is a small cutout in the plug that runs along the bore, presumably for this gas to escape from the muzzle. I think I paid around ten bucks for it new from someplace like Woolworth's or Sears.

I cannot find a Florida statute that would prohibit carrying this by an unlicensed individual, since it is not readily capable of being converted to fire a projectile (Florida law prohibits the unlicensed carrying of any cartridge-firing pistol that can launch a projectile, or any pistol, including a starter gun, that can be so modified.)

“Firearm” means any weapon (including a starter gun) which will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive..
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Warum?
My Grandpa had an H&R starter pistol for his 'shop gun' (He owned an auto repair shop) in his tool box, that I inherited when he died. I used 'acorn' blanks in it, used it for training a Lab I had.
 
I am impressed with a magazine system that could reliably feed, extract and eject such cartridges.

I wonder what the flares looked like. Of course, from the literature, they appear to rival a 26.5mm star shell in performance.
 
.455_Hunter said:
I am impressed with a magazine system that could reliably feed, extract and eject such cartridges.

I wonder what the flares looked like. Of course, from the literature, they appear to rival a 26.5mm star shell in performance.
Click to expand...

It might just be a grail gun.
 
I hafta' show off my JUNKY Italian starter pistol too. Watch out! as it is still loaded! I never know when I may need to start a race!
MVC-007L.JPG
I think this cost me $15, but it came with the tub of acorn blanks. Yes they are loud. I tried to replicate the outstanding photography that is exhibited by GunnyUSMC with the weathered deck boards, but failed.
MVC-008L.JPG
My tastes usually lean to long barrel starter pistols for marathon races , so I'm always on the lookout for collector models. Ammo for this is rather hard to come by so my race starting days may be numbered.
I'd gladly trade this for a good Deutsch schutzen model any day! You may recognize my dog is a Dachshund too.
 
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Interesting. Never saw one like the O.P.'s. I also inherited a starter pistol 10 years ago. This one looks more like the one posted by total recoil and also uses what are known as acorn blanks. Only useful thing its ever done around here is my wife using it to get Canada Geese off the lawn out back. I used to refer to that pistol as "her gun" because she's not into guns but she's even more not into geese on lawns and everything they leave behind on the lawn. Then one day I thought of Clint Eastwood in the movie, "Gran Torino", and now it has become the " GET OFF MY LAWN ! " gun. Also have a pic of it already here on the computer that IIRC, was seen on a different thread here a year or two ago........ IMG_1758 (2).JPG ....Makes a pretty good "bang" but after a few times the geese get accustomed to the fact that none of them are getting killed or wounded and she has to get closer to them before firing.
 
total recoil said:
I hafta' show off my JUNKY Italian starter pistol too. Watch out! as it is still loaded! I never know when I may need to start a race!
View attachment 926078
I think this cost me $15, but it came with the tub of acorn blanks. Yes they are loud. I tried to replicate the outstanding photography that is exhibited by GunnyUSMC with the weathered deck boards, but failed.
View attachment 926080
My tastes usually lean to long barrel starter pistols for marathon races , so I'm always on the lookout for collector models. Ammo for this is rather hard to come by so my race starting days may be numbered.
I'd gladly trade this for a good Deutsch schutzen model any day! You may recognize my dog is a Dachshund too.
Click to expand...

And the purpose of the 4 inch long "barrel" is ????
 
Back in the 1960's I used to buy them in New Jersey and bring them into NYC for me & my friends.

They sold a .22 caliber crimped blank that had a bit of tear gas in them.

I carried one for a long time,until I found the .38 caliber TG pens.

Wish I still had the pistols,as that was a LONG time ago.
 
Thinking of possible uses (I don't have geese on my lawn), could through it in my pack. I often go into the back-country alone, and it wouldn't be bad to have something dedicated to signaling SOS. But it only holds 8 rounds.
 
Friend had one much like the OPS and the clip was a bar with notches in it. The gun was actually a double action and pulling the trigger advanced the bar to align and fire a cartridge that was actually pointed up. The gas did vent out the end of the barrel. Tear gas rounds were annoying and made me sneeze when he shot them at me from five feet as I wore sun glasses (teen agers ARE stupid)

Typically flare launching from such guns is via a one shot cup despensor.

I do not remember how to say it in German but at one point they were called "Appearance of Death" pistols in German. Supposedly because the tear gas rounds would make an attacker fall and have the Appearance of Death....yeah right.

Some shot out a vent at a 45 degree forward angle in the top of the barrel rather than the fake muzzle.

Oddly in the early 1970's in Germany even though hand guns were very controlled one could still pick up a 4mm Zimmer SHutzen with no paperwork and these things. At least the 4mm actually shot a projectile, even if smaller than a BB and at low velocity. Many looked a lot like the .22 Short RG revolvers....since they were 4mm Rim Fire RG revolvers and RG sold barred barrels Gas/ Blank revolvers and all looked pretty much just alike.

I very much wanted a 4mm RF barrel for single shot adaption of a 1911A1 but it was a custom affair and expensive. Our idea was to use them to train with the 1911A1 in the barracks. We did shoot one of the little revolvers in the barracks for several weeks before it pretty much fell apart AND it got noticed by an officer because dummy left it in his VOLAR desk drawer to have me look at it to see if I could repair it. New LT was looking for a pencil and found CONTRABAND!

Oh and my buddy's pistol like the OPs? Went out the passenger window of a car he was driving one night as he was being stopped for speeding. He decided not to get caught with it and hope it was OK. Zinc monstrosity might still be laying out there in the woods after fifty years for all I know.

There was a plastic "cap pistol" of the late 1960s that used ring caps that looked like, but nicer than most of the RG .22 DAs I saw at the time. We played with them a lot, even in our late teens. Talk about STUPID! We staged what would later be called drive by shootings with them on public streets, complete with moaning and screaming "victims" well at least until the night Dad over heard us planning an event and he and three city, two county, and one state patrol car were all laying in wait for us. Fortunately we spotted the cars, and Dad, during our initial recon. The "Victims" walked around the block repeatedly before angrily giving up and seeking us out. That night ended the public cap gun slaughters.

-kBob
 
I love how in the self defense diagram it looks like the attacker was assaulting someone with a turkey drumstick.
 
total recoil writes:

I hafta' show off my JUNKY Italian starter pistol too.
Click to expand...

Looks just like mine, and reminds me that mine was made in Italy, too. Only difference is my gun's cylinder goes all the way from recoil shield to breech end of barrel; it doesn't have that gap yours does.
 
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