Thunderbird Museum in Oklahoma City, OK

[4v50 Gary]

Visited the 45th Infantry Museum (Thunerbirds) in Oklahoma City, OK.

The Thunderbirds have an original Walker displayed, many firearms from our history including the earliest flintlocks made by our aresnals (no glasses so I couldn't see if it was Harper's Ferry or Springfield Armory), a Confederate Whitworth, Mosby's cannon that was captured from him, various percussion arms including an 1855 Springfield with Maynard Tape Primer (and tape), Confederate Morse Carbine with a brass cartridge, a Colt Root revolving rifle, early conversions to breechloaders, 03A4, M-1Ds, Hitlery's cape (its owner used to wear it and play Batman until his father stopped him), Hitler's silverware and table setting stuff (looted by members of the 45th while on their European Tour), original Bill Mauldin cartoons, and all sorts of neat militaria.

They've 2 M4A1 Shermans and a M4A3E8 with 76 mm gun there. There's a M48 rearmed with a 105 mm gun, M60, M103 (heavy tank) and numerous other vehicles as well as various aircraft flown by the Army Air Corps or OK Air Nat. Guard. A DUKW is outside and a WW II Weasel inside.

It is a must see museum in you're in Oklahoma City.

Here's something I've never seen elsewhere, courtesy of Walt Disney's artists.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Wow. A original Maynard tape primer? I'd love to see that, never even saw a picture. Does it look like a roll of caps?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Yes, it looks like a kid's roll of caps but metallic instead of paper. If you go to the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, VA, you will see one there too.

They had a display case showing the firearms of the Confederacy too. Stan Watie's Commission as a general was also displayed.

 

[col.lemat]

Heck I've been using them in my 55 Springfield pistol carbine, you mean to tell me that they are extinct now? I have two of the metal tube cans that they come in with only about five or six rolls left, so I have been using musket caps in the meantime. Guess I'll have to use buy more musket caps now if I cant get the Maynard tape caps. What a PIA.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Col. Lemat - you remind me of a coworker who had a jeweler engrave "Singer" on his 1911s and then brought in into a shop for refinishing. When the shop told him not to do it, he nonchalantly replied, "Oh, I've more of them at home." They were

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

That Dahlgren Mountain Howitzer of Mosby's might be the very one that was in the 1960 Jackson Arms catalogue for $2500. Ill try to post a pic.

 

[kBob]

Some of the tape primers were paper. They were much like toy caps only the actual cap spot was bigger, usually square and almost to the perforations between individual caps. Toy makers soon found that with less need to accurately place the bursting charge over a musket nipple they could get by with smaller dots of relatively expensive "boom"

As a kid in the 1950's I had a "Spaceman" cap pistol that came with a bunch of rolls of the large white square caps from an uncle. Being a kid I naturally shot them all right up and then complained when the gun did not work as well with red kid's toys caps. The gun was soon left in a neighbor's drive way where his dad ran the Olds over it.

....and here some of us are trying to make percussion caps at home for our revolvers from the red toy caps.

Say did the green Mattel toy caps actually have more bang than most toy red caps of the 1960's or was it all hype? A friend had a Muzzle loading cap gun that shot round cork balls with the blast of a cap. The manufacturer had placed vent holes near the breech to lessen the velocity so naturally we duck taped over the holes and doubled the effective range. I had a number of toy guns that were essentially single shot Spigot mortars. They had inside the muzzle area a spigot over which a hollow plastic "bullet" was forced. the spigot had a pipe leading to the breech where a torn off cap was placed over a tiny hole. I also had "rifles" that had individual cartridges that were spigot type launchers with hollow plastic "bullets". As the inevitable corrosion took place on the metal spigot we tried all sorts of means of getting our velocities back up. The biggest danger to our accuracy and velocity however was younger siblings and pets chewing up the plastic bullets.

During the early 1970's one of the Japanese replica gun outfits offered sheets of red caps that had large square-ish bang compound lumps. almost like the tape primers. These were torn off and shoved into a form of blank cartridge the guns used. Some autos even functioned. Ten such blanks came with the 1928 Thompson model and would function the gun either semi or full auto. The gun looked very real until you got close enough to see that it was held together by allen screws and a burst at folks that just commented what a "neat looking toy" it was gave fun results. Hey, I was young, alright? Not my fault they did not keep spare underwear in the glove box.

Hey at least I did not talk about those darts you put caps in and threw at hard surfaces to.....oops I guess I did.

-kBob