Toy Guns of the 1950's - 1960's

[dodge]

I had a M1 Garand that fired wooden bullets and a Winchester 94 that I got from General Mills for some box tops from Cheerios and a $1 that was a cap gun. I didn't have a carbide cannon but we use to use milk cans and drill a hole at the top just below the neck. Put some water in it and add the carbide light the match and lean back as far as possible,touch it off and get a real good boom. While playing with it one day my father told me that his brothers and him made a wooden plug with handles for one and they would try to ride it when it went off.

 

[welldoya]

I had the Man From U.N.C.L.E. camera gun, the Winchester 94 that ejected shells out of the top, the Roy Rogers double set and the ranch complete with the buildings , fences and animals. Also had a Roy Rogers outfit, vest, etc.
One of my favorites was the Steve McQueen "Wanted Dead or Alive" Mare's Leg.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I was a crack shot at the age of 3.

 

[TexasBill]

A bit off the thread here, but does anyone remember Winnie-The-Pooh? In the original book, Christopher Robin had a cork gun that shot corks that weren't tethered to the gun.

In the original Disney animated film, Pooh had a similar gun, though I don't recall Pooh ever saying "Oh bother," as he chambered another round.

 

[DeltaKilo]

Some very awesome stuff here, some of it I wish they still made when I was a kid.

 

[bannockburn]

Between myself and my two older brothers growing up in the late '50's to early '60's, I can't think of many toy guns we didn't have. This included Hubley cap guns, twin Fanner 50's, a Kentucky Long Rifle, Kadet drill rifles, a Mattel Tommy Gun, Johnny Eagle M-14's, Ideal M-16's, a complete Man from U.N.C.L.E. pistol/carbine set, and a Remco Monkey Division mortar. We were the Arsenal of Democracy; well at least for our street in the neighborhood.

 

[chriske]

Of course Belgian toys were/are very different from American ones.

But strangely enough (or maybe not) a sizeable portion of my 20-odd gun collection actually consists of "real" versions of the toy guns I owned as a kid (ca.1960-'65).

 

[SwampWolf]

Full size replicas, clearly made from casts from the real thing.

Yep, how I loved those cast aluminum replicas! It had to be right around 1958 or 1959 (when I was about fifteen years old) when I saw the ad in some magazine. At two bucks a pop, they weren't cheap back then but a little bit of saving made it possible to buy a couple. I remember getting three of them, a "German Luger", a "Colt Cobra" and a "Colt .45 Auto". No they didn't fire caps nor did they have any moving parts, but they were full-size copies of the real thing and were accurate in every way in terms of appearance. I'm not at all sure about this but I think they were made in Japan.
All these many years later, I have no idea whatever happened to them, but I do remember they were my all time favorite "toys" as a kid. Of course, they don't compare to what children have access to today in terms of realistic toy guns but "back in the day", nothing else came close.
Thanks for conjuring up some fond, old memories, Johnny Guest.

 

[swiftak]

I owned the Johnny Seven in 1965 or 1966. Also owned the Roy Rodger cap guns with the holsters. I had a lever action rifle that fired the plastic bullets in 1963 or 1964. They snapped into a plastic shell casing and hit pretty hard.

 

[InkEd]

Wow, somebody resurrected a 5year old thread with there first post.

At least, it was a decent topic. I had several real-looking toy guns.

 

[TheBookGuy]

Does anyone remember during the 70s/80s - Toys R Us carrying a real wood bolt action rifle that had a wooden "bullet" that looked like it really chambered when you closed the bolt?

 

[Ala Dan]

Aw~! the "Fanner 50"~! Awesome revolver.

 

[22shooters]

I had one that I believe was called OKINAWA GUN. Plastic(green?),bipod, fired rounds that were .5 dia. or so. they loaded into a magazine at the top of the gun.It cocked like a tommy gun. I suppose it was to resemble a B A R or light air cooled .30 . Also remember the Bret or Bart Maverick cowboy hat that had a compartment that a derringer?

 

[rsasse]

Plastic M-1 Carbine

I had a plastic carbine with a script "Paratroop" engraved on the receiver group. It came with a vinyl bayonet.
It was a spring loaded and fired plastic bullets from a magazine.

Anyone know the brand name?

 

[RT55]

Ricochet rifle, Johnny Reb cannon, Fanner 50, Man From UNCLE set, Parris Trainer rifle, the Parris percussion cap pistol that shoot cork balls. My brother and I had a lot of fun with all those, and had forgotten about most of them until reading this thread.

 

[Jolly Rogers]

I had a kool detective snubby (chrome finish) that came with a flexible plastic shoulder holster. I loved that kit. Had a friend come over to play and when he left I noticed it was gone. Dad and I got in the car and drove toward his house and caught up with him on the sidewalk. Asked him to open his jacket...there it was. Scratch one friend.
Joe

 

[gym]

I still have a fanner 50.

 

[leadcounsel]

I was a kid in the early 1980s. We had some great toys even then. Man I wish I would have been able to save them. I just have no idea what ever happened to them... probably sold for nothing at a garage sale (along with my Transformers which are worth gold now)...

I remember between my friends and me, I had an incredibly realistic UZI that made an automatic gunfire noise with the pull of the trigger, my friend John had an SMG, I think a Tommy gun that you could cock and pull the trigger and it would make full auto gunfire. It was really cool. I had this awesome realistic compact .45. Oh, and I had a 1903 or Mauser style bolt action rifle made of real wood and potmetal. It had a working bolt with a fake bullet in the action, that would retract to appear that it was loaded into the chamber when you worked the bolt. It was really cool.

Toys R Us carrying a real wood bolt action rifle that had a wooden "bullet" that looked like it really chambered when you closed the bolt?

Yep, that is it!

Shortly after my youth, probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s, they started making them less realistic and putting red tips on the barrels of toys...

My first BB guns were a revolver style that loaded BBs through the base of the barrel and a 1911 that loaded BBs from the top at the front of the barrel (saw a similar one for $20 at a gunshow last year, debated buying it but did not).

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Also a couple of very realistic, working toy grenades that used caps instead of HE. They used rings with pull pins and had fly away spoons and a functional striker exactly like the real thing!

We used these little rockets that had a spring-pull device that you could pull up and insert roll caps into. Maybe 3 or 4 caps tops, or you run the risk of a dud. It was weighted at the top and had stabilizing fins, so it would fly true and always land on the striker. Toss the thing into the air and it would land with a bang. We had to make sure there was a lot of hard surface for our "grenades" to land on when we played "army," as grass provided a lot of duds. The rockets were 10 cents a piece back then, they'd likely be an AOW, or destructive device now.

 

[oldfool]

dunno how I missed the Johnny Eagle stuff, had a bunch of others, including many named above
but #1 in my heart always was the two gun Mattel Fanner 50 set, in pretty decent leather, too, as I recall, and I was pretty quick with 'em, fastest kid on my block anyway, either hand (I was strictly a DAO shooter, back then)

probably some part of why I am a k-frame guy today

 

[RB98SS]

Yes! I had the Johnny Seven.