A History of Toy Guns

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  • Опубліковано 17 лис 2024

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  • @stanwolenski9541
    @stanwolenski9541 Місяць тому +271

    A few years ago I purchasing a firearm and said something to the clerk about a Red Ryder BB gun, a woman behind me said, “You’ll shoot your eye out”.

    • @bartsanders1553
      @bartsanders1553 Місяць тому +19

      "Poetry! Sheer poetry! A plus plus plus plus plus plus..."

    • @Jack_Stacks
      @Jack_Stacks Місяць тому +17

      It comes from the movie A Christmas Story (1983) and is the most common phrase used with Red Riders and BB guns in general. usually ending in the word 'kid' and in "you'll shoot your eye out, kid."

    • @TiesOfZip
      @TiesOfZip Місяць тому +10

      Did you marry her? If not that’s a serious missed opportunity. That’s wife material right there

    • @mantis10_surf85
      @mantis10_surf85 Місяць тому +8

      I started getting Tommy Guns 💪 when I was 5 years old. I always got them in green or blue colors. Nobody messed with me when I was firing off my Tommy Gun. Pow Pow Capow 🇺🇸🫡🤙

    • @lancerevell5979
      @lancerevell5979 Місяць тому +8

      Ralphy will never die! 😅

  • @robertbenson9797
    @robertbenson9797 Місяць тому +21

    This video brought back lots of memories.
    In about 1963, I received a “Combat” play set. Based on one of the characters of the popular TV series, it had the replica equipment of Sargent Chip Saunders ( Vic Morrow). It had a plastic helmet with three stripes of a Sargent, a plastic pistol belt with a US holster for a full size model of a Colt 1911 automatic pistol that could shoot caps. But the high-light of the set was a full size replica of a Thompson sub-machine gun that also shot caps. With this set, no one doubted who was “the squad leader”!
    I played with this set for many years. The neighborhood “squad” and I successfully defended our elementary school playground from the Germans and Japanese.
    When I was in college, I returned home and decided to take a look at my Thompson sub-machine gun. As I was looking for it in the basement, my mother told me “ that she had cleaned out a lot of my old toys”, including Sargent Saunders helmet and firearms. I was crushed!
    I’ve often wondered how many times “cleaning out” involved toys and other things such as baseball cards!
    Thanks for making me smile remembering our “army days”.

  • @PrimarchBentley
    @PrimarchBentley Місяць тому +157

    Ah yes, the ever versatile stick. A cane, a rifle, a sword. But if a minimum of two boys each have a stick, they will inevitably become swords at some point.

  • @rosezingleman5007
    @rosezingleman5007 Місяць тому +144

    I the late eighties/early nineties I tried to get my sons to be “less violent” in their play. I took away all the toy soldiers etc and then heard them in the yard playing war with sticks and branches and pelting each other with acorns. I gave up after that. They grew up to become: a chef, a writer, an IT specialist. So much for the “you’re teaching them violence” idea that was popular at the time.

    • @spudgunn8695
      @spudgunn8695 Місяць тому +14

      Let them get it out of their system while they're young, hopefully they'll have grown out of it before they hit their mid teens!

    • @Cedarlick
      @Cedarlick Місяць тому +14

      We boomers grew up on war toys and turned against a war. The first half of gen x grew up without them and were pro-war . Kids learn by simulating and daydreaming, so I think we had thought about it more.

    • @lancerevell5979
      @lancerevell5979 Місяць тому +10

      Being a 67 year old Native Floridian, I grew up with guns. I always knew where Dad kept his loaded revolver (which I still own) and knew to not touch it. Later at 12 years old, I was the "family armorer" with the three shotguns and my .22 rifle and the big case of boxes of shells in my bedroom closet. I was hunting early on. I did ten years in the military, a shipmate and I had our privately owned pistols kept in our ship's armory. Later, as a civilian I got into gun collecting, sport shooting and handloading. Now old and retired (I was in IT) I sold or traded off most of my guns and other stuff. In all those decades I never threatened or hurt anyone, until in recent years on two occasions I had to chase attempted home invaders off my property at gunpoint. As a kid I had my share of toy guns and air guns. 😊

    • @stanwolenski9541
      @stanwolenski9541 Місяць тому +8

      @@rosezingleman5007 I grew up in a family with the family rifle and shotgun over the mantle, we NEVER played with them. We would take them down for hunting or cleaning only. My wife grew up in the city and was against guns in our home. A number of years ago I purchased a pistol which I kept in a secure location. One day, probably 20 years ago, she said, “We need to buy a gun”. Told her we already have one, she then purchased one for herself. Since then we have purchased various firearms for different levels of self defense. Me having been in the army, my wife knows the difference between a rifle and a gun, the gun has been used much more than the rifle.

    • @JimLambier
      @JimLambier Місяць тому +1

      My wife is a kindergarten teacher. She told me that all the 4 and 5 year old boys want to do with Lego is build them into guns. Not wanting to hear complaints from some of the parents, she had to institute a no weapons policy at the Lego bin.

  • @zelphx
    @zelphx Місяць тому +21

    Upon their introduction, I discovered that the "plastic discs" that were to be fired from the Star Trek gun, could be easily replaced by pennies. They did not fly as far... but they certainly could provide a decent sting to any "aliens" lurking near your "fort" or tree house.

    • @TheHistoryGuyChannel
      @TheHistoryGuyChannel  Місяць тому +12

      LOL I figured that out too. Photon torpedoes as opposed to phasers.

    • @snoopu2601
      @snoopu2601 18 днів тому +1

      I had one of those that I forgot all about. I just wrote that I had many many toy guns as a kid and even made a few out of carved wood even made shot gun out of plumbing pip with a wood stock.

  • @suzybolen8735
    @suzybolen8735 Місяць тому +62

    I'm from the deep south. We grew up with real and toy guns. We were also taught the difference between the two. So many people are against kids playing with toy guns. I see nothing at all wrong with it.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +11

      It's all about education, training, discipline and supervision... which most people don't seem to have the time or will for nowadays. 🤷 Most 'adults' nowadays are pilgrims on the path of least resistance.

    • @user-neo71665
      @user-neo71665 Місяць тому +3

      Same. I was born in 1980 and when I was a kid a .22 was one step up from a bb gun. Once we hit about 8 or 9 we were given a .22 rifle and allowed to squirrel hunt by ourselves.

    • @suzybolen8735
      @suzybolen8735 Місяць тому +4

      @@user-neo71665 Yep. As long as we ate whatever we killed. Birds, squirrels, rabbits. We didn't kill just for the fun of it.

    • @laserbeam002
      @laserbeam002 Місяць тому +2

      I had several BB guns. When I was 12 my parents said I could have a BB gun IF I saved up money from drink bottles, sold them back to the grocery store. I did. It cost 7 dollars. It was a Dasey

    • @snoopu2601
      @snoopu2601 18 днів тому

      That's why you don't see them on store shelves in the toy section. That would have to be a special order.

  • @corporalvideo26
    @corporalvideo26 Місяць тому +57

    Tomorrow, Oct. 1, Crosman will begin selling the; M1 a full auto BB gun. It will sell for $139.00. Powered by a CO2 cartridge it will fire 25 rounds (BBs), at full auto before reloading. It will also fire single BBs through the use of a selector switch.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +12

      They're pretty late to the game. All the airsoft replicas have been doing that for decades

    • @mellongfield9873
      @mellongfield9873 Місяць тому +16

      I had a BB gun that was the same size and weight as the M-1 Carbine. It cocked by pulling the barrel into the frame, giving you roughly 540 fps of muzzle velocity. I kept that until I went into the army in 1970, when it went to my little brother. My dad was a career soldier who spent 31 years in the army, and we never had any problems getting toy guns. I was in the NRA in the sixth grade when we were stationed on Governor’s Island in Manhattan harbor, and we learned on .22 target rifles in an underground firing range on the Eastern Side of the island.

    • @mikeseier4449
      @mikeseier4449 Місяць тому +3

      Woohoo!

    • @billybob-gb6ol
      @billybob-gb6ol Місяць тому +4

      They have other auto bb guns same with umirex

    • @deaconblue949
      @deaconblue949 Місяць тому +2

      @@mellongfield9873 I had one of those M1 bb guns as well before moving up to a pellet gun

  • @JimLambier
    @JimLambier Місяць тому +32

    Forty years ago, my wife worked at a group home for young teenage boys that were either orphans or had been removed from their families. Like almost all boys do, everything got turned into pretend guns. It was so common that the staff would frequently kid, "you'll shoot your eye out". Unfortunately, one of the more criminally inclined boys got ahold of a BB gun and decided to rob a store. Somehow, in the planning process, he managed to shoot out his own eye. After that, my wife and colleagues could no longer use that line.

    • @Nightdiver20
      @Nightdiver20 24 дні тому +2

      Sounds like all the more reason to use it

  • @OathTaker3
    @OathTaker3 Місяць тому +26

    As a Generation X-er I grew up in the 70's & 80's & got to own & play with all the toy guns from the late 60's & up. I can say that that was the most important toy to a boy to have fun with because as you grew so did the toy guns capabilities so they became a way to prepare for the real thing when you got old enough. 😁

    • @Riceball01
      @Riceball01 Місяць тому +3

      Same here. I had a snub nose revolver that fired red caps that came in a ring, I think I also had a cap gun that took rolls of caps. I also had one of those tracer guns that I made a shoulder holster for using paper bags and masking tape. The, hen I got a bit older I got both a Laser Tag pistol and rifle and a couple of battery powered full auto squirt guns which never lasted long because the motors would burn out or something. And in high school my and my friends would drive down to our local Photon center every chance we got. Those were good times.

  • @robertjensen1438
    @robertjensen1438 Місяць тому +74

    I had a rough childhood. I couldn't play with toys that required supervision.
    I only had regular vision.

    • @TheHistoryGuyChannel
      @TheHistoryGuyChannel  Місяць тому +17

      Lol

    • @M8Stealth
      @M8Stealth Місяць тому +6

      @@robertjensen1438 But did your adults have supervision?

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +3

      Something about Lance & is channel brings out the dad jokes. I was listening to Boston Blackie recently and it occurred to me that he must be a relation- every scene seemed to end with a groaner alliterative pun. 😅

    • @elitearbor
      @elitearbor Місяць тому +6

      Here I am, getting on in years, and I still have to wear glasses. Where is this "adult super-vision" we were all promised?

    • @jamesclark2630
      @jamesclark2630 20 днів тому +1

      We were so broke..... I couldn't pay attention...

  • @maynardcarmer3148
    @maynardcarmer3148 Місяць тому +22

    I had one of those "Fanner Fifty" toy replicas of a Colt Single Action Army pistol back in the 50s. You loaded plastic 'bullets' into the front of the cylinder, and when the trigger was pulled, a spring in the back of each chamber shot them out the barrel. Fun times, those, when a kid could just be a kid.

    • @theallseeingmaster
      @theallseeingmaster Місяць тому +5

      Agreed!

    • @jamesclark2630
      @jamesclark2630 20 днів тому +1

      Did you use " Greenie " stick on caps ?
      I did.

    • @larryisabell1127
      @larryisabell1127 19 днів тому +1

      By the 1960s Mattel called them "Shootin' Shell Fanner". The ones without the leather holster could be bought for only $5.00! There was never any question about what I wanted for birthdays & Christmas, Mattel made the ultimate toy revolver and also a rifle version. The tiny grey plastic bullets were VERY easy to lose. The gun also came with at least 6 solid "dummy" rounds that looked real from the front and you stuck the Greenie Stickum Caps on the back of the shell, fun times indeed.

  • @ineedmyhat
    @ineedmyhat Місяць тому +63

    Whenever a doll like object is found and they call it a religious idol, I often wonder if it was actually just a child's toy. I mean how long have we made toys for children ?

    • @jameskelly7782
      @jameskelly7782 Місяць тому +4

      Demon idol.....or early troll doll?

    • @masonsykes2240
      @masonsykes2240 Місяць тому +2

      ...Does this mean in 1000 years museums will be exhibiting Barbie dolls as "fertility idols"?

    • @Tailssonic1999x
      @Tailssonic1999x Місяць тому

      A very long time. There are quite a few ancient Assyrian children's toys we've found, some who little wheels

    • @a.s.j.g6229
      @a.s.j.g6229 Місяць тому +5

      I’m doing an archeology degree, and it is a difficult line to draw in many cases. However, normally how we decide if it is a toy or a ritual object is from the context in which it is found. For example, if it is something we have never seen before and it is found in a domestic context, or if it is of a type we always find in domestic contexts but nowhere else then we are more likely to label it as a toy. But, if it is found deliberately buried or deliberately destroyed, or if it is of a type found with other known ritual items, or often found in places we wouldn’t expect children to be left alone with toys then we will likely label it as a religious/ritual object.

    • @ineedmyhat
      @ineedmyhat Місяць тому

      @@a.s.j.g6229 God Bless your brilliant and inquisitive self.

  • @HM2SGT
    @HM2SGT Місяць тому +13

    2:16 _What makes a good soldier?_ *The ability to fire three shots in any weather.*
    Now that's soldiering!

    • @Anamericanhomestead
      @Anamericanhomestead Місяць тому +4

      I think that's from Sharpe's Rifles, correct? That was a good show.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +1

      ​@@Anamericanhomestead 😃👍 Sharpe's Eagle, 1993

  • @jamesharper4671
    @jamesharper4671 Місяць тому +21

    Don't know if this counts but I had an "A-salt rifle" that shot a small amount of salt and was designed to kill flies. Soooo much fun but I left salt in it over the winter and it wouldn't work the next spring.😢

    • @johnnail532
      @johnnail532 Місяць тому

      The salt probably absorbed moisture and blocked the feed- it could probably be cleared

    • @kaliumnitraat
      @kaliumnitraat 13 днів тому

      Bug assault

  • @owensomers8572
    @owensomers8572 Місяць тому +3

    Wow, thanks for reminding me how old I am, I was shocked at how many of these "toys" I have used. I still yearn for my "Rapid Fire Tracer Gun" which I was given for Christmas in 1974, and had taken by my mother about two days later, never to be seen again! How was it my fault my older sisters kept on getting in the way of the discs?

  • @stanwolenski9541
    @stanwolenski9541 Місяць тому +15

    I’m so old the early weapons I played with were stones and sticks.

    • @tomryan914
      @tomryan914 Місяць тому

      ...future WW4...'but names will never hurt me'...

  • @Chiller11
    @Chiller11 Місяць тому +4

    One of my favourite toys as a kid was my Mattel Fanner Fifty old west replica revolver. It came with a very nice leather holster and cartridge belt. We all practice our quick draws for hours on end.

  • @johngregg5735
    @johngregg5735 Місяць тому +13

    Great video. Lots of ammunition or a stroll down memory lane.
    I had the classic Mattel 'Fanner 50', along with the 'Johnny 7'.

    • @kennethrouse7942
      @kennethrouse7942 Місяць тому +2

      I still have my Fanner-50, 65 years later! 👍😎

    • @jamesclark2630
      @jamesclark2630 20 днів тому

      @@kennethrouse7942 LUCKY YOU !
      Still have the holster ?

  • @rickjensen2833
    @rickjensen2833 Місяць тому +3

    We dug big ditches 6' feet down that would protect 3 kids from the enemies, and have dirt clod fights back in the 60's, and don't forget about the aqua net flamethrower. Born in Campbell, Ca, 1962. ❤

  • @theallseeingmaster
    @theallseeingmaster Місяць тому +8

    I think I played with every realistic looking Mattel toy gun that ever existed in the 60's. I especially liked the realistic looking, plastic projectile shooting, Greenie Stickem capped, chrome plated six-shooter Colt 45's; a close 2nd as was their lever action 'Winchester rifle' and let us not forget their 'belt buckle 'Derringer'. Mattel made a great Tommy gun which, unusually, only fired common rolled red caps.

    • @kennethrouse7942
      @kennethrouse7942 Місяць тому +3

      I remember that Colt.. I didn't have the revolver, but I did have the rolling block rifle that operated the same way. 👍😎

    • @theallseeingmaster
      @theallseeingmaster Місяць тому +3

      @@kennethrouse7942 Life was GOOD!

    • @jamesclark2630
      @jamesclark2630 20 днів тому +2

      LOVED that derringer !

    • @larryisabell1127
      @larryisabell1127 19 днів тому +1

      Mattel also made a Dick Tracy model snub nose revolver that also shot the same bullets. You can tell it's Mattel, it's swell.

  • @bwilliams463
    @bwilliams463 Місяць тому +9

    "Get 'Big Dick' - and be the envy of every boy in town." Greatest advertising slogan ever. I played with cap guns until my folks got me a Red Ryder-style Daisy when I was around 8. Being a farm kid, I then graduated to a .22 rifle around the age of 11.

  • @lorensims4846
    @lorensims4846 Місяць тому +16

    Our parents were ardent pacifists and would never allow us to have toy guns. We had to look at the ones our friends had and feel somewhat left out.

    • @vardenkenzei5053
      @vardenkenzei5053 Місяць тому

      My mother was like that, so my grandmother would buy me toy guns at garage sales and smuggle them into the house for me.

    • @lorensims4846
      @lorensims4846 Місяць тому

      @@vardenkenzei5053 Eventually they said squirt guns were OK, but this was in the early '60 when that suitcase gun and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. pistol that would do everything were so popular. We could pop caps with a hammer, though.

  • @lorensims4846
    @lorensims4846 Місяць тому +8

    A friend of mine had one of those Buck Rogers guns that had belonged to his father.

  • @dougrobinson8602
    @dougrobinson8602 Місяць тому +4

    Who could forget growing up in the sixties and the wonderful aroma emitted by cap pistols and the satisfying sound they produced? Any errant youth worth his salt would also find alternate methods of making caps explode. Hammers from Dad's workshop were well-suited for this, but required a much larger budget for caps. I specifically recall there were two popular options for caps. One was a roll of red paper with indexed holes and dots of powder that the pistol would ignite. The louder option was a ring of plastic caps that could be inserted into a toy revolver, much like a modern pistol shooter would use a speed loader. Good times, indeed.

    • @garyc39
      @garyc39 Місяць тому +1

      I thought I was the only one that did that when I was growing up in the 60s.Use my dads hammer to hammer a roll of caps

    • @orcasgirl1
      @orcasgirl1 7 днів тому

      I just used a rock to pound the caps rolled out on the sidewalk! Haha.

  • @anonymousm9113
    @anonymousm9113 Місяць тому +4

    Growing up in the '80s, toy guns and war games were part of the experience. We had the realistic looking toy UZIs and pistols that we'd play with around the trailer park, and we'd have the occasional acorn fight. Eventually, we graduated to having BB gun fights in the woods "down the hill". One pump rule, no aiming for the head... safety first! 😆 At various times, we'd play with pop guns, water guns, and of course sticks.
    In high school, I arranged a big cap gun fight with my friends on Bell Isle in Richmond, buying all the cap gun revolvers and caps I could find. It wasn't as grandiose as I'd hoped, but it was fun. A year or two later, I learned two things the hard way: 1) don't trust a detective who "only wants to talk" and 2) BB guns are classified as firearms in some states. A few months earlier, I had my Desert Eagle BB gun out near my car and one of my friends' younger brothers saw it and was supposedly traumatized. A detective kept calling afterward, so I finally went downtown to see what it was about. Just questions, no charges, but with one caveat: in Richmond, all firearms related incidents falling under Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court require an overnight stay in lockup. The cops told me multiple times I wasn't under arrest and that if I fled, they couldn't pursue me. I was naive and ended up spending a few weeks in Detention as the Token White Kid, after a judge declared me a menace the following morning. That Desert Eagle was one very inconveniencing "toy".
    Now, of course, it's "Nerf of Nothing". While I own over 100 real guns, though, I think that the popularity of airsoft is both good and bad. It seems like a fun way to kill some time, and of course it appeals to those who want to get as realistic as possible with mil-sim without having to actually enlist in the military (as well as an effective training tool for those who do serve), however, most of the guns look identical to their real-life counterparts. I don't know how many news reports I've seen where someone has made a threat or been caught planning something and their "arsenal" is mostly or entirely airsoft. Still, that's better than the "toy" guns a lot of kids have these days--particularly those in the inner cities. A Glock with a "switch" isn't a toy, but culture has led many to believe that they are.

  • @oldesertguy9616
    @oldesertguy9616 Місяць тому +2

    Great episode. I had a Johnny Eagle rifle when I was a kid, and a Crossman BB gun that looked identical to an M-1 Carbine. Great times.

  • @ianwhitehead3086
    @ianwhitehead3086 Місяць тому +14

    I hoped you’d mention the paper cap gun.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +1

      A technology also used with a military firearm if I recall correctly

    • @johnjephcote7636
      @johnjephcote7636 Місяць тому

      I liked to lick the cordite-tasting used paper cap reels.

  • @budmatto9205
    @budmatto9205 Місяць тому +32

    As a child of the 60's, we played army for hours, running around the neighborhood with replica M1's, Tommy guns, 1911's, etc., emulating the super heroes of our time - our Dads, uncles, neighbors, etc. who had recently saved us from the Axis threats. We played Cowboys and outlaws with our six-shooter and lever action rifles, riding our trusty steed (Schwinn). It was all great fun and had us outside burning energy and getting exercise. While I agree that Super Soakers and Nerf guns are the toys of today, many more of the guns are now found on computer screens and TV's portrayed in video games. Not the same thing.....

    • @Cedarlick
      @Cedarlick Місяць тому +3

      Loved my Matel sub machine gun and my monkey division bazooka !

    • @theallseeingmaster
      @theallseeingmaster Місяць тому +1

      @@Cedarlick
      Mine was camouflaged, was yours?

    • @ftroop58
      @ftroop58 Місяць тому +5

      born in 1958 , maybe 8 or 9 santa brought me m16 and 1911. my brother got the winchester and colt peacemaker.. I think they were made by mattel

    • @Cedarlick
      @Cedarlick Місяць тому

      @@theallseeingmaster no, looked like a Thompson.

    • @tadcoder2848
      @tadcoder2848 Місяць тому +3

      Same here, man did we have fun. We had a lot of Army Surplus stuff too. Canteen, jackets, caps, mess kits and the like. Outside all day only home for supper.

  • @phorton7039
    @phorton7039 Місяць тому +10

    I remember having a lot of fun times with my trusty 'spud gun' :)

  • @rcrevel5767
    @rcrevel5767 Місяць тому +3

    you missed my favorite- the spud gun. by stabbing the narroow barrel into a potato a puff of air propelled the slug when the trigger was pulled. a metal gun made of pewter. harmless cheap fun. circa early 1960's.

  • @lindaandrews5468
    @lindaandrews5468 Місяць тому +15

    We played cowboys (cowgirls) back in the day. Played throwing rocks & fighting with sticks.. I am nearly 80 & somehow I survived my childhood.

    • @marqsee7948
      @marqsee7948 Місяць тому +1

      maybe you're one who didn't get hit by the rock or punctured by the stick.

  • @anthonygray333
    @anthonygray333 Місяць тому +6

    Neighbor had a Johnny 7. He was the envy of the neighborhood.
    I had an Agent Zero-M set that had a movie camera turn into a machine gun. Trivia: the commercial starred a young Kurt Russell.

  • @Ron-rs2zl
    @Ron-rs2zl Місяць тому +13

    The toy stick gun was a luxury, we only had our finger gun.

  • @indigohammer5732
    @indigohammer5732 Місяць тому +4

    No mention of the Japanese Model Guns. Full size metal, later plastic weapons which used brass reloadable rounds firing special caps. Almost identical in function and appearance to their real counterparts.

  • @richardross7219
    @richardross7219 Місяць тому +5

    I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a time of great toy guns. There were also a lot of real, old guns, that you couldn't get ammunition for. We were given a trap door springfield and a smith carbine to use with greenie stickum caps. 60+ years later, I'm disgusted about that. In the 1950s the Hubley toy company made some great metal toy guns. Good video.

    • @joestrummer4106
      @joestrummer4106 Місяць тому +1

      Why are you disgusted by that? I get it looks kinda bad, but it's like someone playing soldier with a pellet gun, I did that all the time as a kid in the early 2000s. After 10 years old I could carry my 22 and machete

    • @richardross7219
      @richardross7219 Місяць тому

      @@joestrummer4106 I'm disgusted because we damaged those old rifles that are now very valuable. Good Luck, Rick

    • @joestrummer4106
      @joestrummer4106 Місяць тому +1

      @richardross7219 ah I get you, I didn't consider that. I'd love to get my hands on a genuine trapdoor

  • @jamesomalley4556
    @jamesomalley4556 Місяць тому +19

    Had a bb gun at 9 and my 1st shotgun at 12or 13 never killed anyone Lol but I'm a boomer so that's that.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +4

      I bet you also had parents who supervised you and taught you the fundamentals of firearm safety.

  • @HM2SGT
    @HM2SGT Місяць тому +32

    The history of imagination and running around outside.
    Also, a BB gun is usually a kid's first introduction to the rules of firearm safety.

    • @M8Stealth
      @M8Stealth Місяць тому +7

      @@HM2SGT Every American citizen should have a BB gun by age 6, a .22LR rifle when they reach double digits in age, and an AR-15 when fifteen. Remember, one is none.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +2

      With adequate supervision, discipline, education and training, yes indeed

    • @tomhenry897
      @tomhenry897 Місяць тому

      Allows them to be idiots with out causing much damage
      Then can teach

  • @ghowell13
    @ghowell13 Місяць тому +2

    Great episode, as always!
    I only recently bought an old cap grenade, and cap bomb. As soon as my daughter is healed up a bit, and it stops raining, im going to take her out, and show her some more "old fashioned fun."

  • @cpnscarlet
    @cpnscarlet Місяць тому +3

    MPC - Maybe you're reporting about a different company, but the MPC I'm familiar with was "Model Products Corp." They were part of General Mills in the 1970s and took over Lionel Trains for a time after Lionel Corp. went bankrupt and sold the train operations.
    I have a cap gun from the 1990s that had the orange cap on the end with 7 boxes of cap rolls. I tried to give it to a friend recently for her 6-year old grandson and she politely declined with, "I don't think his parents would be OK with that." Time moves on.

  • @vlmellody51
    @vlmellody51 Місяць тому +4

    I did my best to keep my son away from guns when he was very little, but I gave up when he bent a drinking straw in two and fired it at me.

  • @twoheart7813
    @twoheart7813 Місяць тому +1

    I remember a Japanese model company back in the 1970's? that made 1:1 scale plastic model kits of famous pistols like the Luger & Colts with working parts & plastic bullets included. They looked very authentic & I think you could use caps in the bullets if I remember right.

  • @alexjohnward
    @alexjohnward Місяць тому +6

    That's a nice stick you have there, History Guy!

  • @hrafnafloki1786
    @hrafnafloki1786 Місяць тому +5

    I've been waiting for a history of toy guns

  • @skydivingcomrade1648
    @skydivingcomrade1648 Місяць тому +4

    "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

  • @vardenkenzei5053
    @vardenkenzei5053 Місяць тому +1

    12:46 rapid fire tracer gun was my favorite. I mail ordered hundreds of discs from the company.

  • @snegglederlickton1637
    @snegglederlickton1637 Місяць тому

    I love the way you narrate and your passion for the subject.

  • @DukeCannon
    @DukeCannon Місяць тому +4

    I have a picture of me about age 7 sound asleep holding a plastic M16. - with my finger on the trigger!

  • @charlieturk8141
    @charlieturk8141 Місяць тому +1

    The last one mentioned, the stick, was my favorite toy gun/toy sword when I was a kid!

  • @Foxaris
    @Foxaris Місяць тому +9

    I used to have a couple of toyguns made of metal, that looked like guns from 1890. You loaded them with ammo that made a loud sound and created a small dustcloud that smelled like gunpowder. They are still being sold and look the same.

  • @YTRulesFromNM
    @YTRulesFromNM Місяць тому +3

    I played with toy dinosaurs and as an adult I admit I would use real dinosaurs to harm people if I could.

  • @johngore7744
    @johngore7744 Місяць тому +1

    I was born in 1961 We had spud guns. That fired a plug of potato with the blast of a round cap. It was tiny (about4 inches) it had a barrel for holding the cartridges. They were cool. We played with them at recess till the teachers took them away. Cheers from Montreal

    • @johngore7744
      @johngore7744 Місяць тому

      We also made tennis ball cannons. A bunch of old metal beer cans punctured top and bottom with a old V cut can-opener about 6 of them taped together in a cylinder. Then on the top put a tennis ball can with the bottom partly cut out. Make a nail hole in the bottom can fill it with some lighter fluid , put a tennis ball in the top can. Get a friend to hold it( lol) and light the fluid and Kaboom that sucker goes about 500 feet up. Cheers from Montreal don’t try this at home kids.

    • @dougrobinson8602
      @dougrobinson8602 Місяць тому

      @@johngore7744 We had a name for them that might offend people from Poland. I eventually made one that ran on the fuel from a Big Bang Cannon. Dented the neighbor's aluminum siding with that one. The sound that a lighter fluid cannon makes is quite unique. Thank you for the detailed build instructions. The proper size soup can is a good substitute for the old beer cans. Be safe, kids!

  • @llapmsp
    @llapmsp Місяць тому

    Lots of memories. Thanks for doing this topic.

  • @kbjerke
    @kbjerke Місяць тому +79

    I enjoyed this episode, but you'll probably be demonetized for pointing that stick... JMHO

    • @M8Stealth
      @M8Stealth Місяць тому

      @@kbjerke A stick may be used as a weapon of mass destruction. If we banned sticks, our democracy would be saved.

    • @HM2SGT
      @HM2SGT Місяць тому +4

      ​@@M8StealthYou couldn't possibly be suggesting and recommending Common Sense stick control?
      Next thing you'll want to be controlling alcohol and automobiles to prevent drunk driving deaths!

    • @M8Stealth
      @M8Stealth Місяць тому +4

      @@HM2SGT Your sarcasm detector is not working. Have you checked the batteries? =)

    • @davidgates1122
      @davidgates1122 Місяць тому +4

      Only if he imagines or pretends it contains a magazine that holds more than 20 rounds.

    • @tigercap100
      @tigercap100 Місяць тому +5

      At least it wasn't a pop tart

  • @ThelifeandtimesofBarneyTaylor
    @ThelifeandtimesofBarneyTaylor Місяць тому

    I did enjoy this episode I do metal detecting as a hobby and I dig up toy guns all the time so much fun to find ones like the ones we played with growing up

  • @Jelsick
    @Jelsick 12 днів тому +1

    I had so many toy guns as a kid, from cap guns, guns that shot rubber BBs, rifles, etc. Many hours spent playing war or cowboys and Indians with my brothers.

  • @frankschuler2867
    @frankschuler2867 Місяць тому

    Thanks for this fun video, History Guy! I’m glad I got to experience fun toy guns. I grew up in the 70s/80s/90s, so, I was able to experience some of the more realistic looking ones…but was also there when everything started to turn neon and outlandish. We shot BB guns, pellet guns and the real things too. I still haven’t shot my eye out, though, lol.

  • @Davidbirdman101
    @Davidbirdman101 Місяць тому +2

    I had a cap gun in the 60's. Lots of fun.

  • @philipmorris4843
    @philipmorris4843 Місяць тому +1

    I’m 67 and had more than I can remember. Had two wooden pop guns and one of those bazooka air guns, could be pumped and made ripples in the water or knocked over stacked cans. Think it was made by Mattel

  • @mommatanya1
    @mommatanya1 Місяць тому +24

    I was shopping a couple of years back and saw a display of Red Ryder BB guns and right next to it were "girls" Red Ryder BB guns. Exactly the same, but painted pink. Grrrrrr. Why does everything for girls have to be pink.
    When I was in the Air Force they didn't hand out pink weapons for us female Airmen.

    • @theknifedude1881
      @theknifedude1881 Місяць тому +9

      So you had to paint your own? That’s pretty cold.

    • @williamhensley8698
      @williamhensley8698 Місяць тому +3

      Grrrr....if they did not make them pink girrrrrls wouldn't want them. Sales figures don't lie.

  • @guypehaim1080
    @guypehaim1080 Місяць тому

    Back in the late 1950's, I had all kinds of toy guns. There was a company by the name of Hubley that made models of single action revolvers in .38 and .32 caliber. These were cap guns that you loaded using cartridges where you stuck caps to the head of the cartridge case. Another gun we had was the Mattel Shoot'n Shell single action revolvers. These were loaded with plastic bullets and Stick'm caps. The cartridge case had a captured coil spring inside that ejected the plastic bullet out the barrel when you fired the gun. Still another gun we had was the Mattel copy of the M-3 "grease gun" submachine gun that used roll caps. The construction of the gun was along the lines of the real gun in that it used sheet steel stampings for the majority of the gun. The "magazine" that hung off the bottom had a small trap door at the bottom which would allow you to store spare rolls of caps. The firing mechanism consisted of a clockspring which you wound up using a key mounted on the side of the gun. It also had the collapsible stock of the prototype. You loaded the gun through what was the ejection port on the real weapon. Pulling the trigger allowed multiple bursts of caps in machine gun fashion. I bet the cap companies loved that one. Then there was the Disney Davy Crockett phenomenon and we had to have the latest pistols from the TV series. I think Mattel again produced those. I currently have a Red Ryder BB gun although it is a copy by Daisy of the originals. To distinguish the difference, the logo is on the opposite side of the stock.😊

  • @jemkey6930
    @jemkey6930 Місяць тому +2

    Oh yes, the toy gun/stick of many a youth. Dad grew up before and after the transition from "realistic" to "approved" cap guns, he said it was weird. Even I had many afternoons chasing my fellow combatants and good guy/bad guy water gun battles (dad would have called it cops and robbers). And yes I was so excited to get my very own Daisy Red Ryder bb gun (in my favorite color pink) and I'm happy to say "no, I didn't shoot my eye out" 😂

  • @larryhaller738
    @larryhaller738 Місяць тому +5

    I enjoyed this episode very much.

  • @shadowgb
    @shadowgb Місяць тому +1

    I grew up in the 80s and 90s and I had a fully automatic uzi cap gun that I loved.

  • @RADIOACTIVEMASCULINITY
    @RADIOACTIVEMASCULINITY Місяць тому +4

    I love the nerf gun party packs. So great for kid birthdays and the kids all get to bring one home.

  • @mikehughes4969
    @mikehughes4969 Місяць тому

    My father had a Buck Rodgers 1000 shot squirt gun. Even as an adult, it was one of his prized possession and it is now one of mine. I also still have my original Star Wars Han Solo blaster, my Lazer Tag gun and my Red Ryder bb gun. And whenever I find a old cap gun at a flea market or something, I buy it.

  • @kavemanthewoodbutcher
    @kavemanthewoodbutcher Місяць тому +2

    That was a pretty good stick there, Lance.

  • @josephwhiskeybeale
    @josephwhiskeybeale Місяць тому +2

    Growing up in the 80’s playing with Larami cap and water guns was the best.

  • @YTRulesFromNM
    @YTRulesFromNM Місяць тому +3

    My friends and I played with guns that we made out of ice that forms on top of the snow.

  • @ReconViper1
    @ReconViper1 14 днів тому +1

    I spent most of the 70's keeping Dodge city safe along with Marshal Dillon.
    My father used my toys to give me my first lessons in gun safety. He taught me how to aim, (they had a front and rear sight just like the real ones) and he taught me never to point it at anyone I didn't intend to kill. That meant no actual people; imaginary outlaws were okay of course.
    BTW, it was Marshal Dillion who taught me that even with the worst outlaws, shooting was a last resort, not a first one.

  • @garyclark3843
    @garyclark3843 Місяць тому +1

    Born in the early 70's to a G.I. Had toy guns most of my childhood. But our parents made sure we knew games and reality were very different.

  • @UnlicensedOkie
    @UnlicensedOkie 19 днів тому

    I remember seeing advertisements for the Johnny Seven OMA rifle in a commercial compilation years ago. A few years ago I found one in an antique store that was having a closing sale. Paid $15 for it. Then paid $20 for a replacement stock off of eBay. All it’s missing is one of the missiles.
    Might be my favorite vintage toy that I own.

  • @kennethrouse7942
    @kennethrouse7942 Місяць тому +1

    The Red Ryder lever-action BB gun was my first BB gun; a hand-me-down from my big brother. 😉👍

  • @capt.bart.roberts4975
    @capt.bart.roberts4975 Місяць тому +2

    I'm 67, I own Nerf guns, supersoakers and some custom electric water pistols. It's a long story. Involving medieval re-enactors, and silly games involving beer bets. It always goes well until someone gets a contract to tag our glorious leader, once too often, normally sometime in August. As my mum would've said , "There will be years before bedtime!"

  • @John-t1t5v
    @John-t1t5v Місяць тому +2

    Ah, yes! I remember when the entire neighborhood would get together and play a rousing game of Outside Livestock Managers and Indigenous Peoples.

  • @roykay4709
    @roykay4709 Місяць тому

    I remember a burp style toy gun, where you pulled what would look like a bolt, but really set up a spring loaded multiple hammering.

  • @angieallen7363
    @angieallen7363 Місяць тому +1

    This was fascinating.

  • @Torby4096
    @Torby4096 Місяць тому +1

    Mom thought a BB gun was too dangerous, but all my friends had one. So I made a cross bow. It was really powerful, and I realized I needed to be really careful with it. I drew it back by putting the stock on the ground and stepping on the bowstring with my normally bare heel.
    I asked Mom what she thought of it a few years ago. "What do you do with a kid that can make something like that? Take it away?"

    • @jhfdhgvnbjm75
      @jhfdhgvnbjm75 Місяць тому

      Give them the BB gun, sounds safer XD

    • @Torby4096
      @Torby4096 Місяць тому

      @@jhfdhgvnbjm75 😉

  • @snoopu2601
    @snoopu2601 18 днів тому

    I still have a couple of antique toy cap guns that I have on display. I have seen some other one up for sale I had no idea they are that much money. Glade I have the one's I got. I had a lot of different toy guns as a kid even made a few from wood carved out to look just like the real thing.

  • @BasicDrumming
    @BasicDrumming Місяць тому

    I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

  • @1978garfield
    @1978garfield 6 днів тому +1

    Thank you for an enjoyable, informative and evenhanded history of toy guns.
    I will have to google "Toy gun tetanus" now.

  • @JoseGasset
    @JoseGasset Місяць тому +5

    fun episode

  • @YTRulesFromNM
    @YTRulesFromNM Місяць тому +2

    As an adult I would love to have some Bluegun (inert training gun) versions of my real ones.

  • @killrmillr
    @killrmillr Місяць тому +1

    Not mentioned here are rubber band guns. We used to make our own out of wood and a clothespin.

  • @ronferguson1265
    @ronferguson1265 Місяць тому

    With another sad twist of thought, there are now guns which you see painted as toys are. I zealously played with toy guns and various air guns as a boy; now, I have the fond memories shared with friends.

  • @ricksaint2000
    @ricksaint2000 Місяць тому +1

    Thank you History Guy

  • @inregionecaecorum
    @inregionecaecorum 19 днів тому

    Toy guns were just as popular in the UK, with the western shows, man from Uncle and all that shown over here too. No idea what happened to most of the cap guns, you don't even see them turn up in car boot sales and flea markets these days. I do have a pink plastic water pistol somewhere, but it leaks, used to use it to deter the cat from scratching the furniture :)

  • @jimmelka8132
    @jimmelka8132 Місяць тому +1

    Great move at 0.27 seconds into this video! The History Guy is the reincarnation of an 1878 desperado! "Smile when you say that, pardner!"

  • @YTRulesFromNM
    @YTRulesFromNM Місяць тому +3

    There is a lot of mythology about toy guns being made into real guns, but toys have always been intentionally made out of material unsuitable for such conversion.

    • @christopherconard2831
      @christopherconard2831 Місяць тому +3

      Probably from mockup or prop guns being converted. It is possible, but what you end up with is really just a more professional looking zip gun that will soon fail.
      Some starter pistols (Not a toy, but also not considered a "real" gun) can be bored out and made to fire live ammo. But, again, the end result is both illegal and dangerous. Changes in design have made this less likely with newer models.

  • @theknifedude1881
    @theknifedude1881 Місяць тому

    I was in China in 2007 and saw surplus M16’s being converted into Air Soft Rifles. My father gave me a Red Ryder BB Gun and membership in the NRA for my 6th Birthday. This was 1949.

  • @theprobigdady5656
    @theprobigdady5656 18 днів тому +1

    I swear to god I thought your sign said thc and considering your outfit I was like OK well I can’t wait to see where this goes
    Anyway, great video

  • @jacobzumbrennen3205
    @jacobzumbrennen3205 Місяць тому +1

    When I was a little kid, one of my friend's Mom didn't like him having toy guns. As soon as he was out of eyesight he would grab a stick to use as a toy gun.😂

  • @andyhobaugh3104
    @andyhobaugh3104 Місяць тому

    When i was a kid i never played with Legos, cars, stuffed animals or god forbid anything educational...
    But i had the finest amd most extensive toy firearms collection any kid coulve wanted. If you needed to tame a wild west town, lead a team of elite operators behind enemy line to take out unruly terrorist or had to go on a ultra secret mission where discretion was the key to saving the world i had the shooting iron for it.
    My heat swelled with pride the day i bought my son his first toy gun tho he has turned out to be a legos man. And now as a man in my mid 30s ill still take a swing through the toy isle just to see what kind of armorments are available. If im being honest ive bought toy gins for the boy knowing full well i was going to play with them far more than he was( the new nerf guns they have these days are unbelievably fun)

  • @kellybasham3113
    @kellybasham3113 Місяць тому +1

    Love your videos

  • @dsc4178
    @dsc4178 Місяць тому

    In Canada a women has been given no bail for accidentally hitting a man with water from a water gun, but a person who used a real gun to shoot someone on purpose got bail. NO joke.

    • @jetsons101
      @jetsons101 Місяць тому +1

      Sounds like Canada is more W0KE than we are. UGH.....

  • @steveshoemaker6347
    @steveshoemaker6347 Місяць тому

    In the late 1940s and 1950s.....l and my brother had cap busters to play with.....Thank THG🎀

  • @ArabianShalifa
    @ArabianShalifa Місяць тому +2

    My sons loved there nerf guns and their wood rubber band guns. You missed the wood rubber band guns

  • @akc5150
    @akc5150 Місяць тому

    I remember here in the UK as a 9 or 10 year old in the late 70's buying MANY a cap gun! One that sticks in my mind was actually, thinking back, completely wrong! It was a gold coloured Walther P38 with a silencer... Bond used a PPK but, whatever. I also remember my mate had, what appeared to my 10 year old self, as a full size Lee Enfield SMLE that cycled and ejected shells!!! SOOOO cool! My favourite though, was a Thompson M1 that my dad cut out from some 18mm plywood, nailed a piece of wood dowel to the front and painted and varnished for me. Good time when the world was still sane!!

  • @jeffhowland867
    @jeffhowland867 6 днів тому

    I remember when toys r us had a rifle rack, I was able to hand pick my first toy gun. Pretty sweet. Served me well till I was able have BB guns at age 5, and then keep my own cartridge arms at age 10. Born in 87.

  • @multipletanksyndrome
    @multipletanksyndrome Місяць тому +1

    RIP Tamir Rice.

  • @oldesertguy9616
    @oldesertguy9616 Місяць тому +3

    Okay, that ad at 14:25 had me laughing.

    • @groovechampion1462
      @groovechampion1462 Місяць тому +2

      Times have changed for sure :D

    • @MrColuber
      @MrColuber Місяць тому +1

      Yeah. That one caught me off guard.