Thanks for the link! I'm browsing through it now...Looking for the one I *didn't* get as a kid...It was a Mattel I'm sure; and an almost exact copy of a Colt SAA. Not distorted like the Fanner 50 or Shootin' Shell. I've tried to look for it on eBay but I don't remember what it was named/called. It would have been in the late 50's, maybe even 60's, when I was just transitioning to Sci-Fi novels. It may even have been discontinued for being TOO realistic.
One other 'gun' I look for is a model kit (you had to assemble it) of what was called a "Luger" but was a really crude copy. Not that it wasn't well made, but just that the proportions were all off. It came as green plastic, oversized compared to a real Luger, the grips were cast in and sunk below the grip-frame level. The box had a sort of background like a draftsman's board/table. I actually had two of the 'model' Lugers at different times, and although you needed to cycle them manually, they were supposed to work (feed, eject, etc) like the 'original'. But I could never get them to work. The plastic just wouldn't slide easily. I even greased one with Vasoline and that didn't help. I don't know who made them (some German company maybe?) but the local stores carried them, IIRC. It screwed together with tiny bolts & nuts, had a detachable magazine, toggle worked like the real one...but it was huge...I think the barrel even screwed in like a real one...
That model/toy I still look for...I have unfinished business with that one...
Edit: I think I see both of the above on Ebay...The 'Mattel Shootin' Shell 45' is described as "The Big One!" which sounds right and looks right too...And boy do they want big bucks for it!...
The model Luger seems to be made by Premier; only one on eBay and no box to jog my memory...But the seller notes that it is complete but doesn't shoot, which was the problem with my two also...At the time, the best 13 yr old model minds in my neighborhood concluded that the instructions were either wrong or they shipped a wrong part...