Who remembers comic book character "Sarge Steel" with his steel fist and Luger?

[Bill_in_fl]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

I probably had other cap guns, but the two that stand out were the "Fanner 50" and the "Shootin' Shell", both by Mattel. The '50 had a real leather single holster rig which impressed me with its realism at the time. The other had brass cases with plastic bullets that clicked in place to load. As I recall, it was double action, and with each fall of the hammer, a round was actually struck by it. This did two things simultaneously. First, it would ignite the round-cut, self-adhesive, single-dot cap that was stuck to the back of the round. The hammer also pushed the round slightly forward in the cylinder, which would compress the small tabs located on either side of the bullet, which released the projectile from its retention within the case--and the plastic bullet would fly out of the unobstructed barrel. IIRC, it had enough momentum to knock a plastic army man, or cowboy/Indian figure off its feet. Great for wars in the neighbor kid's gravel driveway next door to my grandmother's house, where we would take turns shooting at our respective enemies in dug-in positions, machine gun nests, etc.

ithacaartist you are right on about that. Those cap dots that stuck to the Mattel gun's cartridge rears were called "greenie stickem caps". I didn't have the "Fanner 50" but I did have the "Shooten shell fanner". I have one today. My wife's parents were selling their home and moving to an apartment since they are 86 and 84, and guess what we found helping them move when we cleaned out boxes in their attic? Yep, a Mattel "Shooten shell fanner". No brass spring loaded cartridges and plastic bullets for it though and it doesn't index the cylinder very well anymore and the silver plating on the pot metal is pitted and a bit flaked, but it's all there! It sits atop my bookcase along with my huge working 1960 "Deluxe Reading Tiger Joe" battery powered toy tank that I rebuilt and bought off ebay. Sadly my twin toy Hubley holsters and ".38 Colt" cap revolvers are long gone. But I keep a watch on like ones (.38 colt Hubley top breaks like a Webley) on ebay and plan to get one of them soon to go along with my Mattel "shootin shell fanner". Like you said, I'd knock down little green army men with my shooting shell fanner's plastic bullets. I also had a little Mattel belt buckle gun that was a derringer that held one spring loaded case with plastic bullet, that would spring loaded flip out from the buckle (when you pushed your stomach out) and fire its "greenie stickem cap" and plastic bullet towards the unsuspecting "cowboys and Indians" playmate.

We also didn't have seat belts, only jet pilots and race car drivers used those. We walked around the neighborhood as little kids (as young as 5 years old) and rode our bicycles all over, without any child rapists ever bothering us, climbed trees and fell out of them, played with toy caps and toy guns that shot plastic bullets and later BB guns and never shot our eye out. My allowance from my parents was .25 cents a week and that included me mowing the lawn or doing chores. A couple of years later upped to .50 cents a week and then a whole dollar a week....wow! Lol. I'd use dad's lawnmower to mow neighbor's yards to make money to buy toys and comic books that I couldn't afford on my meager weekly allowance. Taught me the value of a dollar. About the only time my parents bought us toys was either on our birthdays or Christmas. Seldom any other time.....we had to earn it. I also had a Mattel "Buffalo hunter" "rolling block" rifle that was a single shot and also had a lever action Mattel rifle that also was a single shot and both shot those same plastic bullets and greenie stickem caps. A neighborhood playmate had the ultimate "Johnny Seven One Man Army" (O.M.A.) rifle that shot plastic/rubber darts and missles and bullets and even grenades. We had those cheap green little army men that we'd use as targets and sometimes blow up with firecrackers too. All us kids knew how to shoot before we even got a BB gun, much less a real firearm. Mattel taught us how to do that. "If it's Mattel...it's swell!". Lol. Remember that line in their t.v. commercials and packaging? We also made our own slingshots out of wood and inner tube rubber and shot acorns out of them. We made rubber band guns out of wood and used clothes pins to hold the rubber band "bullets". For little kids, we got pretty good at shooting our plastic bullets and sling shots and rubber band guns at little things like toy mini green army men. By the time we were of age to have BB guns, we already knew how to use sights and shoot. Toy guns, to BB guns, to .22's and up. And the anti-gunners know this and that's why they want to dissuade and indoctrinate our kids and grandkids against toy guns......so they won't grow up like we did liking and playing with them, getting familiar with them and get real ones when they grow up. That's why the only toy gun commercials you'll see on t.v. today are those lame foam rubber bullets nerf guns or water squirt guns I see on commercials when I watch Saturday morning t.v. with the grandkids. Our shootin shell fanners were just too realistic and showed us how a real single action '73 peacemaker loaded and worked. Nerf guns don't teach todays kids that.....and that's exactly what the anti-gunners want....only they don't like the nerf guns nor any kind of toy gun....even a pop tart ate into the shape of a gun.

Of course all us kids were devastated when George Reeves (Superman) died. There's still controversy as to whether that was really a suicide or a murder. And it was a LUGER they found by his body on the bed. Elvis was on Ed Sullivan but they wouldn't show him from the waist down when he wiggled his hips Lol. We made "forts" out of refrigerator, washing machine and dryer packing boxes and anything we could find to make one. We used clothes pins to attach bubble gum cards to click on the spokes of our bicycle wheels to make them have that "vrrrroooommm" sound. In the summer time in Florida it was brutally hot and we and most homes didn't have air conditioning and had attic fans instead so we'd play outside and run under the hose sprinkler to cool off. The very first McDonalds in Tampa was across from the old now defunct Tower drive in theater. Burgers were 15 cents and fries were a dime and so were drinks. Speedy McDonald the Hamburger head character was their icon WAY before Ronald McDonald ever existed. For a couple of bucks Dad would get a whole bag of burgers and fries and drinks, and on Friday or Saturday evenings we'd drive across the street from that first McDonalds in Tampa to the Tower Drive In directly across the street, to watch a triple or quad feature. Had a "pee pot" under the seat for us little kids who couldn't make it to the snack bar bathroom quick enough and we'd toss that out the door if we needed to use it. Everyone did that. We'd get the "caracal" incense from the snack bar to burn in the car to keep the mosquitoes away. And the speaker would attach to the driver's window frame for listening to the movie. At intermission, we'd see the commercial ads on the screen for pizza...."And into the oven it goes!"....and we'd all go to the snack bar to get something, my favorite was a "Sno-cone" and use the bathroom and play on the slides and swings and the hand pushed manual merry-go-round. And we wouldn't have missed a game boy or X box if we had one. And yet somehow we survived.



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