Intimidating pistols!

[Shoki]

I just got these two great pistols the other day, one from my grandfather and one from my father-in-law. They are a a little on the small side and I'm not convinced of their stopping power but I think they might scare the pants off someone, maybe the cat.

I love old toys and they certainly don't make them like they used to. My grandfather has a working toy cannon from god-knows-when. Sure beats the crappy plastic stuff I had when I was a kid. The first one I posted is a simple cap gun but the second has a shell with a contained spring. From what I can tell, you loaded the shell with a wooden or plastic pellet and when the hammer struck the back of the shell, the force would shoot the pellet free. It might have used a cap too, I dunno. I wish I knew more about these and I think collecting them might make for a neat hobby. Just thought I'd share something cool!

 

[A.W.U.K.]

Those are nice!

I used to have a metal (1/35th scale?) Britains 18" howitzer that fired plastic shells from a spring-loaded cartridge case in a similar way to that second pistol.

 

[mete]

Spring loaded toys ? The Brits used a spring loaded anti-tank gun in WWII !! The PIAT.

 

[mwerner]

The "derringer" appears to be a Mattel "shootin' shell" model. They put up a whole line of these during the TV cowboy craze of the late 50s early 60s.
The "bullet" compressed the spring, and you put a stick-on cap on the base of the case.
The gun's hammer drove the whole thing forward to release a little catch and propel the plastic bullet out of the weapon. (with no accuracy whatever as I recall!"
You could get six-shooters (including the "Fanner 50" with special wide hammer spur) a "Winchester" rifle, and a derringer similar to the one pictured that went into a belt buckle and swung out and fired when a hidden catch was released.
Fun times for us boomer types!

 

[Shoki]

Awesome! I guess I was pretty close, eh? I looked into it with your information and found this:

Very neat. Now I wish I had the bullets and caps! Thanks for the info.

 

[mwerner]

Here's a good page showing pretty much the full line of "shootin' shell" weapons and products:
http://www.nicholscapguns.com/mattel.htm

I wanted one of those Rolling-Block rifles so bad I could taste it, but the parents wouldn't spring... Grrr...
Like all such popular toys, there were a number of knockoffs and such.

 

[Cougar Allen]

I had some of those Shootin' Shell guns. They had an alarming tendency to go off all by themselves, and the little plastic bullets got lost quickly. I mostly just used them as cap guns.

I had a Winchester lever action rifle and a snub-nosed .38 and I think I had a derringer or two....

 

[DPris]

Ebay.
I have the belt buckle version. We were too poor to get one when I was a kid, but I've got it now!
Denis

 

[UffDa]

I have one of these. It never really impressed me much until I saw Bob Mundon pop a ballon at 200 yards with one. ( I saw it, but I still don't believe it.)

 

[licensed2carry.com]

VERY nice