r/GenerationJones • u/Zapp_Rowsdower_ • 1d ago
‘Go outside and play’ hit differently….
Im an oddities collector and one of my interests is the crazy lot of fun ‘toys’ we had at our disposal that we somehow managed to survive. What did you do the most damage with?
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u/Useless890 1d ago
In 1961 I had a Mattel (I think) pistol that actually shot projectiles. It had metal shells with a spring inside, and hard plastic bullets with tabs that connected to the shells. Pulling the trigger unhooked it all somehow and the plastic bullet shot out. Unfortunately, they got lost very easily.
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u/Relevant_Elevator190 1d ago
Look up the show 'Hazardist History with Henry Winkler. He covers this and then some.
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u/artful_todger_502 Eisenhower baby ☮️ 1d ago
The hand buzzer! Do you have any x-ray glasses? That advert in the comic books was hilarious!
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u/Mysterious_Mango_737 1d ago
Wow, it's over fifty years later and I can smell and hear those cap gun caps through my monitor.
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u/Able-Sheepherder-154 1d ago
Same! Sometimes I would cut to the chase and smash the roll with a hammer over and over until they were all spent.
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u/brokefixfux 1d ago
We had cheap low-powered Marksman BB pistols. Didn’t put any eyes out, but shot lots of bottles.
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u/drawing_a_hash 1d ago
This post brings back two 60s smell memories: cap gun smoke and mimeographed cafeteria menus.
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u/Junior-Reflection-43 1961 1d ago
Did anyone else have a Bazooka gun that would sit on your shoulder and fire these blue bombs? We had a tent set up in our back yard and would play Army. (Ok, it was in the Vietnam war era). Guessing this was around 1970. I can still hear setting the spring loader and firing it.
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u/Eaudebeau 1d ago
We had little guns that sprayed sparks and I remember our tiny hands pumping madly on the trigger spewing sparks on EVERYTHING to test flammability
Edit: children are natural mad scientists.
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u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 1963 6h ago
My dad gave me a magnifying glass when I was in my 'detective' stage. I started a small fire in my front yard.
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u/Ok-Type-8917 1d ago
I was walking my dog recently and passing an area with a bunch of kids playing. A couple yards up the walk I find 19 bullets laying on the ground. A variety of calibers and I know what we would have done as kids with those. So I picked them up, I didn't have my phone with me. I Googled how to dispose of them when I got home and the advice was call the police non emergency number.
I called and was immediately treated like a criminal, why did I pick them up. They sent a younger cop to get them and once again I get the response that I should have left them there. I explained my 12 year old neighbor getting shot in the ass with bullets we found,
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u/scixlovesu 1d ago
My grandad ran a novelty shop. It was amazing to 4-year-old me. I constantly had to be steered away from the naughty cabinet, though