Shoot and Shoot again!

 One of my favourite pursuits as a child was poring over old toy catalogues, making imaginary lists of toys i'd like to have. Most of the catalogues were already out of date by the time I found them, so my chances of acquiring any of the toys was remote. Decades later, Ebay changed all that and suddenly, the vintage toys from my childhood appeared for sale again.

One especially fascinating toy was usually displayed next to the Johnny Seven OMA and was accorded equal footing on my wants list. This was the Gun That Shoots Round Corners and I assumed at a young age that i'd never see one.

But just this week, Ebay came up trumps with a fine quality auction comprising the gun itself, seven of the original softballs and a vintage toy periscope which must have been contemporary with the gun. There's no branding on the periscope, but it looks like a Merit toy.

A vintage tv advert from 1964 also shows a pistol version and a larger combat set for the gun, complete with launching grenade, plane and a pair of bolas. The next workshop project for me is adding the candy container rocket to the guns arsenal, in lieu of the original grenade! The gun is cocked by pulling a wooden shaft at the rear, but the spring is so strong, I doubt many kids would have managed it. releasing the spring fires a blast of air down the barrel, squeezing out the balls from the under barrel magazine.

Needless to say, I had to have a play with it!

 

The pistol version, although advertised with the rifle on the tv [Ad below coutesy of You Tube], is completely different.

 

 

 

A very modern looking gun and oddly enough, modern combat specialists are developing just such a weapon for use in the battlefield today!