Dangerous toys - those were the days

[OKkayak]

Pellet and bb guns.
Nearly every boy older than 10 had one.

[Randall T]

Pellet and bb guns.
Nearly every boy older than 10 had one.

Yeah, we all had firearms, airguns and bows. It was what kids did then.
I was competitively shooting at that age and used to take my rifle on the city bus to the range. The police just said to carry it out of its case so it would not be concealed. Imagine if that happened today!

[OKkayak]

[normaM]

Spud guns. Now I see that people make spud cannons.
I had a trick knife, enjoyed seeing kids slice up when they couldn't open it

[dirtybiker]

Putting wheels under any engine just sitting around.
Putting an engine on any wheels just sitting around.

Go carts, mini- bikes, shopping carts, Radio Flyer wagon, Didn't matter.
Heck we would make a old length of 2X10 into some motorized contraption of
impending doom.

"How do you steer ?" "just lean 'er in."
"How do you stop?" "Well, I only put a half cup of fuel in."

[alanjh595]

Reminds me of my youth.

I got a pair of old skis from a garbage can once. I screwed them yo a piece of plywood and we towed it behind a 4X4 truck.

All was going very well until the truck hit the brakes.........

[stuphoto]

12 years old we had a old International 3 on the tree pickup and we would take it out in the middle of the night to push the neighbours round bales in interesting shapes in the field....My old man had us picking rocks for that farmer for a week when we got caught....

You do realize, that he probably sold the photos and story to the National Enquirer and made $10,000 from it.
Don't you?

[Babba_not_Gump]

Pellet and bb guns.
Nearly every boy older than 10 had one.

I was a deprived child, never had one of those.
But when I turned twelve, my parents bought me a double-barrel 20-gauge.
Now that was a toy!

[alanjh595]

Pellet and bb guns.
Nearly every boy older than 10 had one.

I was a deprived child, never had one of those.
But when I turned twelve, my parents bought me a double-barrel 20-gauge.
Now that was a toy!

A "toy" that can take two lives before reloading, turned over to a child with no previous firearms experience/training........what could go wrong?

[Babba_not_Gump]

I was a deprived child, never had one of those.
But when I turned twelve, my parents bought me a double-barrel 20-gauge.
Now that was a toy!

A "toy" that can take two lives before reloading, turned over to a child with no previous firearms experience/training........what could go wrong?

Who was there to train us? Well there was my father, who had real gun training in the army. Other than that, nobody.
We owned five acres, mostly pasture. I would set up targets and blast away.

After school I would often grab my dog and my shotgun and walk down the road until I got to grouse country. Yup, 12 years old and walking down the road with a shotgun. Try that today!

Shot plenty of grouse and even dropped a cow moose with a 20-guage slug at 14 years old.

Oh yeah, when I was 14, an uncle died and his wife shipped his two old Lee Enfield rifles to me, bayonets included. Along with several large boxes of various types of ammo, many that I have no use for.

[Babba_not_Gump]

Back to harmless little toys.

We had a couple of stores in my town that sold various pranks.
One was a small foil wrapped item maybe the size of a marble. You would drop them on the floor, maybe in a crowded store waiting for people to step on them. When they did, BANG. A small but loud bang, just like a firecracker.

And then there were these little glass amulets. You would break the end off and it would release a teargas like substance.
One night 3 or 4 of us had these little amulets and snuck up onto the roof of the Catholic school gym where an assembly was going on. We pried open a window and dropped several of them onto the floor, then ran like hell. A teacher, or maybe a priest spotted us but we were quicker.

But those days are over.

[BigBadBen]

We had a couple of stores in my town that sold various pranks.
One was a small foil wrapped item maybe the size of a marble. You would drop them on the floor, maybe in a crowded store waiting for people to step on them. When they did, BANG. A small but loud bang, just like a firecracker.

Intriguing. I've never seen that and thought I've seen it all.

What town and what timeframe?

[Babba_not_Gump]

We had a couple of stores in my town that sold various pranks.
One was a small foil wrapped item maybe the size of a marble. You would drop them on the floor, maybe in a crowded store waiting for people to step on them. When they did, BANG. A small but loud bang, just like a firecracker.

Intriguing. I've never seen that and thought I've seen it all.

What town and what timeframe?

Terrace, 1960s.
Real small town and months, years behind the rest of the country.
How far behind were we? When tv first came to Terrace, even Saturday night hockey games were a week old.

[BigBadBen]

Terrace? Me too!!! 70's and 80's.

I remember that CFTK could only live broadcast in B&W and they had no advertising. Just a picture of a fishing boat and music during the commercial breaks.

At least we didn't have a cable bill.

[stuphoto]

Terrace sounds like a wonderful place. The Land that Time Forgot
Have they heard of the Internet or Cell Phones Yet?
If not I would love to retire there