Gentle reader,
I was looking through photos and came across all the photos of the toy and trainer rifle collection I'd amassed then later broken up and sold all but four of them.
Trainer rifles were invented so that recruits had something to carry and drill with, but that didn't keep real rifles from the troops that were overseas fighting. They functioned like the real ones but were incapable of loading or firing a round.
Below is the real walnut rifle rack with my official US Navy trainer rifle at the top. It is the same size, shape and weight of a real one. I have no other photo of it to feature. Next is the Airsoft M16-A1 and the only Daisy air rifle. Top and bottom are examples of what my brother and I had and played with as kids in the 1960's.
First off, a trainer rifle is a non-firing replica of a real military rifle. The usual subject was the 1903 Springfield rifle which is a bolt-action rifle that requires opening and closing the bolt every time before shooting. Having never held a real one, I don't know if they had a clip or magazine of any type. If not, they were not much better than Civil War rifles, i.e., load one bullet, fire, remove the empty shell, repeat.
Below is two views of all the various trainer rifles I once had. All but the one second from the left in the first photo have bolt actions.
Some had a "bullet" inside them bolt. It was wooden, painted gold and mounted on a spring so that when you closed the bolt, it disappeared. Below, the wooden factory bullet. At bottom is a real (less propellent) 30 caliber shell/bullet that I put in one of them.
Below is the hand-made ones. The top is for shooting rubber bands.
The middle one is the oldest I believe. No telling how long ago some resourceful parent (I don't want to be sexist and say, "Dad") made it.
The bottom is really cool: "OFFICIAL U.S. ARMY ALLIGATOR GUN". How cute.
Now for the ones that are the loudest. Made by Daisy, ("You'll shoot your eye out, kid.") makers of the Red Rider BB gun. Same gun, except it shot BBs. These just BANG with air and a nice little kick. Boy did we love that one when we were kids.
I kept only one for myself and grandsons to play with. Daniel got the one with the red-painted end. What he did with it, I have no idea.
Now, a really cool one made entirely of bamboo. It was hand-made, commercially or by a loving parent, I don't know. The little lever is a crank. Spin it and it hits something inside that makes a rat-a-tat-tat sound. VERY clever.
Next is a very vintage version of the M1 Carbine rifle. It was automatic and had a clip or magazine. Generally carried by officers during WWII. It used the same 30 caliber bullet of the M1 Garrand, but had a shorter barrel and was much lighter in weight.
Note the sling was mounted on the side rather than the bottom like most rifles of the time. I think because of the magazine being on the bottom, the sling would have been in the way for loading.
Above is an example of a real sling attached to a toy/trainer rifle. The shooter would loosen the sling, wrap it around their right arm to help brace it to their body. Also, it would be looser than above for shoulder slinging.
Seen above one that was western and called "Frontier" was mostly plastic with pot metal portion that comprised the business part of the gun.
Below, for comparison is the smallest of the collection at less than a foot long and all plastic. Supposed to be a M1 Garrand, but called "Bolt Action", which the Garrand wasn't. I don't think so anyway.
What I titled "Mediums" are smaller than the standard trainer rifles. Most have lever action cocking. The top one being a cheap, probably Chinese-made all plastic one.
Below are the ones I called small. The top one is a pump-action shotgun. The bamboo, an Indian rifle and at the bottom, one that "breaks" open and the middle for loading. Were it real, that is.
Below is two views of the more modern, M16/AR15 assault rifles. The top one being my Airsoft M16-A1 which is full-sized and based on the original (A1) M-16 of the Viet-Nam war era. The middle one, I still have. It has a nice rrrrrrrrr sound when the trigger is pulled. The bottom one, by far the cheapest and it just clicked when fired.
Below is the last I will feature. I actually bought it at a real gun show. The classic Thompson sub-machine gun which in real life fires the 45 caliber Colt ACP pistol round.
I thought that I had a photo of all of them stuffed into the cabinet that now house what's left of the camera collection and large die-cast cars, but I can't find it. So, here are three shots titled: "All of 'em"
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| This is all of them. |
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| These are a mix of military and western. |
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| This is a mix of various kinds. Below is a photo I just came across. It shows all the toy and trainer rifles in the wooden case that I built originally to house the Beanie Babies collection:  Note the papers in there? They are period advertising or manuals for the trainer rifles.
Thanks for looking!
Scott
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