The Toy & Trainer Rifles collection

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" 

This is all of them.

These are a mix of military and western.

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

The Watches

Gentle reader,

Unusual for me to do two posts so close together. But, it's cool and raining, I'm home alone, what I'd planned to do was outside stuff, so here you go.

A couple years ago, I had 33 watches. I cut down the collection to twenty as that is what size my watch holder box is. Well, I realized that I only wear a few of them, so decided to sell half. Cutting it down to an even ten. Here are the ones I previously sold on eBay:

The two below are 2/3rds of the only real Swiss made watches I've owned. Swatch revolutionized watch making which brought Swiss workmanship to the common person.

As you can see, most of them are chronographs, which are watches with built-in stop watches. The lot consisted of older watches that I no longer wore.

 The top-most of this group is a "2CAN" all stainless steel chrono. Sadly, it is hard to see the face. Very well made, it will be going on eBay. The next four are all made for Adee Kaye of Beverly Hills. The stainless steel unit is their version of the Rolex Daytona. Face has smaller sub-dials than the real thing. It too is going on eBay. Next is their version of the TAG-HEUER Monaco. Made famous by Steve McQueen as his character, Michael Delaney in the 1971 film Le Mans. His was a two sub-dial HEUER with a blue face. Made long before TAG merged with HEUER. The newer ones have three dials. Unlike this one, they are a contrasting color. Still, I like and am keeping this one. The two sub-dial unit, has the sub-dials vertically arranged, where the Monaco's are horizontal. It is going on eBay. The last one and easiest to read is not for sale.

The CTI above has a rotating bezel. I assume it should be set so 60 is at the top, but what it's for, I haven't a clue. Lots of extremely tiny markings on it. I wish I'd gotten a black faced one as it's hard to see the hands.

Starting at the top of this group, made and sold by CTI, is an excellent copy of a Breitling aviator's chronograph watch. In normal use, only the minute and hour hands move. However, press the top button and the top sub-dial starts zooming around, one revolution per second. The second hand records the seconds the other two sub-dials do the minutes and hours. Very pretty and heavy watch. Next are two Fossil chrono watches. Both are going on eBay. Then the two photos show front and rear of my fake HEUER Monza. The face has HEUER only. The back has TAG-HEUER. Keeping that one. The bottom two are two versions of Invicta's take on the Rolex Daytona. All stainless steel and gold with nice leather band. I'm keeping both of these.

 The above is a PRAGUE which I bought because it is named after the city in the former Czech Republic. Being that I'm half Czech, well you get it. It's going on eBay regardless. 

The gold Seiko above I got new for a bargain price. I don't think I ever wore it! It's going on eBay. The stainless steel one is the most recent Swatch. Unlike a lot of Swatches, it is all metal. Has four jewels in it's movement. So, unlike all those "Tribute Rolex" watches, it really does have a Swiss movement.

Thanks for looking,

Scott

A Study in US Military Uniform Camouflage

Gentle reader,

For as far back as I can recall, I was interested in things military. If there's anything to reincarnation, I suspect I may have been in the military in WWII and perhaps died during or after the war. I've always been fascinated with WWII history, especially D-Day, June 6, 1944, the date of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France.

As a small child, my Aunt made me a US Army uniform to fit me. Here is a photo of me, on left,

with my little brother in between and my best friend on the right. Poor quality, I know: 

 Below is my littlest sister wearing the same set, sans trousers.

In 1993, I founded the Northern Virginia Young Marines in Arlington, Virginia. For more info on the Young Marines of the MCL, just Google it.

It required me to invest in USMC uniforms. Standard woodland camo was usually worn, but any USMC uniform, including dress blues could be worn when appropriate. 

I put six years on and off, into the Young Marines, eventually founding two other units, one in Alexandria and one in Manassas. I still have one camo uniform set, not quite sure why I saved it.

No doubt, you have noticed the proliferation of "cargo" pants and shorts worn by just about every

male and some females in the US. I certainly wear them. My problem was finding them in longer

than 34" inseam. 

Then it occurred to me, "Why not wear the real thing?" So, thus began my buying them. I only have one pair now that is not official. And only because they are plain khaki. Most were either thrift store finds or eBay purchases.

Below, I have assembled photos of my whole collection of US Military battle dress uniform trousers:

They are, left to right: Standard olive drab, (still worn by Border Patrol ground forces) woodland camo that replaced the non-camo olive drab, post Desert Storm desert camo, USMC digital woodland camo, US ARMY digital camo, USMC digital desert camo. US AIR FORCE camo, US Coast Gaurd blue and US NAVY blue.

 Above shows the differences between the Army digital camo and the two Marines that flank it.

Above shows the different waists. The Air Force ones on the right have elastic inside the waist. The other two, Army and Marines still use the sliding tab strips that increase/decrease the waist size.

Above, shows the differences in the lower leg pockets on the Army, Marines, and Air Force.

Above shows the differences in the main leg pockets. Same services left to right.

Above shows the differences between the Army on the left and Marines on the right, main leg flap pocket. You can't see it, but the Army uses a draw string device to keep the pocket's contents secure. Marines is more standard. Both still use the two buttons to close all the flap pockets.

The lighter blue ones which are Coast Guard, use Velco fasteners on the flap pockets and a standard zipper. They never have to be out in some hostile territory where the sound of a zipper or Velcro opening might get them killed. 

Another neat thing I think all Service members LOVE is these are permanent pressed. In fact the label states: Do not use starch. 

The modern Marines woodland digital units were treated with insect repellant when made. The other modern units are flame resistant. Pretty cool, huh?

Thanks for looking,

Scott