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Subject: Re: Remember GREAT toy guns!
From: Dave Jungemann <djung@foothill.net>
Date: 1998/03/28
Message-ID: <6fk14s$dno@xring.cs.umd.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.guns
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Fun guns? I have two for you.
The Wham-O Air Blaster. Came in a pistol or rifle: I had the pistol.
You pulled back this lever, which pulled back the center of this big
rubber diaghram. That locked. When you pulled the trigger, the center
of the diaghram was released and this big WHOOSH of air came out the
cone in front.
The box became a target, since it had a plastic sheet, cut into strips,
with a monster on it. When that blast of air hit the plastic sheet, the
whole target would shimmer, making it look like you disintegrated it.
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Subject: Re: Remember GREAT toy guns!
From: obob@best.com (Bob O`Brien)
Date: 1998/03/21
Message-ID: <6f1k9d$i4a@xring.cs.umd.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.guns
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In article <6etvh5$5vj@xring.cs.umd.edu>,
Louis Boyd <boyd@apt2.sao.arizona.edu> wrote:
#And also from Mattel was the Sonic Blaster. It looked like a bazooka
#and was about 3 feet long. It had a heavy spring piston and fired a
#vortex of air. It could knock over lighweight objects at 40 feet.
#It wasn't on the market long as I heard it caused permanent hearing
#loss when fired against the head of another kid. It was a blast...
#Didn't shoot anything more fun until I got to shoot a real recoiless
#rifle in the US army. The Sonic Blaster was on the market around 1965.
I clearly remember using one of those to shred paper targets, taped to
an open wooden frame, at a range of maybe six or eight feet.
One time I fired it at a car passing through our neighborhood.
My friends and I all ran and hid, while the poor confused driver
got out and checked all his tires for that "blowout" he must
have been sure he heard.
We also had it's "pistol" contemporary, the "Wham-O Air Blaster", which
could send a ping-pong ball quite some distance when fitted with a
toilet-paper-tube barrel.
I remember that the rubber diaphragm eventually broke on that one.
I think my folks trashed the big Mattel when they heard the reports of
hearing loss. Tragic.
Bob O`Bob
-- Jerry W. Decker / jdecker@keelynet.com http://keelynet.com / "From an Art to a Science" Voice : (214) 324-8741 / FAX : (214) 324-3501 KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 - Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187