For Christmas presents. We are belatedly starting to shop. Want to get some cap guns for Virginia grandsons, 8, 7, 4.5. My impression is that the quality ain't what it used to be. Recommendations?

/Mr Lynn

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On the river in Saxonville.

NERF guns instead. WAY more fun, and none of the potential fire ignition source. Try getting rolls of caps ! Be sure to get guns for Mom and Dad as well, and some cool safety glasses.

I grew up in the 80's playing with "EDISON GIOCATTOLI" cap guns. The ones that used those plastic red strip caps. Looking back on it now, it's amazing I'm still alive running around with those ultra realistic cap guns on the streets of Brooklyn.

Not an easy question. From "quality" standpoint, I'd probably go vintage cowboy from a flea market. The negative there is that they look too much like real firearms, which is just too dangerous today.

I'd rethink the present, and only even consider a firearms related gift for the oldest. And yes, I consider any toy that looks like a firearm to be the equivalent of a firearm. Instead of a noisemaker, I'd consider an airsoft and teach strict gun safety and handling right out of the gate, with the emphasis on marksmanship, discipline and self improvement. Anything that promotes a cavalier attitude is too dangerous.

And, given the wide variance in attitudes today, I hope you discuss with your grandkids parents and get buy in from both before any purchase.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2015 09:55AM by TLB.

Yeah - it's a different world today.
No way I would want kids running around with anything remotely resembling a real firearm.

(sorry to be a party-pooper...the world's changed and kids don't get to do what we did when their age)

I find TLB's points quite compelling...
(vintage being the only way to get a quality cap gun, scarcity of caps, and Airsoft being more fun anyway... )

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Got them Nerf guns for the oldest's birthday a couple of months ago. They love them, except their new kitten likes to find the Nerf bullets and chew them up.

They live in a very wooded area on an acre of land, and are home-schooled, so I don't think there's any danger from the public if they run around with cap guns. Heck, you hear a lot of real shooting in the distance—target practice, I'm told. This is Virginia.

What are Airsoft guns? BB guns? I'm going to leave it to their parents to decide on BB guns, doubtless when the boys are older.

/Mr Lynn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2015 10:44AM by mrlynn.

I played with a lot of cap guns back in the day, and even then the quality was iffy. They never seemed to keep working for very long. Besides that, I soon discovered that more fun was to be had with a roll of caps and a hammer. When hammering one cap at a time got boring, I hammered 8 or 10 at once. When that got boring, I got a sledgehammer and hammered a whole roll of caps. That was fun but hard on the ears!

So, skip the gun and get the kids some caps and a hammer.

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Airsoft guns are battery operated plastic pellet launchers that fire round plastic "BB's" at a much lower velocity than air-driven BB Guns... they are safer than BB guns, though of course proper safety training and eye protection are recommended.
They also come in a wide variety of "real gun" models, with orange "non gun" muzzle tips.

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mrlynn
Got them Nerf guns for the oldest's birthday a couple of months ago. They love them, except their new kitten likes to find the Nerf bullets and chew them up.

They live in a very wooded area on an acre of land, and are home-schooled, so I don't think there's any danger from the public if they run around with cap guns. Heck, you hear a lot of real shooting in the distance—target practice, I'm told. This is Virginia.

What are Airsoft guns? BB guns? I'm going to leave it to their parents to decide on BB guns, doubtless when the boys are older.

/Mr Lynn

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Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

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Eureka, CA

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mrlynn
For Christmas presents. We are belatedly starting to shop. Want to get some cap guns for Virginia grandsons, 8, 7, 4.5. My impression is that the quality ain't what it used to be. Recommendations?

/Mr Lynn

All you're going to find ( if at all ) is cheap looking cap guns that don't loo anything like a real gun because stores have been sued and volunteered to remove anything that looks realistic, especially in high density states /cities with typical inner-city gang/drug/cop troubles.

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Uncle Wig
I played with a lot of cap guns back in the day, and even then the quality was iffy. They never seemed to keep working for very long. Besides that, I soon discovered that more fun was to be had with a roll of caps and a hammer. When hammering one cap at a time got boring, I hammered 8 or 10 at once. When that got boring, I got a sledgehammer and hammered a whole roll of caps. That was fun but hard on the ears!

So, skip the gun and get the kids some caps and a hammer.

We did the same thing! The cap guns were crap.

Having gone through this with my son.. Nerf Gun

He had both Nerf and a fully auto Air Soft. Of the two he had more fun with the Nerf (can't say the cat did though). With multiple kids, Nerf lets them shoot each other with no worry. They can shoot one another with airlift, but it will hurt and leave a small welt.

Another option is paintball, but that creates a whole new set of issues (especially in relation to the cat)

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I didn't have a cap gun. I'd save up my money and buy rolls of caps and hit them with a hammer, I'm not kidding.
I did get a Daisy NRA Commemorative lever action BB gun when I was about 10 yo. My late Father was very
strict when it came to gun safety. I know he had a Marksman medal from WWII and trained a lot green horns
while in Europe near the end of the war.

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Grateful11

MyLynn do your Grandsons live out in the country or in the city or something in between?

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Grateful11

Vintage would be the way to go, IMO. That is, if you can find them.

Man, I sure wish I still had mine! I wasn't even 18 months old in this pic, but I was ready to draw!

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Grateful11
MyLynn do your Grandsons live out in the country or in the city or something in between?

Something in-between (Powhatan County, west of Richmond).

/Mr Lynn

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mrlynn

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Grateful11
MyLynn do your Grandsons live out in the country or in the city or something in between?

Something in-between (Powhatan County, west of Richmond).

/Mr Lynn

Just wondering because of the surroundings. It's sad that we have got to the point where kids can't play with
cap guns and such without someone calling the cops for kids playing with toy guns. Where we live it wouldn't
be a problem. I bought my first gun, an H&R single barrel 20 ga. shotgun, at age 14 for $35, it was new too.
Great Dove hunting gun. I gave up hunting about 30 years ago.

Every time I hear people talk about toy guns I think about the kid they gunned out in the park without
trying to talk to him.

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Grateful11

I couldn't agree more. The media has convinced us to live in fear.

A culture of fear allows for political control of the (un)educated and manipulated from birth masses.

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The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of one's own ignorance. -Benjamin Franklin
BOYCOTT YOPLAIT [www.noyoplait.com]
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Yup.

I agree with billb and Racer X. Although we may disagree about which media and who pushes the culture of fear.

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Do not buy that kind of gun. Like other said, get NERF guns.

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space-time
Do not buy that kind of gun. Like other said, get NERF guns.

Why ? More realistic killing and target skill set possibilities ?

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The Phorum Wall keeps us safe from illegal characters and words
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of one's own ignorance. -Benjamin Franklin
BOYCOTT YOPLAIT [www.noyoplait.com]
[soundcloud.com]

Quote
space-time
Do not buy that kind of gun. Like other said, get NERF guns.

We already got them Nerf guns. They want ones that make noise now.

Trying to avoid endless searching and review reading. No recommendations?

/Mr Lynn

How about some starter pistols? Way more noisy than a puny cap gun.

Starter pistols.

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mrlynn

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space-time
Do not buy that kind of gun. Like other said, get NERF guns.

We already got them Nerf guns. They want ones that make noise now.

Trying to avoid endless searching and review reading. No recommendations?

/Mr Lynn

This spring, my youngest step-son had his 17th BDay party. Instead of laser tag, he opted for Nerf Wars in our nearby park. Everyone brought what they had, and we also supplied 6 matching pistols, and purchased 200 extra darts from eBay. They still talk about it.

And for even more noise, get some of these-

Big Bang!

I saved up my money when I was a kid for one of these. Best bang for my bucks in those days. Mom was horrified of course. But what fun!

RE:up:

Neat ideas. Expensive, though.

/Mr Lynn

Amazon has no guns-and-holster sets that I can find (and practically no cap guns, aside from a $10 one that gets middling reviews). However I have found a pretty nice-looking 'cavalry' set, here:

[www.moretoyguns.com]

has revolving cylinder, but says it uses roll caps (not disks of 8 or 12). No idea of quality or where it's made (some places have cap guns made in Spain). Standard shipping won't get there by Christmas, though.

I figured any self-respecting boys would want guns with holsters, so I might try these.

/Mr Lynn