Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Toys from your childhood

The last two battle scarred survivors of the Great Playground War. These two are all that is left of a couple of battalions of Germans and Americans along with attached units of oddball two dimensional British, Union and Confederate troops. The war lasted from approx. 1957 to somewhere around 1964 when the great omnipotent ruler of their Universe grew hair in unexpected places and turned his attention elsewhere.

These two were found on a scouting expedition of the battlefield some 30 years later. The American is armed with an M14, not exactly authentic to the same historical period as the German AT soldier, but the space-time continuum as well as strategic alliances were fuzzy back then so British Redcoats could have battled combined units of Union and Confederate troops and a German platoon could very well have been destroyed by an M-60 flame thrower tank armed with lighter fluid and a purloined book of matches.

Back in the latter 1980's when my son was young; the monster truck craze was in full swing and he; like most other little kids then, was crazy about monster trucks. All the monster truck stuff he had back then is gone but I still have a few of the "Hot Wheels" monster trucks like "Bigfoot" and "USA 1" that I secretly bought back then and tucked away and never told him. They are still unopened in the blister packs and someday I'll give them to him. Bought them thinking if I keep them unopened they may be worth more someday and he could sell them or just display them in the original blister packs. They'll never appreciate into any serious money but they are still cool to look at..... Mint condition, unopened, a real flashback for kids from that era. They even bring back lots of memories for me, as I recall that era well and used to take my son to some of those monster truck shows.

I loved the hand crank Evel Knievel toys. I had the motorcycle, chopper, dragster and funny car. Great toys. I had a lot of GI Joe stuff too. My son likes playing with my old GI Joes now

I too had one of those derringers and belt buckles but they are long gone. I do have a few plastic projectiles that I think are for it. They are round nosed and gray about the color of gray primer and look like they snapped into a casing. Does that sound like what your's had.
If so and if I can find them I could send them to you as I have no use for them.

For Christmas 1957, big sister got a Gilbert chemistry set full of different chemicals. She had absolutely had no interest in the thing and gave it to me, which surprised me as she always ran me out of her room if she caught me listening to her Spike Jones records. The chemistry set had all the reagents for making gunpowder. I never got the ratio's right, but for a 8 year old kid, I did get a few batches to light off. I would sometimes wake my middle sister up in the mornings with a shot from my Carbide Cannon. A beating from her usually ensued, but it was worth it to see the little harpy jump straight up in bed.

My old man was a mechanic for an excavation/site work company. Once a year he would back a dump truck into the yard at home and dump 3-4 yards of screened and washed sand under the shade trees by the side of the driveway. We four boys would spend most of the year playing in it with our extensive Tonka collection 'dozing, grading and compacting. By the time we were old enough to drive, there was a small parking lot for the second and third cars that we drove. It has occured to me that the old man had a goal in mind when he brought that sand home, but we just thought it was Chirstmas all over again!

Had GI Joe stuff. Other than that I built a lot of stuff out of wood, probably tanks etc... had a bike. BB gun, 22s, shotguns.

Could really care less about the "toys" anymore. Thats past, don't have an urge to see or have em back. OTOH I still like building stuff and the guns.

I may change my mind as I get older.

G.I. Joes, Tonka Trucks, Hot Wheels. Baseball gloves, bats and balls.
I had this. It was nowhere near as tough as a Tonka Truck.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Original-CORGI-270-JAMES-BOND-007-Aston-Martin-D-B-5-Die-Cast-1960s/112865471068?hash=item1a474e6a5c:g:X~4AAOSwX2xapzK4

Sticks, rocks, mud, mules and some WW2 gear like U.S. and German helmets.

Even though I never got that BB gun back then my dad did give me his old Mod. 67 Winchester .22 single shot bolt gun..... Which he had since the latter 1930's and which had stopped working in the latter 1940's. A gunsmith told him it would cost more to fix than the gun was worth so dad just put it in the closet and forgot about it. So eventually I got to play with a "real" .22 even if it couldn't fire. I was in my 20's before I got around to seeing if it could be fixed...... It was nothing more than what is a simple leaf type spring, ( sear spring IIRC) and it works fine and accurately to this day. I know .22's were cheap in the latter 1940's but still find it hard to believe how that gunsmith could condemn that old .22.... Sounds as though he just didn't want to be bothered.

Had a pair of chrome plated pot-metal cowboy cap pistols and a two-gun leather holster I was pretty proud of. Both guns are long gone but still have the 2-gun holster. The holster is 100% real leather, tooled and dyed with shiny metal buckle and conchos, no plastic whatsoever,

Started out playing with cowboys and Indian toy figures before Army men (they came later on). Used to pile up mom's blankets and quilts like mountain ranges in western and army movies. Spent many hours hiding the figures in the wrinkles, set up ambushes and shoot-outs.

Mom ordered me a Howdy Doody ventriloquist puppet when I was around 8-9 years old that I had been wanting a whole lot. That one's long gone too but 30-ish years ago wife bought me a replica of it that I still have.

My all time favorite "toy" to play with, though, were my dogs.

I had lots of Army guns and supporting pieces like helmets and grenades. Even had a 30 cal on a tripod the flashhider went in and out and lit up as you shot it and it made automatic fire sounds. In the neighborhood there was lots of construction going on so we used the hills of dirt to play Army on. Also had a Lionel train set with a guided missile car and exploding box car. Lots of Army figurines, tanks, vehicles etc. I used the ping pong table to set up battle fields and a daisy air rifle to shoot them down. Cowboy stuff too. Mom couldn't figure out where I got to liking guns so much! lol I also put together car, plane and boat models. Also liked working on construction projects with various kits, like lincoln logs and other building kits.

Magnifying glass, ants

Still have my 1950's Lionel train set.
Erector set
Lincoln Logs
Those rockets you would fill with water and pump up.
Lawn darts (with a point)
pop guns
marbles
balsa gliders
kites
cap guns and cowboy getup
go carts made from old lawn mower engines
plastic army men
bows and arrows
butterfly nets
ladyfinger firecrackers

Fun times

Had a model railroad set. Got bored with that, but used the leads from the transformer as sort of an "arc welder" tool to melt toy soldiers and plastic cars, boats and airplanes into grotesque shapes to simulate battle damage. Transformer burned out after awhile, but it was fun while it lasted!

We were relatively poor, so most entertainment came from the Tenn out of doors. The old baseball glove and perhaps one of our old electricians tape wrapped baseballs would being a smile to my face. We also caught a satisfying number of warm water fish with our sticks, kite string, and (is it possible) bent straight pins for hooks. Those were innocent and really great days where adults were rarely involved in our daily entertainment. Just had to make it home for supper.

Presently have a coworker who is rebuilding his for real lead soldier collection.

Slot cars
those rocket kits
Not really toys, but the car and plane models that you put together
Big Wheel when little
cap guns
Star Wars toys - millennial falcon etc
Hot Wheels
Those heavy duty metal tractors I'd get from the Ford Tractor dealership
My Mongoose bicycle

The lunar rover toy on tang bottles 1971.
Amazing what they go for as a collectable now.

Hot wheels factory
Upper and lower metal molds,put a set of wheels in the moulds
Drop solid plastic in the heater top.
Pull the lever molten plastic flow into mold and harden

Toy was out for 1 Christmas, probably cause kids burnt the crap outta themselves with molten plastic.

Late 60,s early 70,s GI JOE stuff.

Daisy red Ryder

Fiber glass bow


Made ww2 German armor 1/35 scale models my 3rd time in Korea 04-05.
Spent a year as a armed document courier on 2ID general staff.
Didn't have much too do outside of Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.

my dads WW2 field gear and helmet, BB and pellet guns, fireworks, footballs and baseball gear. How many of you shot strike anywhere matches out of a bb gun against hard stuff.

Used ta shoot em outta a modified clothes pin at my little brother.
That and semi kid level water boarded his azz when he was 4 in the wading pool.

Todd never learned to swim. I told him why about a decade ago.
Hahaahaaa!!!!