Working machine gun for kids!

From the Dec 1941 ish of Mechanix Illustrated, a jim-dandy shop project to make Junior his own dowel-firing machine-gun!

ANY small boy will want, and be delighted with this toy submachine gun, which holds fifteen shots in the magazine and fires them continuously, until empty, as the “tromboning” action is worked. Made entirely from wood, simple of construction, and employing no “hard to get” parts, this gun would make an excellent mass production product for any guild club doing such work for gift or sale.
The body of the gun, housing the mechanism, is built up on the side plate having the projection to which the magazine is secured. If the modeler makes up a set of full sized drawings of all the parts on light card or heavy paper and makes cut-outs from them, much of the fitting and adjusting may be done before actually cutting the parts, from wood. This minimizes the chance of error caused by working from small drawings.
The short dowels which project through the firing pin and cocking bar should slide freely, but not too loosely in the tracks formed by the small rippings, which are bradded and glued to the side plates. Punch pin holes through the full sized drawing of the side plates, at the exact location of these rippings so both plates are identical.

MODEL SUBMACHINE GUN Performs Realistically (Dec, 1941)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • guns • happy mutants • Kids • maker • Old school • toys • wide

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

For all your Ikea needs.
rikomatic

The toy is pretty neat, but I’m loving the kid in the hat and his awesome outfit!
- suburbanhick
  
  I was just thinking the same thing. This kid’s rocking some stylin’ threads for 1941!
Dv Revolutionary

I can see there was a war on but why wasn’t the author drafted? He appears to have sooo much time on his hands.
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Possibly was classed medically unfit or psychologically unsound.
  
  Who knows.
- CLamb
  
  Designers of weapons firing wooden dowels aren’t useful in a real war.
http://lectiblog.blogspot.com/ lecti

I was excited until the “tromboning” part. Maybe they should have made it look like a pump-action shotgun instead.
- Jake0748
  
  I dunno… I’m still pretty excited. AFAIK, this is the first and last time in my life that I will ever encounter the term “tromboning”.
  - suburbanhick
    
    That must be because you’ve never met a tromboner. (!)
Antinous / Moderator

It’s all fun and games until Estelle Parsons loses an eye.
http://twitter.com/criminalcrafts Miss Demeanor

the all wood design- years ahead of the TSA on that one
M Carlson

You’ll never take me alive, coppers!!!
oneeyedkatmane

I needed one of these as a kid so i could stand on top of our house and shout to the neighborhood..”Look at me Ma…on top of the world!” so then my dad would come home and beat the hell out of me…another missed chance for attention…oh well.
jwkrk

This is SO asking to be laser cut…scaled down and built of clear acrylic, sweet!