What are these? (Page 3): I don't know what it is, but would be willing to buy one or both from you if you feel like selling them. Just contact me by Private Message in here.

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

I don't know what it is, but would be willing to buy one or both from you if you feel like selling them. Just contact me by Private Message in here.

khildy Loc: Brownsburg, IN

Manglesphoto wrote:

When I was very young (early 1950's) we had a toy like that you unscrewed the nose and put in a cap (which you had to tear the corners off to make it fit, then you would hold it by the fins and toss it in the air, when it hit nose down you got a bang. Well its was fun then !!!

Didn’t you always try to put more than one cap in it?

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

khildy wrote:

Didn’t you always try to put more than one cap in it?

Nope, a box of cap cost a nickel then and a nickel was damned hard to come by.
We would go up and down the alley looking for soda bottles to get the $.02 deposit sometimes we would get lucky and someone would give us a wagon full of bottle just to get rid of them, and you were Sh##ing in high cotton when you got a Novel Wash bottle they were $.05 each. as were the big Vess soda bottles.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

fourlocks wrote:

Hey we used to do that! As I recall, first we'd t... (show quote)

I found the formula for black powder 50 yrs ago in my first wifes chemistry book when she was going to nursing school, but they didn't tell how to combine the ingredients, Found that in another book, you grind them in a wooden vessel with a wooden masher WET!!! then let the mixture dry, next step, first pay your life insurance!!! then crush the cake dry and screen the "dust" into different grades starting with Fg Usually cannon powder, FFg, FFFg and the finest FFFFg ( priming powder) improperly handled friction heat will cause and explosion!!!

Tfoot Loc: Texas Hill Country

As teen-agers, we had a bright idea. We took a steel Band-Aid can (Remember those?), punched a nail hole in the center of one flat side, then filled the can up to the puncture with common white flour. Put an M-80 on top of that with the fuse sticking out the nail hole. Drip candle wax around the fuse to water-proof it. Fill the rest of the can with flour then close the lid and wire it shut with a cut-up wire coat hanger and a pair of pliers. Sneak down onto the river bridge at night, light it, and fling it off the bridge. When it went off on it's way to the water, it made a fireball ten feet across. The bridge was three spans wide at that point, so there was no danger of starting a fire on the bank if you were careful to stay in the middle. Then one evening there was a boat under the bridge with two fishermen in it that we didn't see.... ! They didn't get hurt but they were awful upset.

ggttc Loc: TN

burkphoto wrote:

You can take 8th grade out of a boy, but you can't... (show quote)

Did exactly the same thing with matcheads. Ran antenna wire that came on a big roll. Twisted it so it would short. Put in in a can with 100’s of kitchen match heads. Buried it in the the mean neighbors garden and ran the wire back to a train transformer. Blew up her garden from the basement and pulled the wire back into the basement without leaving a trace of how it happened. Little assholes.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

ggttc wrote:

Did exactly the same thing with matcheads. Ran antenna wire that came on a big roll. Twisted it so it would short. Put in in a can with 100’s of kitchen match heads. Buried it in the the mean neighbors garden and ran the wire back to a train transformer. Blew up her garden from the basement and pulled the wire back into the basement without leaving a trace of how it happened. Little assholes.

Do you think maybe the neighbor was mean because of (Little assholes)?

But there is always one neighbor that comes off as mean, but we never take time to find out why, me included!!!

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

fourlocks, I did the same thing back in Detroit in the 1950s. Sure was fun. Did you ever play with calcium carbide and water?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Manglesphoto wrote:

Do you think maybe the neighbor was mean because of (Little assholes)?

But there is always one neighbor that comes off as mean, but we never take time to find out why, me included!!!

The guy behind us (in Greensboro when I was a kid) was an organic gardener. He grew all kinds of herbs and spices and vegetables. He had "No Trespassing" signs on the outsides of his rear fence. He meant it...

I have a real love of parsley. He grew the best in several varieties, all of which I would sneak into his garden and eat by the handfuls. That was before he fired a shotgun (salt load) at the fence behind me to scare me away... I NEVER went over that fence again!

chuckla Loc: Kennesaw, GA USA

chuckla wrote:

A friend found these at an estate sale and can't identify them. The fins are not plastic but some sort of rubberized canvas, and the tip has what looks like a rim fire cartridge in it....

You'all sure know how to hijack a discussion. Why don't you just start your own on stupid things we all did as kids.

I still don't have any idea what these are. One good try- "Training rounds or marking rounds"... thanks, Najataagihe

RonH Loc: Shoreview MN

OK, as long as we are talking about compression explosive devices in school, I wouldn't tell what grade, we took a bicycle spoke with the wheel insert piece attached, unscrewed the wheel adjustment piece, put in the tip of a match, put a small pellet in the other end, wrapped the spoke to look like a pistol and then in class slowly screwed the threaded end onto the spoke until the compression was enough to ignite and fire the small pellet. Went about 15 feet or so and was silent. If only it didn't smell like a match we would have never been caught. Punishment, another story.

2Dragons Loc: The Back of Beyond

Pass-Go wrote:

Yeah, but do you remember those rolls of caps. We would take a whole roll put them on the cement road or driveway and hit it with a hammer . Couldn't hear for a few minutes after , but good times. Lol

Just curious, but do they even let children play with cap guns anymore? One of my most treasured Christmas presents was a Hopalong Cassidy, 2 gun/holster set, with a vest, hat and cowboy boots. We a lot of fun and good exercise running around playing Hopalong, Roy Rogers or Gene Autry. I guess what amused us isn't sophisticated enough for kids today.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

sippyjug104 wrote:

I find it odd that we older folks worry about getting the COVID virus for it may kill us however when we were young we cheated death on a daily basis. I remember when Cherry Bombs and M80's were real explosives that would shake the windows with their boom. Of course, just about every young boy had a .22 rifle that he would plink tin cans with. I can't imagine young boys roaming freely carrying a firearm today....well, maybe on the streets of Chicago.

Yes, and driving 100 mph in old '50s cars with bad bias ply tube tires on bumpy brick roads. It's a wonder that any of us survived.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

jackm1943 wrote:

Yes, and driving 100 mph in old '50s cars with bad bias ply tube tires on bumpy brick roads. It's a wonder that any of us survived.

Driving 100 MPH in MOST cars is dangerous if you hit something or forget to brake for a curve. And watch out for the kid in front of you with a big carton of BBs and a gallon of cheap motor oil...

ggttc Loc: TN

Manglesphoto wrote:

Do you think maybe the neighbor was mean because of (Little assholes)?

But there is always one neighbor that comes off as mean, but we never take time to find out why, me included!!!

Her garden was second base,