Does anyone remember shooting out the star at county fair with machine BB gun?

[Heavyopp]

There was a shoot out the star booth on every Jersey shore boardwalk in the state. I won once. Shoot the points 1st, while you could see them,then hope you had enough shots for the center.

Being born in 1969 I’m too young to remember the actual 22 short gallery guns at carnivals. My wife’s grandfather always told a story about his father buying him a .22 short, pump action gallery gun right from the carnival as a young boy. $18 he paid. Gun was built around 1918. Had it appraised and an article was written about it at some point. That gun belongs to my 23 year old son now. Was given to him about 10 years ago.

Grandpa was a WW2 vet. Spent a christmas eve in a foxhole in the ardennes forest outside bastone, frozen. He’s gone now, just this past fall and is very missed. He told countless stories about that gun and defending the cabin from chipmunks. One truly great man.

 

[Headshots]

I came close to winning that game a few times. I still practice removing the center , but try with 10 shots now with the FX vs 100 for the bb gun.

At 25y

At 50 , 10 shots

 

[superchikn]

It was my favorite game. I have won many times over the years. Technique I was sucessful with was to shoot holes just above the 5 points then shoot straight lines from each hole above the points until entire center fell out. I would move down the line until I found a gun with good trigger control to shoot single shots then focus on the technique.

This was exactly my technique once I realized I was not ever going to succeed any other way.
I did not use the sights, braced the gun well with my eye about 6 or 8 inches above the gun and both elbows on the counter top. a couple of shots to get the the top point and then moved the gun by feel.

I won a lot, but the right gun was not always there so lost a lot more.

I don't know if I have ever been able to walk past that booth without trying a few times, inluding last year.
I also found a booth with Gat guns, original and new style. Couldn't believe that.

 

[Sicumj]

I also watched what gun the carneys would use to demonstrate how easy it was to do. I would come back later when that gun was available. Many times a carney would hand me a gun saying the one I grabbed was not loaded. I soon learned not to fall for that trick he was giving me his worst gun. I also braced my elbows and shot over top the gun. Watching the target impact and adjusted accordingly. Usually you could win twice over one night then they cut you off. Good shooting superchikin!

I will say most were good sports about it. They would yell and carry on about another winner.

 

[Frank in Fairfield]

Yep..
Offhand with the FWB 601

 

[orangeokie]

I remember shooting a 22 at one of those. Probably 22 short . About 1962

Me too. At the Oklahoma State Fair. Winchester Model 1890. The target had a capital B letter and you got three shots to shoot it out from about 3 yards.

 

[ButchS]

I just ordered a Thompson. These guns look so damn sweet. When I was kid in the 60's I had a mattel Tommy Burst Thompson full auto cap gun. Between that and watching Combat! on tv I always wanted a Thompson. Finally getting one ....in .177 Cal.

Sounds like the same reason I got a Thompson (in .177)Combat was a great tv show for a preteen and teenager

 

[HogKiller]

Oh yes, I remember those. I don't think I ever did shoot it completely out. The guns always shot off so I would try to shoot a couple and see where it hit. Still didn't work for me. Took my son one year when he was a kid. and he shot it out and won a prize. That was better than me doing it anyway.

The key was to have a spotter so you could stay totally focused and not have to reacquire the impact point. I did ok with it. It turns out that they have stray red fibers in the paper so they can claim you didn't get it all.

 

[HogKiller]

I remember shooting 22 shorts on the board walk in santa cruz. The guns weren't tethered either, what a mess that would be today with the nuts we have now.

Yeah and those barrels were seriously messed up.

 

[steve123]

So many times I only had one tip of red left! I never won. Though I'd only try a few times when the carnival would come to the county fair.

They had a bb gun target shoot too. I was only 13-15 when I competed but I got 2nd place one year at 14 years old. There was a lot of luck involved since these guns were not precise nor sighted in correctly.

I have this weird fantasy of having a booth with Olympic match air rifles for the public to compete with in a shooting gallery at the county fair??!! Then there would be no excuses left because it'd certainly not be the guns fault! Not gonna happen but it'd be pretty cool if there was such a thing!

 

[scubajeeper]

Those guys would pull a magnifying glass out to look for the tiniest piece of red. I got close a couple of times but no cigar! It was worth it though to shoot something full auto!

 

[crosman2016]

Bringing back some old memories there OP! These days, I would be surprised if there are any shooting style games at carnivals anymore.

 

[LCURRENT80]

Also called a hanging Chad...

I thought this was pretty darn ironic. This could also be titled how not to shoot a bull’s-eye and shoot a really good group.
View attachment 140250View attachment 140258

I was trying to shoot some 25 shot groups at 100 yards today winds were 5 mph or 4-5 inches. temperature 35. Rifle was red wolf 25 kings power medium.

l got the star once...at the fair. Anyone else invest in that game?
mike

I remamber Tryin

 

[Bob_S]

Last did this at the Santa Cruz fair in .... 1998?. Don't remember if it was air or CB/BB caps, Most folks just spray and pray, but as long as you kept it to 3 or 4 shot bursts it wasn't very difficult.
Respectfully, Bob_S

 

[Stan’s boy John]

Exactly, the smart guys would ring a bell and say hey we have a winner here.

And then for the rest of the fair you get to carry around a big Budweiser mirror...

mike

Or a velvet Elvis

 

[SkeeterHawk]

To give the group a head's up, I posted this as a Shooting Challenge here. Here is a link to the video I posted there of me taking 200 shots on full-auto to completely shoot out the star:

Happy Shooting!

Jonathan