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

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Obviously there is a big range of the type of guys who would run a booth like that. The guy who has his thinking cap on applauded your winning and makes a big deal out of it so everyone else comes over to see what happened and tries to do the same thing.

Instead, some get stingy when lightning strikes and someone wins. 

mike
Click to expand...


One time I saw the guy running the booth take the gun and shoot the star out to see it could be done. He did it when he saw me get disheartened. It worked. I pulled some more money out and went after it some more. They like someone to win now and then especially when it's crowded and people are watching.


 
Upvote 0
Obviously there is a big range of the type of guys who would run a booth like that. The guy who has his thinking cap on applauded your winning and makes a big deal out of it so everyone else comes over to see what happened and tries to do the same thing.

Instead, some get stingy when lightning strikes and someone wins. 

mike
Click to expand...


One time I saw the guy running the booth take the gun and shoot the star out to see it could be done. He did it when he saw me get disheartened. It worked. I pulled some more money out and went after it some more. They like someone to win now and then especially when it's crowded and people are watching.

Click to expand...


That's what I remember. Most of my experience was from the Oregon State Fair and the carny used any slow time to demonstrate that it could be done. They loved the occasional winner - after all, the garbage they were giving away probably cost less than you paid to shoot - just had to keep it difficult enough that winners would be proud of their trophy.

GsT
 
Upvote 0
some memories from childhood are so incredibly visceral. This is one of those for me. Between the state fair, and the county fair, I’m sure I spent hours hanging around those booths. Because when you were 9 Years old back in the day, and you got to the state fair, which is a huge deal, and you and your buddy ran off on your own and didn’t have to meet up with the parents again until lunch.

You quickly realized you were going to run out of money. So then you started watching people play other games.


Plus you had to watch and see which gun was shooting the best....And interview the guy running the booth to check ballistics etc.

mike
 
Upvote 0
RTR said:
I'm still doing it :)View attachment 140919 Only difference is,View attachment 140925 this BB gun is way more accurate than the ones at the fair :)
Click to expand...
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.
 
Upvote 0
No, but I like shooting hotdogs :D
IMG_4304.PNG
 
  • Haha
Reactions: iAMzehTOASTY1
Upvote 0
Oh man…this brings back some memories! Such as the time me and a couple of friends were at the Tulare County Fair and happened upon the shooting gallery. My buddy Pete, who was absolutely nefarious, decided he’d found a much easier target than the red star and when the carnie wasn’t looking, dumped half a magazine into one of the stuffed animals! Well, the carnie turned around about mid-way through the mag dump and saw what Pete was doing and unplugged Pete’s gun, called him a few names, and delivered a textbook pimp-slap upside his head! Johnny, the third member of the group, and I howled!

And in an example of how things have changed, Pete never told his folks about being slapped upside the head by the carnie. If he had, and they would have found out why, they would’ve told him he had it coming and slapped him upside the head themselves! I can’t imagine this whole scenario playing out the same way today…

Justin
 
  • Like
Reactions: sully3acr, john8 and iAMzehTOASTY1
Upvote 0
do not remember a star , but do remember Gallery guns .

bought one a while back tried to make it into a precision target 50 yard shooter . HAHAHA . after cleaning , adjusting and polishing and trying many , many different brands of .22 , i gave up and sold for what i paid less all the work and frustration .
 
Upvote 0
Zebra13 said:
Oh man…this brings back some memories! Such as the time me and a couple of friends were at the Tulare County Fair and happened upon the shooting gallery. My buddy Pete, who was absolutely nefarious, decided he’d found a much easier target than the red star and when the carnie wasn’t looking, dumped half a magazine into one of the stuffed animals! Well, the carnie turned around about mid-way through the mag dump and saw what Pete was doing and unplugged Pete’s gun, called him a few names, and delivered a textbook pimp-slap upside his head! Johnny, the third member of the group, and I howled!

And in an example of how things have changed, Pete never told his folks about being slapped upside the head by the carnie. If he had, and they would have found out why, they would’ve told him he had it coming and slapped him upside the head themselves! I can’t imagine this whole scenario playing out the same way today…

Justin
Click to expand...

Yeh...they would either call the cops file charges and try and sue, or come back later packing a 9.
 
Upvote 0
I am not going to brag, But back in the early 60s I was a eagle eye shot with a BB gun, In the summer I walked around with a BB gun all the time, Rode pedal bikes with BB guns, I lost the instant shooting skill when I started using iron sights, and later on scopes.
The full auto guns had a bad PSI drop, The recycled BBs were crap, I did shoot the star out but I spent a crap load of money to do it,, I tried shooting the 22 shots a few times but the barrels were crap, I was a kid and I knew there were crap,
I have done something like that with a stick on dot and shot it out with my Barra electric BB gun easy as pie.
Mike
 
Upvote 0
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.
 
Upvote 0
Nope no shooting gallery at the fair but one year when I was about 20 years old at the state fair the Army had a M16 simulator set up.
The guy running it told me to pick a target so I put three rounds on target at 500 meters, Good steady rest and a little pop gun compared to my 30-06, no problem.
He asked me how I could do that and I said “I hunt elk.”
These days it would be “I shoot air rifles.” :cool: And yes I still hunt elk.
Got to keep up with the times!
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Memories for sure. I actually worked for Dogpatch USA theme park as the amussement manager. I was in charge of all the park games.
Including the shooting gallery with the Thompson Auto BB guns. As far as our park went, the sights were straight and the guns sighted in.
We wanted folks to win. I remember overseeing the unloading of those semi trucks full of prizes from China and being told by upper management that they wanted all those prizes gone by season's end.
That smell of oil and an overheated compressor still lingers in my mind. I spent hours tuning and repairing those darn guns. I remember that the actor
who played LiL Abner was a whiz at fixing those BB guns. Daisey Mae would stop by and shoot for free all the time just to bring in customers. Guys mostly. Go figure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mr303 and RM.510bigbore
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu