Bill Akins
New member
I thought someone here might enjoy this and use it to make one for their kid.
Here's a kids toy machine gun that is styled after the old WW1 Marlin's and Colt "potato diggers". It's a very old 1920's or 1930's Boy's Carpentry article giving instructions of how to make a toy crankfired, hopper fed, tripod mounted machine gun. It utilizes a spring that a cam on the crank hande causes to be pulled back while a dowel piece of wood drops down in front of the piece being held in tension by the spring, and when the piece falls off the cam, it springs forward slapping the short wooden dowel "bullet" down the tube barrel. The hopper feed is made from a flattened out tin can. Everything is easy to find to make this neat toy gun. The pictures in the article and instructions explain it much better than I can. The article is a two page article, so be sure to click "continue" or whatever to see the conclusion of the instructions and article. but you can also read other articles if you search that site's link.
Anyway, here's the article's link. http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/woodworking/Carpentry-and-Mechanics-For-Boys/Chapter-XVII-A-Toy-Machine-Gun.html#.Us4pg_vleSp
I can also see how the same homemade operating action and hopper feed could be even more easily made into a toy of a Browning 1919 air cooled or 1917 water cooled using a different pattern for the wooden receiver and also using PVC pipe to make a barrel and a perforated barrel sleeve, so you could make a Browning 1919 lookalike, or a .50 cal M2 lookalike, or even use a larger pvc pipe to create a fake water jacket. This would be a cheap toy to make and better than those Nerf guns they sell in the stores. You could also easily replace the "bullets" using wooden dowels and even glue a sponge tip onto them for added safety. I'd make the bullet hopper taller than in the instructions to hold more "bullets". If you study the "action", it's just some bent wire and springs. Easy to make. Luv to see pics if anyone here decides to make their kid one.
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Here's a kids toy machine gun that is styled after the old WW1 Marlin's and Colt "potato diggers". It's a very old 1920's or 1930's Boy's Carpentry article giving instructions of how to make a toy crankfired, hopper fed, tripod mounted machine gun. It utilizes a spring that a cam on the crank hande causes to be pulled back while a dowel piece of wood drops down in front of the piece being held in tension by the spring, and when the piece falls off the cam, it springs forward slapping the short wooden dowel "bullet" down the tube barrel. The hopper feed is made from a flattened out tin can. Everything is easy to find to make this neat toy gun. The pictures in the article and instructions explain it much better than I can. The article is a two page article, so be sure to click "continue" or whatever to see the conclusion of the instructions and article. but you can also read other articles if you search that site's link.
Anyway, here's the article's link. http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/woodworking/Carpentry-and-Mechanics-For-Boys/Chapter-XVII-A-Toy-Machine-Gun.html#.Us4pg_vleSp
I can also see how the same homemade operating action and hopper feed could be even more easily made into a toy of a Browning 1919 air cooled or 1917 water cooled using a different pattern for the wooden receiver and also using PVC pipe to make a barrel and a perforated barrel sleeve, so you could make a Browning 1919 lookalike, or a .50 cal M2 lookalike, or even use a larger pvc pipe to create a fake water jacket. This would be a cheap toy to make and better than those Nerf guns they sell in the stores. You could also easily replace the "bullets" using wooden dowels and even glue a sponge tip onto them for added safety. I'd make the bullet hopper taller than in the instructions to hold more "bullets". If you study the "action", it's just some bent wire and springs. Easy to make. Luv to see pics if anyone here decides to make their kid one.
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