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

[Flintsack]

I’m not sure how much I invested in that game over the few years that I went to the fair in my teens... My goal was to make it around full circle, and leave a small burst to pick off the last remaining piece. 


I will guarantee you whatever I won didn’t add up to the total investment. But it was sure fun to try.

mike

 

[Spray1Mark]

In England it was run by a guy with only one arm, he would do a circle with the gun, the small lead balls were also quite miss-shapen from memory.

Like everything else here it was banned years back!

 

[jimaok]

I loved those things. I doubt anyone actually won it, it was more fun just to shoot it. I always wished the air hose was long enough to turn around and spray the balloons at the dart booth.

 

[Gerry52]

River view amusement park in Chicago! Closed down in the 1960's!!! One of the 1st stops I made when we'd go there. Made believe I was Eliot Ness shooting the bad guys! Those things were a blast! Modeled after a Thompson SMG.

 

[profsrgary]

Yep, York Interstate fair in the mid 60's. Just not enough BB's to do the job for me.

 

[RALPHK]

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.

 

[Queequeg]

There was a member here that did a thread and built a trailer with a range compressor and gun built in to haul around to local fairs. 

Sure spent more than a few hard earned quarters trying to win a Crossman pump that was one prize.

 

[Flintsack]

I have to admit a Crossman pump would’ve had me fired up. I don’t even remember what the prizes were. I just wanted to shoot that star out. I’ll guarantee you there were no no air guns, that’s pretty wild.

mike

 

[bckyrdsnpr52]

I won that game a few times, the trick is to not even touch the star, shoot around it. Those lead bb's were shot so many times some of them were square.

 

[RTR]

 I'm still doing it

Only difference is,

this BB gun is way more accurate than the ones at the fair

 

[Queequeg]

If I remember it was only about 10 maybe 12 feet to the target. I doubt those old wore out guns and reused BBs could hit the paper at 30 feet

 

[KevinB]

I got it once. Best 4000 dollars i ever spent.

 

[buckyusn]

I remember trying at several different fairs...and never wiping out the star completely. 

Still had fun, though!

 

[Flintsack]

 got it once. Best 4000 dollars i ever spent.

LOL!!!

 

[FrankinFairfield]

Targets.....like these?

 

[Dairyboy]

I got it once. Best 4000 dollars i ever spent.

Lol oh man that was funny! Had my wife asking what in the world was so funny!

I remember them. Never did get one but did get very close many times. Would be fun to give it a try nowadays.

 

[Stefanjan]

My favorite game. Won once (guy was super cool and let me shoot the same card like 3 times!) Won a pot leaf mirror! Ended up dropping it on the way back to the car lol. Guy gave me all kinds of pointers and let me shoot for about an hour for $5! He told me the guns were in no way sighted in and most shot to right (as most people were right handed). They reused the BBS and the cards were nearly impossible to shot out with the 200 shots or so shots you would get. The trigger pull was intentionally way high so you could not "single shot" them. The average number of shots per pull was about 10 to 12! It was a slow day at the park and I had a great time talking with the guy and blasting away.

 

[Flintsack]

So many times, I thought I made the perfect circle. And the guy would walk to the back grab the target with a smile on his face bring it over, and find one little tiny red speck. Shake his head smile and walk away. It was always hot, and it smelled like lubricant and fair in the heat.

mike

 

[LostinTejas]

Yep, big ripoff. Shot it out, the guy got a magnifying glass out and found a spec of red on a folded section. Needed the glass to see it.

OK smarty pants. Shot a circle around it and punched it out. Nope, had to shoot the star only. I was asked to leave at that point. I guess the look on my face gave away what I was thinking on the third attempt.

Good shooting, and a stretch for the gun. There appears to be some keyhole impacts, but it could be a loose fitting target to the backing.

 

[Flintsack]

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