I don't know how many of you can remember going to the country fair back in the day and seeing a shooting gallery with people shooting targets for little prizes. I don’t remember if l got to shoot them but l remember they were all chained down. What were those rifles ?
Gallery guns
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vagrantviking
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- High River, Alberta
Water guns or BB guns are what I remember.
BlackPowderBurner
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- the chesterfield
Winchester made some 1890 and 1906 pumps specifically for gallery use. They were chambered for .22 short and were shot with a reduced charge load topped with a wax bullet.
unicorn gravedigger
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Big Island West Coast
Win. M61 a classic gallery gun.
Regarding ammo, when smokeless powder, which preceded non-corrosive priming, became widely used in rimfire ammunition, indoor gallery shooting became increasingly popular and widespread. The introduction of non-corrosive priming in rimfire cartridges in the later twenties made gallery shooting much simpler in terms of maintaining the rifles. Indoor shooting galleries were probably at the height of their popularity in the decade after this development.
Other rimfire ammo used in gallery shooting included variations of Flobert .22 BB and CB, as well as Flobert 6mm and 4mm. These are relatively weak rounds, accurate for only a short distance.
In Europe especially, garden or parlor guns were popular. Firearms makers such as Anschutz made a variety of Flobert ammo shooting rifles, many of them what are often referred to as "boys" guns. Some took shooting Flobert ammo seriously enough that Anschutz made Flobert 4mm versions of their 54 match action standard position rifles, from the 1407Z through to the 1907Z. The Z denotes a Flobert chambered model, and the while the 1907 itself is in current production, I don't know if the Flobert version is in current production. These rifles shoot only the Flobert 4mm ammo and are identical to their .22LR siblings in every way.
Other rimfire ammo used in gallery shooting included variations of Flobert .22 BB and CB, as well as Flobert 6mm and 4mm. These are relatively weak rounds, accurate for only a short distance.
In Europe especially, garden or parlor guns were popular. Firearms makers such as Anschutz made a variety of Flobert ammo shooting rifles, many of them what are often referred to as "boys" guns. Some took shooting Flobert ammo seriously enough that Anschutz made Flobert 4mm versions of their 54 match action standard position rifles, from the 1407Z through to the 1907Z. The Z denotes a Flobert chambered model, and the while the 1907 itself is in current production, I don't know if the Flobert version is in current production. These rifles shoot only the Flobert 4mm ammo and are identical to their .22LR siblings in every way.
Thank you-that was interesting ☺
WereWeasel
CGN Regular
- Location
- Albert County, N.B
I was just thinking that! They were a running 50/50 payout and the jerk wouldn't pay out because after taking $20 bucks off of my buddy and I; the pot being around $100 (big money for 12 year old) we figured out there was enough bbs to shoot around the star pop it out of the paper. Carni claimed WE cheated even though he would stand by the valve of the airline for the guns and mess with it. But they were Automatic BB guns powered by an air compressor that resembled a Thompson and used a tube with a slit in it to load the bbs. I don't remember if the tube was a magazine or just a charger.
I remember shooting those too at the fair. The tube just held the BB's loose pretty sure it didnt have a spring or anything in it cause I remember the carnies holding handfulls of magazine tubes upright waiting to pop them in after you threw them another $5
