Some mighty fancy shootin'

[nchawkeye]

Fess Parker is the reason many of us got into shooting flintlocks and enjoying history...

I like Georgie Russels line "That's the kind of shooting that makes the old possum squeal"...

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I had the coonskin cap and a flintlock cap gun. It must have been sometime in the mid '50's.

 

[Jim K]

I've always enjoyed the Davy Crockett movie and tv show, as well as Fess Parker in Daniel Boone. As a kid, I liked the original intro for the Daniel Boone Show, shooting at a bear and natives. I've still got an original Davy Crockett puzzle board and a few kids books somewhere packed away. Here's the original Daniel Boone intro.

I loved that show as a kid!

 

[Jim K]

Love the shooting competition scene from Davy Crockett. Davy puts the 2nd round ball in the same hole and right on top of the first - and they're both still perfectly round.

View attachment 108092

I see my problem. I need to wet my front sight like Davy!

 

[Relic shooter]

And Davey loaded directly from his horn?



LD

If you look close at firearms in the early Crocket & frontier movies they were using surplus Trapdoor Springfield rifles & pistols that were cut-down, these firearms had their locks & stocks modified to look like early flintlocks. This enabled the unskilled actors to load & fire ' BP blanks' fast & pretend to use their powder horns & ramrods.
I bought a couple of these 'studio' marked guns back in the 70s when studios were selling our their 'collectable' original pistols & rifles & replacing them with mock guns or replicas.

 

[rf50cal]

There's no doubt my fascination with longrifles stems back to those Disney movies I watched as a kid.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I see my problem. I need to wet my front sight like Davy!

Actually...,

I was thinkin' that we all should start to do that... those of us who are fans of Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen and the show having an impact on us and all. Kind of a sign of respect.

ONE to signal to anybody who is watching at the range and who is "IN" on the signal, that the shooter is a fan of Daniel Boone the TV show, and a sign of respect for the guys who got us interested in this hobby....and then TWO..., as a sort of "inside gag" for all the non-muzzleloader shooters on the range. IF they ask..., then they don't know and if they don't know we'll tell 'em something like "keeps the dust off" or "keeps the sight bright" (whatever that means) or some other nonsense.

Hey fraternities have secret hand shakes, Masons had or have some hand signals for their members.., why shouldn't we?

LD

 

[toot]

I've always enjoyed the Davy Crockett movie and tv show, as well as Fess Parker in Daniel Boone. As a kid, I liked the original intro for the Daniel Boone Show, shooting at a bear and natives. I've still got an original Davy Crockett puzzle board and a few kids books somewhere packed away. Here's the original Daniel Boone intro.

thank you for the post! I never never seen it in my 77++++yrs. I rely like it. wonder why it changed?

 

[user 48702]

thank you for the post! I never never seen it in my 77++++yrs. I rely like it. wonder why it changed?

Your welcome!

The show was a big hit with the kids. I'm 64, and it's first episode aired about the time I entered the 2nd grade, and it was all the talk among the boys. Thinking back on that 2nd grade Christmas, I'll never forget getting on the bus, first day after the holidays, trying my best to look like Daniel Boone, outfitted with my official brand spanking new Daniel Boone coonskin cap, plastic bowie, and cap-gun flint rifle. My stop was early on the bus route, so when I got on the bus there was only one kid named Gene who was wearing his coonskin cap. As the bus made its way to school, several more boys made their way onto the bus wearing coonskin hats. As the bus filled up, me and Gene got more and more disgusted, thinking we were the only ones that had got Boone gear for Christmas. The argument between us was who looked the most like Boone. When we finally made it to school, I guess a large majority got Daniel Boone outfits for Christmas, because the parking lot looked like a 6 - 10 year-old kid rendezvous. I bet there was 12 to 15 kids all dressed up coonskin hats. Some were all decked out in fringe coats and boots. The teachers thought it was funny, but our teacher made us stack arms in the cloak room until play period, at which time we headed to the playground. Our school was a small country grammar school, 1-6 grade, and I believe there was just a little over 120 kids from 1st through 6th. I never knew a boy at that time that didn't carry a pocket knife, things sure have changed.

This is the outfit that was selling at the time the show came out.

Vintage stock photos

 

[toot]

that is a great photo, I wish I could see more of the weapon?

 

[toot]

my wife had a POLLY CROCKET, RABBIT fake RACOON fur hat. any one remember them of have one?

 

[user 48702]

Actually...,

I was thinkin' that we all should start to do that... those of us who are fans of Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen and the show having an impact on us and all. Kind of a sign of respect.

ONE to signal to anybody who is watching at the range and who is "IN" on the signal, that the shooter is a fan of Daniel Boone the TV show, and a sign of respect for the guys who got us interested in this hobby....and then TWO..., as a sort of "inside gag" for all the non-muzzleloader shooters on the range. IF they ask..., then they don't know and if they don't know we'll tell 'em something like "keeps the dust off" or "keeps the sight bright" (whatever that means) or some other nonsense.

Hey fraternities have secret hand shakes, Masons had or have some hand signals for their members.., why shouldn't we?

LD

If you've seen Sgt York, starring Gary Cooper, he wet his front sight every time, kinda comical, especially at the turkey shoot. As to your last regarding fraternal organizations and the grip, some refer to them as "Ring Knockers" we could be known as the "Sight Wetters" or "SW" for short.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

..., some refer to them as "Ring Knockers" we could be known as the "Sight Wetters" or "SW" for short.

Actually I was taught by "ring knockers" that such were mostly the boys from The Citadel military college, as they were the most prone to literally knock their class rings up against the window of a car or structure to signal to a fellow alumni or classmate, AND because their class rings were the heaviest of any in the nation, providing a rather amplified impact when adorning a fist that was used to punch.

LD

 

[appalichian hunter]

Easy on the ring knockers fellas.

 

[JohnL]

If you look close at firearms in the early Crocket & frontier movies they were using surplus Trapdoor Springfield rifles & pistols that were cut-down, these firearms had their locks & stocks modified to look like early flintlocks. This enabled the unskilled actors to load & fire ' BP blanks' fast & pretend to use their powder horns & ramrods.
I bought a couple of these 'studio' marked guns back in the 70s when studios were selling our their 'collectable' original pistols & rifles & replacing them with mock guns or replicas.

Do you still have one of those? I’d love to see photos of you do. I’ve never seen photos of those built prop guns like that.

 

[toot]

If you've seen Sgt York, starring Gary Cooper, he wet his front sight every time, kinda comical, especially at the turkey shoot. As to your last regarding fraternal organizations and the grip, some refer to them as "Ring Knockers" we could be known as the "Sight Wetters" or "SW" for short.

I hope not bed wetter's?

 

[toot]

were real period weapons used in the making of to film. or movie props? they sure looked real & nice ones at that? and were they live fire shooting/ just courious? good thing PETA, wasn't around.

 

[Relic shooter]

Do you still have one of those? I’d love to see photos of you do. I’ve never seen photos of those built prop guns like that.

Sorry no photos & those prop guns went down the road several years back but most including the Single action Colts were discretely stamped on underside of the barrels with "Property of xxxx Studio" .

 

[DuncNZ]

We all had Coon skin hats ( made out of opossum or rabbit,) and Davy Crocket cork firing guns , the rich kid up the block from my cousins had a a hat with two tails and a double barreled cork gun . but we had real knives and he didn't and I had a real rubber tomahawk which I could throw at the other kids . Fort building was the main activity .