Ah reminds me. My dad did smoke. And as tobacco was taxed differently he had once used one of these small sliding machines to put tobacco into "empty" cigarettes, sold separately.
He had stopped using these and was back to store bought cigarettes when I found his cigarettes and the machine.
I carefully pulled out all the tobacco from one of his Camel filters, and put it back in with the sliding machine - adding the tiniest firecracker I had.
Few days later he was sooooo angry. And the angrier he was the more I had to laugh.
It did explode in his ashtray when he was concentrating at his desk.
Oh fuck, thats was over 40 years ago and I still have to laugh like a madman.
Remembering him fondly, even when he was mad as hell at me the worst that would happen was him shouting.
Wow, I remember having a revolver, it was loads of fun as a kid to actually have the shots go off. Probably infuriating to the adults, which may be why I rarely had any.
I grew up with both, the paper ones were nice for “other” destructive purposes. And that you had a ton of shots on a roll.
The rings were nice because they always stayed in alignment. The paper ones would sometimes lose their pacing and the hammer would hit the spaces between the dots.
Can I ask you when you were born? Because I remember using the paper strips when I was really young and then at some point they dissapeared and got replaced by those plastic rings. I was born in 94.
A friend and I had the bright idea to hit a whole roll of those with a hammer. We also were smart enough to know that it should be on something hard, like a garage floor. We also knew that we didn't want anyone to see us. So, we made sure all the garage doors were good and shut. I swear, it literally blew his hair back, and my ears have been ringing ever since.
We did the same thing, but I was the smart dumbass who knew that's how you lose fingers, so I had us hide behind a board and drop a bowling ball into it. It cracked the fucking ball! My parents were livid
I had at least a few and they never fucking fired right like 95% of the time. The clack of the hammer was louder than the damn cap itself.
Later I got one of those that takes an orange revolver style cap set and they were so much more reliable. Except you ran out of ammo in like 3 seconds and getting a parent to go buy more of those expensive ass refill things was nearly impossible.
I know what they are, spent pocket money on them, and loathe them. Ring caps are far more reliable (albeit more expensive; always a topic of debate when said pocket money was $3 / month).
I think there was even one more evolution where the plastic caps came in a strip instead of a ring. The strip was put in a magazine that slid into the bottom of the pistol. Most of them just moved the strip up as they fired, but if I recall correctly there were even ones that cut each cap off individually after firing it and ejected it like an empty shell. Awful for litter, but pretty cool for cap gun technology. I am pretty sure all of this stuff has been banned where I live.
Oh for sure there will be an archeologist in my old neighborhood in a couple hundred years wondering what the significance of all these round plastic rings they excavated is lol
I’I forgot about the strips! It seemed like those were for early 90’s gangsta era style cap guns. If I remember correctly. Not the cowboy revolvers that came before.
The experience I had was that the hammer wasn't consistently firing the caps. Perhaps I just had a couple of bad guns? Either way, nothing like those reliability issues with ring caps.
Usually what would happen is the residue builds up on the parts that feed the tape up so it would stick, and lose index. The hammer would land between caps because the tape wasn't advanced the distance it needed to be.
If you clean all that off so the tape consistently advanced the correct amount you wouldn't have issues.
To all the "hammer people". What you do is you fold it lengthwise down the middle (opening each "dot") and then carefully pack several rolls into a cylinder. Let say the plastic cylinder these things came in. Then use electrical tape and tape it good and tight. Preferably several cylinders.
Remember to put in a fuse. A rubber band clipped open will work in lieu of a proper fuse.
A scene that would have gone viral was when were 12 four of us pooled our money and bought a display box of the rolls.
What commenced was an conveyer belt style production of the things.
Being total idiots we had no real idea what we were doing so we taped together several cylinders and while one packed the rest folded.
The "packer" used that back end of a fork to get the stuff real tight in the cylinder and since he was sitting with it between his legs in the crotch area he started simulating masturbation with the fork as an attempt to amuse. (Did I mention we were 12 AND idiots?)
What happens was that the friction of cource ignites the damn thing. Luckily it was early in the production so he did not set of much. What happened was teared jeans, some spectacular brucing and a visit to the emergency room. No permanent damage.
The thing is I still work with explosives in a professional capacity and I found that these things are still being sold... P1 pyrotechnic articles, "low hazard" so its still not to late to go viral...
Haha, bought a couple of rolls of these recently to show the kids. Can't believe no-one's mentioned penny bangers yet. Take a roll, fold in half lengthwise and wrap radially around a penny, tape off the end, then throw it hard against a hard surface.
My childhood was in the 70s and we absolutely loved this caps. Yes we played with them in ***s but also just on the sidewalk with rocks. Did you guys do the rocks method?
Hell yeah! I was born like 2 years after this came out so it wasn't an option for me 😭 I got to experience the other ones through my older cousins though.
I had an idiot friend as a kid who set some off by hitting them against a metal gas canister and I ran away 'cause I thought it was going to explode lol
I think those are concert wrist bands. Don't try and tell me I could win those and exchange them for cheap prizes at Chuck E Cheese because I refuse to admit I recognize those relics from another time and instead I'll pretend to be Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn discovering remnants from the past.
122 Comments
Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de · 97 pts · 234d
LuxSpark@lemmy.cafe · 27 pts · 234d
Pop the whole roll at once.
T00l_shed@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 234d
Light it on fire.... or so a friend told me
Darkmuch@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 234d
I left mine on the carpet in my room. My mom came in to vacuum one day and thought it was just some scrap paper.
She was not amused by the 2 inch burnt mark it left on the carpet, or the shock it gave her.
froh42@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 234d
Ah reminds me. My dad did smoke. And as tobacco was taxed differently he had once used one of these small sliding machines to put tobacco into "empty" cigarettes, sold separately.
He had stopped using these and was back to store bought cigarettes when I found his cigarettes and the machine.
I carefully pulled out all the tobacco from one of his Camel filters, and put it back in with the sliding machine - adding the tiniest firecracker I had.
Few days later he was sooooo angry. And the angrier he was the more I had to laugh.
It did explode in his ashtray when he was concentrating at his desk.
Oh fuck, thats was over 40 years ago and I still have to laugh like a madman.
Remembering him fondly, even when he was mad as hell at me the worst that would happen was him shouting.
Delphia@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 234d
I absolutely guarantee you he told that story to his friends with a huge smile.
Zomg@piefed.world · 18 pts · 234d
We used the scrape them on the sidewalk with a rock
Honytawk@feddit.nl · 4 pts · 234d
Is that why afterwards they put the explody paper in those plastic revolver rings?
greenbit@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 233d
Opening them, inserting all the powder into one. Russian roulette as a kid was a bit of a fucked up thing back then ..
zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 234d
I thought that was just a different type, but you might be right. Not sure when each of those products were released.
a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 233d
fartographer@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 233d
I used to run my thumbnail across them. My fingertips were constantly black and smell like fireworks/hotdogs.
redlemace@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 234d
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 82 pts · 234d
I know what they are but I have never seen them in real life nor used them. I had these:
filcuk@lemmy.zip · 23 pts · 234d
Wow, I remember having a revolver, it was loads of fun as a kid to actually have the shots go off. Probably infuriating to the adults, which may be why I rarely had any.
REDACTED@infosec.pub · 11 pts · 234d
The revolver I had constantly burned my hand. Whenever it hit the "bullet", sparks went straight towards my hand. Still, totally worth the pain.
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 234d
Naw, the adults were at home. We were outside.
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 233d
If you remember "playing outside" you must be very old.
cdf12345@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 233d
I grew up with both, the paper ones were nice for “other” destructive purposes. And that you had a ton of shots on a roll.
The rings were nice because they always stayed in alignment. The paper ones would sometimes lose their pacing and the hammer would hit the spaces between the dots.
I remember seeing plastic 12 shot rings too.
wuzzlewoggle@feddit.org · 8 pts · 234d
Can I ask you when you were born? Because I remember using the paper strips when I was really young and then at some point they dissapeared and got replaced by those plastic rings. I was born in 94.
Paper_Phrog@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 233d
I used both. Am from 93.
sulgoth@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 234d
I can see why they went to the rings. You could do the whole strip with a thumbnail if you were a young idiot.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 233d
you could also get the whole strip with a thumbnail of you just wanted to have some fun
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 233d
similar age. I used both. I think the strips did get harder to find at the dollar store when I got older
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 233d
92, Baltics
GlitchyDigiBun@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 234d
They sold these and the strips next to one another at the dollar store when I was a kid. Born '95
shalafi@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 233d
During the pandemic, percussion caps for black powder guns were unavailable and I got those types of caps to work marginally well.
ScottThePoolBoy@lemmy.world · 76 pts · 234d
A friend and I had the bright idea to hit a whole roll of those with a hammer. We also were smart enough to know that it should be on something hard, like a garage floor. We also knew that we didn't want anyone to see us. So, we made sure all the garage doors were good and shut. I swear, it literally blew his hair back, and my ears have been ringing ever since.
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 45 pts · 234d
We did the same thing, but I was the smart dumbass who knew that's how you lose fingers, so I had us hide behind a board and drop a bowling ball into it. It cracked the fucking ball! My parents were livid
moonburster@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 234d
Thanks for doing my intrusive thoughts
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 234d
See? Scotty doesn't know......about toy safety and hearing protection! This is why OSHA would be upset!
Hazmatastic@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 234d
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 39 pts · 234d
I had at least a few and they never fucking fired right like 95% of the time. The clack of the hammer was louder than the damn cap itself.
Later I got one of those that takes an orange revolver style cap set and they were so much more reliable. Except you ran out of ammo in like 3 seconds and getting a parent to go buy more of those expensive ass refill things was nearly impossible.
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 24 pts · 234d
You can still buy these.
duncan_bayne@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 234d
I know what they are, spent pocket money on them, and loathe them. Ring caps are far more reliable (albeit more expensive; always a topic of debate when said pocket money was $3 / month).
curiousaur@reddthat.com · 9 pts · 234d
The paper cap guns just need to be maintained. You have to clean out the residue that builds up or the paper won't cycle smoothly through it.
h3ll3rsh4nks@ani.social · 7 pts · 234d
True but it's also easier to pretend you're a grizzled noir detective reloading his snub nosed revolver when you use ring caps
MIDItheKID@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 233d
I think there was even one more evolution where the plastic caps came in a strip instead of a ring. The strip was put in a magazine that slid into the bottom of the pistol. Most of them just moved the strip up as they fired, but if I recall correctly there were even ones that cut each cap off individually after firing it and ejected it like an empty shell. Awful for litter, but pretty cool for cap gun technology. I am pretty sure all of this stuff has been banned where I live.
h3ll3rsh4nks@ani.social · 2 pts · 233d
Oh for sure there will be an archeologist in my old neighborhood in a couple hundred years wondering what the significance of all these round plastic rings they excavated is lol
cdf12345@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 233d
I’I forgot about the strips! It seemed like those were for early 90’s gangsta era style cap guns. If I remember correctly. Not the cowboy revolvers that came before.
curiousaur@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 234d
I wasn't that into noir when I was a child.
h3ll3rsh4nks@ani.social · 5 pts · 234d
I may have watched a few too many black and white movies in the 80s, though Eddie Valiant was my hero as well lol
PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.space · 4 pts · 233d
NOW you tell me.
duncan_bayne@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 233d
The experience I had was that the hammer wasn't consistently firing the caps. Perhaps I just had a couple of bad guns? Either way, nothing like those reliability issues with ring caps.
curiousaur@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 233d
Usually what would happen is the residue builds up on the parts that feed the tape up so it would stick, and lose index. The hammer would land between caps because the tape wasn't advanced the distance it needed to be.
If you clean all that off so the tape consistently advanced the correct amount you wouldn't have issues.
duncan_bayne@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 233d
Ohhhhhhh damn. Have I been wrongly hating on tape capguns for 40-odd years?
toynbee@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 234d
All I know is that they smelled good.
Honytawk@feddit.nl · 3 pts · 234d
You mean the sulfur?
toynbee@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 234d
Yeah.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 234d
You're gonna love farts.
toynbee@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 234d
Everyone loves their own brand, but I've not really enjoyed them in general.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 234d
More for the rest of us!
qupada@fedia.io · 4 pts · 233d
"Anyone who says they hate farts is choosing to have less joy in their life, but the same amount of farts"
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 233d
Damn, that hit home.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 233d
Elon sniffs his own farts.
https://nypost.com/2025/12/13/health/pew-iq-sniffing-your-own-farts-boosts-brain-power-new-john-hopkins-study-suggests/
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 233d
sulphur from caps. Farts are hydrogen sulfide.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 19 pts · 233d
Cap gun caps?
deHaga@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 233d
Yep. We used to wrap the whole roll around a coin, then cover that up in sellotape and lob them over the fence at school, makes a good bang!
Frostbeard@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 234d
To all the "hammer people". What you do is you fold it lengthwise down the middle (opening each "dot") and then carefully pack several rolls into a cylinder. Let say the plastic cylinder these things came in. Then use electrical tape and tape it good and tight. Preferably several cylinders. Remember to put in a fuse. A rubber band clipped open will work in lieu of a proper fuse.
These things blows like flash bangers
vortexsurfer@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 234d
Yes! I did this so many times as a t(w)een! Good times.
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 234d
I feel like a video of this in action would be classic 2000s internet.
Frostbeard@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 233d
A scene that would have gone viral was when were 12 four of us pooled our money and bought a display box of the rolls.
What commenced was an conveyer belt style production of the things. Being total idiots we had no real idea what we were doing so we taped together several cylinders and while one packed the rest folded. The "packer" used that back end of a fork to get the stuff real tight in the cylinder and since he was sitting with it between his legs in the crotch area he started simulating masturbation with the fork as an attempt to amuse. (Did I mention we were 12 AND idiots?)
What happens was that the friction of cource ignites the damn thing. Luckily it was early in the production so he did not set of much. What happened was teared jeans, some spectacular brucing and a visit to the emergency room. No permanent damage.
The thing is I still work with explosives in a professional capacity and I found that these things are still being sold... P1 pyrotechnic articles, "low hazard" so its still not to late to go viral...
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 233d
That's wild and I'm really glad your buddy didn't lose his real fork!
"Must be used under adult supervision"
Classic disclaimer
Frostbeard@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 233d
Hah.. Adult supervision = benign neglect.
And see what I found!
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 233d
HOT DAMN TIME TO MAKE SOME FLASHBANGS
BenLeMan@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 234d
Wrap the strip tightly around a penny and then tape the whole thing is what I used to do. Remarkably potent when tossed on the ground.
Canopyflyer@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 234d
I can smell them too.
It was fun to take a hammer and hit the entire roll at once. They actually made quite the noise.
For reference, I was born in 1970 so yeah I grew up with those things.
0x0@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 233d
We used to roll them out like trumps red carpet for maduro, grab some coin and just rip all of them in sequence, wonderful smell
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 233d
I'm still slightly wary of them after (mildly) burning a knuckle attempting a whole strip
Noite_Etion@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 234d
Can still smell the burnt sulphur
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 10 pts · 234d
I always wanted to see what would happen if I lit one of these on fire.
Crackhappy@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 234d
It's fun enough, but not as fun as you would think. Better to use them the right way.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 4 pts · 234d
You mean, like this?
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 234d
Haha, bought a couple of rolls of these recently to show the kids. Can't believe no-one's mentioned penny bangers yet. Take a roll, fold in half lengthwise and wrap radially around a penny, tape off the end, then throw it hard against a hard surface.
Cyclist@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 234d
You can still get the plastic revolver style.
RagingRobot@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 234d
Yeah these rolls were way better though you got a lot more shots too.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 233d
even as a kid I disliked the waste
a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 233d
Walmart sells these today. Free delivery.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 233d
I gave these to my son to play with in a cap *** in 2008 when he was 8. He’s hardly old as shit. But I am.
m4xie@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 232d
Did you censor that word or is that an instance rule? To be clear, the word was gun not ass, correct?
Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 232d
Cap ass hahaa
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 232d
Cap gun… this Minneapolis thing has me wanting to never say gun ever again. Just broken about it.
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 233d
If you're old as shit, then I'm older than shit, but I'm not old so you're not old either.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 232d
No… we’re vintage.
QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 233d
Thank you for making me feel younger (I'm 26). XD
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 232d
My childhood was in the 70s and we absolutely loved this caps. Yes we played with them in ***s but also just on the sidewalk with rocks. Did you guys do the rocks method?
QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
Nahh, my thing was Nerf Guns. Sounds fun, though. :D
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 231d
I loved the smell of gun powder in the morning.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 7 pts · 234d
Look who’s back shitposting!
We missed you, Mickey.
SirDankbud@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 233d
If you know what these are, your knowledge has capped!
Zink@programming.dev · 7 pts · 233d
I remember it well...
The smell of the gunpowder. In the play room.
JordanZ@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 233d
Xella@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 233d
One of the coolest toys to have existed.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 232d
What about the Slime Pit ^TM^
Xella@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 232d
Hell yeah! I was born like 2 years after this came out so it wasn't an option for me 😭 I got to experience the other ones through my older cousins though.
Tedesche@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 233d
If you see these and think, “I have no idea what those are, no cap,” you’re too young to be on the internet.
Tikiporch@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 234d
Cursed fruit of the foot
Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 234d
Did anyone else remember that idiot friend who put several of these behind his teeth and pulled them all out setting several off in quick succession?
LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 234d
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 233d
This is why we have to pay extra for dental.
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 233d
I had an idiot friend as a kid who set some off by hitting them against a metal gas canister and I ran away 'cause I thought it was going to explode lol
AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 233d
I played with them few months back. How old am I?
LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 233d
We used to just lay those strips on the ground and throw rocks at 'em. Good times.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 234d
Looks like really shitty sandpappers/insulation tape.
plm00@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 234d
Me three guesses are glue dots, weird tape, or something used for fireworks.
angband@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 234d
cap pistol cap rolls.
edit: I held and used them, they were common u til the early 80's at least as far as I know.
hesh@quokk.au · 19 pts · 234d
They were still common in the 90s. Not sure about the 00s though
axexrx@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 234d
you can still get them. My friend just gave his son his old cap gun and got a bunch of rolls.
papalonian@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 234d
Used to get em at the dollar store, early 2000s
thatradomguy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 233d
I shit practically every day, so tell me again how old I am?
chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 233d
Joke is flying over my head. Which age group shits poorly?
hperrin@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 234d
Do they not make cap guns anymore?
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 234d
Nah. Now kids want the real thing. They show off their guns at school and trade bullets.
/darkhumor
sundray@lemmus.org · 8 pts · 234d
Especially all the kids with the pumped-up kicks.
MagnyusG@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 234d
The other kids are the ones with pumped up kicks.
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 234d
Are you telling me that a happy beat will just make people zone out lyrics? Wild🤣.
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 233d
Those were the newer ones.
saigot@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 233d
So is it basically the inside of a Christmas cracker?
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 233d
as a poor kid with lots of cousins born in the early 90s growing up hanging out in the boonies who got a shitton of hand me downs, oh yeah
orenj@lemmy.kde.social · 2 pts · 233d
Oh huh, these came up in conversation at work this week. We smelled something nearly identical while some folks were welding something.
stiffyGlitch@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 234d
I thought they were those peelable candy buttons that you could eat
I'm dum
MiDaBa@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 233d
I think those are concert wrist bands. Don't try and tell me I could win those and exchange them for cheap prizes at Chuck E Cheese because I refuse to admit I recognize those relics from another time and instead I'll pretend to be Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn discovering remnants from the past.
redlemace@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 234d
Skullgrid@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 234d
at least he's putting the hornyposts in nsfw memes
barnacul@lemmy.world · -13 pts · 234d
Am I on fucking facebook or something? Shitty boomer post