Acquired a starter/tear gas pistol

[JIDinPhilly]

My girl was cleaning out her late Grandmothers house when she came across this starter pistol in the closet. The cool part about it, is that it came with tear gas blanks. I can't see how anybody but the shooter would be on the receiving end of the tear gas, so I don't think I will be doing any field testing. I don't know what year it was made or if it's worth anything. It says "Made in Italy" on it.

[kel ruger man]

nice find, i would keep it for bragging rights

[JIDinPhilly]

nice find, i would keep it for bragging rights

"Hey everyone, check out my starter pistol...yeah"....lol

[Rundownfid]

It does not appear to be a standard configuration starter pistol. Most have a "cone" extending out of the barrel in the area where a forcing cone would channel the bullet into the barrel, the purpose of which is to disperse the gas to the side. Your gun looks like it actually has a hollow barrel? Perhaps that is what makes it a dual purpose tear gas starter pistol.

You may wish to keep it for whatever reason, but you won't get much out of it as a starter pistol. Mostly they fire .32 cal blanks now as the fully automatic timing needs a big flash on sunny days. as a tear gas gun, I suspect you are right it would probably be equally unpleasant to both parties. It does look like it would make an adequate paper weight.

[mpan72]

When I was a kid one of the older teenagers from my block showed a bunch of us the same exact thing. That is the only time I ever heard of or saw one.

[kel ruger man]

ok, if you dont want bragging rights, use it to clear the house when the kids are getting on your nerves

[dogngun]

They used to sell them in little ads in magazines, probably from the early '60's.
It's actually better quality than some I have seen that were cast zinc, bolted together. The "teargas" sounds like a very bad idea, though...

It's great that it still has the box etc-it might even be a collectable at least to someone...

mark

[32 Magnum]

We got one of these in the shop - old lady turned it in - husband died she didn't want it around. There was also one of those tins of "tear gas" cartridges. When she left, we decided to try it out. Fired one of the gas shells into the trash can - that stuff is really nasty - burns the hell out of your eyes and lips. I've been exposed to CS and CN gas in the Army - this crap was just as bad, even in that small amount. We aerated the shop and went outside for a while. I don't know what kind of range that "gun" would have - but the stuff that comes out of that cartridge would certainly make one stop and reconsider. I imagine a barrage (5 or 6) fired in quick succesion would make a nice cloud. I took the rest of the carts. home - may need them to stop a squirel attack or some such.

[PhillyAR]

A snub nosed gun firing tear gas makes absolutely no sense to me. Maybe you are supposed to put on gas mask first and then fire it ? But even then, what is the purpose ?

[32 Magnum]

Tear gas guns have been very popular in Europe since the 1930s. Restrictive laws on gun ownership promoted the "idea" that these would make good defensive weapons when used against attackers with bare hands or knives. There must have been some validity to that assumption, because lots of them were sold and they continued to be made, maybe even still being made??? Harrington & Richardson produced a "GAS GUN" in the 1930s for European sales.

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