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This rare F-500 Fury machine gun is one of the
most unusual toy cap guns ever made. One side of the frame is die-cast zinc
alloy and the other side is plastic! After realizing that the prototype was far
too heavy, Jack Tarrant (one of the finest designer/engineers of Nichols
Industry—see full story below) figured out a way to make the left side
plastic without compromising the quality. Presto! Something a kid could handle.
I can't think of another toy gun (ever) that was made this way. Of course the
resemblance to the Thompson 45 sub-machine gun cannot be
overlooked.
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A really nice shot of a F-500 Fury Machine Gun.
This one is MINT!
Thanks to Robert Nichols for the photo. |
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More Elaborate Background of the F-500
Fury |
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During the transition years from Westerns to
Outer Space interest, Nichols Industries decided to make a large gun. It is
shaped like a Tommy Gun but all the engravings are of a outer space nature.
Please note design of space station etc. Remember this was back in early 1960's
and no one had walked on the moon.
Traditionally Nichols Industries made toys either out
of plastic or a zinc alloy die casting. After the tooling was made, they first
shot the parts from the Fury 500 tooling with zinc. After assembly it was way
too heavy, so they decided to re-shoot it out of plastic. After it was produced
from plastic, they decided it was way too light.
Dad (TWN) said
what they really needed was something half-way in between but no one made that
kind of material. Jack Tarrant said he would give it a try. Without telling
anyone his idea, he returned in a day or two with a new one. Everyone said it
was the perfect weight.
How had he done it? He made one half from plastic and one half
from zinc, chrome plated all pieces and no one could tell. That is the way all
Fury 500's were produced. —Robert Nichols |
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Well, if that nice photo up above wasn't enough,
then I present this one for you. You will definitely want to
CLICK ON THE SMALL PHOTO so that the really
big one will come up. Since the big one is 700 pixels wide, I couldn't put it
on this page and didn't want to shrink it any more!
Thanks to Ebay
seller
Toysfortheages for the photos! |
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Here's a full-page ad for the Fury and also a
Mustang 500, which uses the same caps. I bought this ad off of Ebay.
Click to See! |
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This monster could shoot up a roll of Fury 500 caps IN A HURRY!!!
It was battery powered. Just owning one could be expensive for a young
kid.
This amazing toy gun was made in 1960. Imagine what a ruckus it
would cause in today's society! Very few collectors own this gun, as it is
quite rare and quite expensive. So, if you have a chance to get one—in any
kind of shape—do so, because you might not get another
chance.
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With a machine gun, you can
never have too much ammunition.
Photo by Robert Nichols |
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The Cap Gauge shown on the right was part of the drum magazine.
The gauge is on the back side. It shows how many caps you have left. One never
wants to run out of ammo in a firefight!
It was a quite complicated cap gun. And
expensive! And if you think it was expensive then, just trying buying one
now!!! That is, if you can find one. |
Cap Gauge |
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| On the right, this is the MOST UNUSUAL sight at the end of the
barrel of the Fury 500. This is the only Nichols capgun with a barrel sight
that is not similar to what you would see on a normal gun. This is a ROCKET
SHIP! It is in keeping with the other symbols on the side of the receiver of
the gun, however it was strange back in 1960. It was more like a "Flash
Gordon-Type" rocket ship than today's modern marvels. |
Rocket Sight |
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As we have said before, this Nichols Industries Fury 500 uses
batteries. The only Nichols Cap Gun to do so. This is the battery
compartment.
If you will click on the pop-up for the Fury up above that
has the boxes, you will see that the new one would come with a paper telling
you where to insert the flash-light batteries. |
Battery
Compartment |
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This photo on the right shows the battery compartment with the
cover on. Though this was a Thompson 45 Machine Gun, the symbols were all space
age and sometimes you see this gun listed on websites that cater to space
guns.
This gun is such a prize that it's a good idea to buy one in
nearly any kind of shape, just to get some spare parts! |
Compartment
w/Cover |
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Some
more nice photos of a Fury 500 set in museum mint quality.
Many thanks to
John Guffey for these photos. Be sure to click on thumbnails. |
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May as well
stick in a good photo of a Fury 500 Dispenser Pack.
Thanks to Chuck Quinn
for the above photo!
And here (again) is the
Fury in all of its glory. I have included this one because I got a particularly
LARGE photo.
Thanks to Scott McCollum for the above photo!
REALLY BIG!!! That is, if you will click on these smaller photos.
If you do, then you will see more detail of the Fury 500 "Space" Thompson
machine gun. This is the only cap gun I know of that has 2 different sides: one
out of plastic and the other out of metal, in order to hold the batteries and
electrical wiring. The emphasis was on the electrical side, but they made the
other half plastic so that it would be easier for a little kid to pick it up.
And my goodness, but it would burn through a roll of caps. This is an expensive
cap gun in nearly any condition, but this one is MINT and therefore even more
expensive. There were not many Nichols guns given as prizes in any contest, but
this one made it in the Disneyland contest. It's so big that a lot of people
threw away the boxes. I don't even have a box for mine. This cap gun will also
make a mess of your plans on putting up a wall-type picture frame of your cap
guns if you want glass covering them. It's so thick! They didn't sell very well
because they were more expensive, so that makes them ever more rare.
Thanks to
Richard Strom
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