The Big Bang, before it was a theory

[butlersrangers]

When I was a kid, (long before fireworks became legal in my 'Home State'), a sure sign of boredom and 'Summer Ending' was the residue of black soot and charred red paper on the sidewalks.

I can still hear the loud bang and smell the aroma of pure percussion.

Mind you don't catch your fingers!

(p.s. My packages of caps didn't come with a Bar Code)!

[psteinmayer]

Remember those pot-metal bombs that you put a paper cap in and threw in the air? I used to cram as many stacked (folded) caps in as I could stuff to make a louder bang. I also used to hit an entire roll with the end of a baseball bat.

The interesting thing is... back then, our cap guns looked like a real gun... and NO ONE ever assumed a kid HAD a real gun - everyone knew it was a cap gun!!!

Times sure have changed! :'(

[psteinmayer]

Didn't the caps come five rolls stacked in a paper box????

[butlersrangers]

That paper-cap powder residue was so corrosive, I did not like subjecting my early arsenal to it. I preferred whacking those rolls of caps with my Dad's Claw-Hammer, between houses in our driveway (better acoustics)!

Our Moms were swell. They always got us the most authentic toy guns, that we asked for!