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The Cowman 250 was introduced in 1960. Uncle Talley says that later the name was changed to "Stallion 250." This seems a shame because all of the Stallion series had been some of the finest Cap Guns ever made. However, the cheaper guns were being introduced.

This Cap Gun was a 250 shot repeater and used the standard roll caps.






This is an excellent photo and the gun was pretty good quality. This particular one is in MINT condition. Despite the age of the gun and the fact that it is toward the end of the series, they are surprisingly hard to come by, but are not too expensive.

Photo by Robert Nichols



And here is exactly the same gun, but this one is renamed the Stallion 250. It is a little hard to see, so I'll explain: the oval where it used to say "COWMAN" now says "STALLION" and the letters "250" are directly in front of that.

Photo by Bob Terry



Creating Gun Grips

Original patterns for grips
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When grips for Cap Guns were made, they were usually carved in something that was "not hard." By this I mean wood or something softer than tool steel. Wood is also cheaper! Then they were placed on a vertical mill that had a cutting tool and a "finger" (a stylus?) traced the original pattern. It was kind of weird to watch this machine touch every little crack and crevice of the pattern and at the same time you could see the machine cutting into tool steel to make the patterns that would be used, like those at the right. After the mill was finished, then a skilled craftsman would make the final cuts and do A LOT of polishing so that the grips would easily release from the mold. (This is definitely a "non-engineer's description.)


This is the same basic gun, but you will notice that it has a star to the right of the word "COWMAN." The grip is also different. Probably this one was released under Kusan.

Photo by Robert Nichols



How's this for a big photo? The interesting (and puzzling) thing to me is that Uncle Talley called it the Cowman 250 in his book, but it only hints at the 250 on the card and certainly not on the gun itself.

Photo thanks to Chuck Quinn






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