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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.





A really nice shot of a F-500 Fury Machine Gun. This one is MINT!
Thanks to Robert Nichols for the photo.


More Elaborate Background of the F-500 Fury

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
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!
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!

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.


With a machine gun, you can never have too much ammunition.
Photo by Robert Nichols
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
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
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
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

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.



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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