Tracer Gun from collect-antiques.net

Despite my best efforts I could not locate an image on the interwebs for the kind of disc shooter I remember playing with as a kid.   Finally after much googling, I found a picture and the actual name of the type of toy.   Apparently they were known as “Tracer Guns” and were produced circa the 1960’s through 1990’s.  (Image of a Tracer Gun at right from collect-antiques.net).  Whenever I searched for these online I only found references to larger disc guns that shot larger foam discs from cylinder mounted on top.

A variation I had not seen as a kid, but desperately wanted, was disc shooter that had a removable and re-loadable clip.  In the pictures to the right you’ll see a grove about halfway down the barrel, just above a protuberance.  That protuberance would house about 20-25 discs depending upon the gun you had.  In order to load/reload the gun you would have to slip each disc under the firing pin one at a time.

Once I discovered the name of this type of toy, Wikipedia filled in the rest.  They had some pictures of a tracer gun which had been taken apart to expose the insides.  The best part is the gun depicted has a clip loading mechanism!

Having taken apart the non-clip version as a kid, I recall it having a similar metal spring as a source of power. 1  I believe the rubber band on the trigger is merely to keep it in place.  The protuberance on the non-clip version and the clip on the clip version of the toys both contain springs for advancing the next disc into place.

To be clear, I am not looking to duplicate, copy, or replicate this toy.  I don’t want that toy.  Rather, I would love to print a toy of my own, or a collaborative, design that will shoot harmless plastic discs.

Tracer Gun, clip removed – from Wikipedia

Tracer Gun, exposed – from Wikipedia

1. They were quite breakable, unfortunately. [↩]